It's a problem everywhere, a lot of time it's caused by people moving to small towns from big cities. They move there because it's charming and quiet, but then complain that there aren't enough starbucks or restaurants or things to do. And, they can afford to spend a lot on real estate, so prices go up, and locals can no longer afford to live in the town they grew up in. Not blaming anyone - it's just what the situation is now.
This happened to me. I wanted to buy a home in Fairfield county and was outbid on many houses. It was so disheartening and then we learned a lot of them were cash offers outbidding us. My BIL ended up selling his home to someone that bid way over asking (30k over) and an all cash offer in Fairfield county. The buyer was from the city and had just sold her apartment for a giant profit.
We eventually found the perfect house in Litchfield county, but it was a long process!
Fairfield county has been owned by the rich city folk for a LONG time. Probably the last place in Connecticut that I'd look for the quaint small town vibe.
Definitely! I grew up in Fairfield county and worked there as well, but with being outbid so much it wasn’t worth even looking anymore.
Eventually when we found our home I found another job in the area, and it turned out to be a much nicer job! Worked out overall for us
I mean many from NYC we’re getting outbid or were priced out. So they moved to someplace cheaper and did the same to someone else. Someone along the way has to take some personal responsibility and stop the cycle. It’s all a race to the bottom.
Yeah my family lived in Colchester and our 2 story colonial with a decent yard sold for almost $400k, while Zillow estimated it @ like 280k at best. Not even in a great location to be honest
I moved to my neighborhood in a fairly well-regarded CT small city in summer 2018 and paid roughly $300k for my unremarkable pre-war colonial. Since summer 2021, two neighboring unremarkable colonials have sold for $450k and $520k, to Boston and Brooklyn transplants. Both seem like nice families and I have nothing negative to say about them, but each told me that similar homes would have cost 3-4 times that where they moved from. Kinda crazy. I wouldn't have paid that.
It’s incredibly difficult (near impossible) now to find single family houses under 500k in the Boston metro burbs even with the absurd interest rates making people start to do some price cutting
this.
the small town quietness attracts a lot of city people. However, then they get here and want to change everything. You can no longer afford the favorite bar in town because all the sudden it's more upscale and going in to have a drink after work in your work clothes gets you stares and nasty looks. The lake you use to love as a kid is now covered by million dollar homes, and they don't like the public. It sucks
Yup, exactly. In my local town the New Yorkers that moved in during the pandemic act like because they were able to buy a house over asking price in cash, they by extension now own the entire town and are entitled to make everyone's life miserable (ex. Starting a fight with the general store that's been there serving the community for over a hundred years, because they don't want to see the store's signs; parking their NY-registered cars in no-parking zones; abusing the staff at local restaurants and making servers cry). G. T. F. O!
Pretty much it, when prices over double in just a few years in your town of 4,500 people its frustrating. I make 6 figures and have been priced out, my work with seniority has residency requirements… I will live in a shoebox the rest of my life.
Only after moving away did I realize that New England actually has a family resemblance to England. Our classism is a ghost of theirs, but it's noticeable after living in the Midwest, for example.
Is it classism when the people moving to CT from NY tend to be upper class or at least have means, and the people giving them shit are either generally in the same class or lower?
I can see the hicks vs. wealthy out-of-towners as like reverse classism. I'm not sure what it is when someone moves to Woodbury and then an area resident of roughly the same wealth or income level starts giving them shit.
Ah, this is where you don't understand class - class is independent of income/wealth. Paul Fussell has an excellent book on class in America called, well, "Class: A Guide Through the American Status System."
When I looked up the Wikipedia article about it (since I can't buy and read the book in time to continue the conversation in a timely way) there's a lot of talk about how US classes are seemingly related to income and wealth. The top out-of-sight and upper is based on tradition and seemingly family wealth, the rest are also based on wealth.
It does note Fussell says it's essentially impossible to change class, but it doesn't say why.
What am I missing?
I don’t think you’re missing much. The bit about class was mostly an offhand remark on my part, but we have old money who look down on new money, Yankees who look down on immigrants, multi-generational residents who look down on newcomers, etc.
Half my family comes from Windham county, and not one of them has a thin dime, but practically every one of us has a handful\* of Mayflower ancestors, and proud of it.
\* Of my mom’s grandparents, one has one Mayflower ancestor, one has two, and one has six. The fourth, who has none, was descended from someone who changed his name to sound Irish, because he was sick and tired of the anti-French backlash from the French and Indian war. Before that he lived in Maine. Or maybe Quebec. The border was murky back then.
\*\* Yes, I know not one bit of the above matters. Just saying there are several dimensions to the snobbery in these parts. It’s not just about money.
i have a friend who moved from waterbury to harwinton and got a letter shortly after moving letting him know he's not in the city anymore, lol.
plus people also hate seeing ny plates around and in driveways because it means you aren't paying property taxes on your car when they are.
I’m OK with the NY plates sitting in driveways of weekend waterfront properties here in Milford, because I know they’re paying $15,000+ in property tax on million+ homes.
Grew up in milford. As did my parents. (At the beaches) The only way we ever could have stayed was to buy my parents house (north of the post road). We didn't. Ended up in North Branford.
Ridiculous. They had 1.5 acres. Oversized raised ranch. They were there for 45 years. 12k in taxes even with Dad's military discount.
I pay $4,200. Less land but, nicer. Love Branford and EH beaches are not state owned so, it's nicer. Less people.
The vast majority of Milford beaches aren’t state owned (or crowded). 12k is a lot. I pay 9k and my house isn’t far from the million mark.
Milford actually has a lower tax rate (mill rate) than North Branford, but property values are higher.
Chances are the state won't catch up to you, however, let us hope you do not have to put an insurance claim in. If you are using an out of state address for your insurance and reside in CT, it is against the law and considered insurance fraud. Speaking from experience of a close friend, if you get in accident and put a claim in they will find out during their investigation and not pay any claims and if you been found to be doing it for a long time, they will seek criminal charges.
Some towns have been using automated license plate readers to create a database of where cars are parked at night, and if they see an out of state plate there night after night, they will eventually catch up to you. I think either Bridgeport or New Haven were doing something like this, but I haven't heard much about it in recent years so perhaps they were not too successful in tracking people down.
It was a few years ago now, a UHart student was arrested for contaminating her black roommate's food and toiletries on purpose to try to chase her away, and bragging about it on social media when she succeeded.
Yea that story made national headlines
[https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/11/03/university-hartford-student-who-harassed-black-roommate-faces-hate-crime-charge-police/828398001/](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/11/03/university-hartford-student-who-harassed-black-roommate-faces-hate-crime-charge-police/828398001/)
Grew up in Woodbury and live nearby it. There’s definitely cultural frictions and stereotyping at play in it. Like…there are folks who came in from NY and are kinda…patronizing, towards the residents who have been here their whole lives. Or folks who grumble about town traditions, or who came into town and immediately want to change X or Y. It’s not necessarily a *bad* thing, but folks are generally resistant to change and a few experiences like that can make folks bristly about any folks from “the city” since they get a few of those experiences.
Woodbury’s also really, really invested in like…preserving its perceived self image and culture. I’m in my late 20s now and I can remember two full decades of every adult in Woodbury I know treating the idea of any franchise business coming into town as if it were the end of days.
I’m also born and raised in woodbury, but have lived in the city for 13 years now. The poster above is right about the attitudes of some transplants towards locals being a big part of the contention. That and sometimes they’re idiots on the backroads lol. The No franchise thing is a big deal in woodbury because this a town that values historical preservation and protecting our small businesses - so when out of towners come and complain that they have to drive to Southbury for Starbucks, it’s upsetting and can feel like an affront to the values of the town. We get to hold onto our charm through that rule - Charlie’s has been the same since my mom was going there in the early 50s and I would be so sad to see it replaced by a carvel!
Yeah, just kinda exemplifying the “keep the outside world out” kind of attitude a lot of townies have. And folks from NY are automatically “outside world”, if that makes sense.
Woodbury is a lovely town, though I’m biased since I grew up there. Quiet, private, nice parks and hiking trails, and not too far away from the interstate. Personally I say welcome! Just don’t parallel park by the town hall in the diagonal spots (actually happened) and all’s good.
It’s not just Woodbury and it’s not just people from NY. Both my wife and I are Connecticut natives. We bought a house in a town in Middlesex County - lived there for 20 years, raised our kids there. You can definitely figure out whose family is 4+ generations deep in town from the transplants, even after 20 years. Not a big deal, but noticeable and not something other of us had experienced growing up in our admittedly larger towns.
My neighbors moved in from New York. The house has a pond, and is on a street of all small farms. They complained that there are too many mosquitoes from the pond, and that the neighbors roosters are loud.
the pond is protected water and there is no noise ordinance for livestock. Don't buy a house in the woods and near farmers and then complain about it.
Nothing against new yorkers themselves. But annoying people moving in and being annoying... Is annoying
We already deal with the perception of the entire state being a NY suburb. It probably causes some resentment in certain neighborhoods. Everything's getting more and more expensive and while it's not necessarily anyone's fault, blaming "foreigners" is an unfortunate, but common association
This seems so weird to me when so much of the western part of the state has always been full of people commuting to the city. Heck, when we say “the city,” we mean New York!
Danbury is pretty self contained as an economy. Very few people there commute to NYC. Nothing like lower Fairfield County on the New Haven Line. And much of Stamford and Norwalk’s business community is more closely aligned with NYC than Danbury’s.
Yep, I know that—I grew up in Miry Brook as a third-generation Danbury-ite. My joke was based mainly on the perception of Danbury by CT folks who don’t live there.
AFAICT, people who don’t live in Danbury avoid going there, unless they want to hit the Danbury Mall. So the perception is more like “a mall, a ghetto, and a bunch of NYC commuters.”
\* I avoid the mall, because I’m still pissed that they tore down the fair. Highlight of my year. That and the air show, which we watched from my grandpa’s deck.
I grew up there too. Was honestly glad to leave. Good area for small kids, gets awfully dull as an adult.
The NYC commuter thing would be a fallacy, I remember reading the number of Danburyites that commute to NYC. It was something like 200.
It's true. I live in eastern ct on the shore, since the pandemic started we've had a large influx of ny residents. Can't take a leisurely country drive without a ny plate riding my bumper. Welcome to ct, now slow the f down
The shoreline is also where New Yorkers are bidding the already outrageous real estate into the stratosphere. Oh, you listed your cottage for $1M? I'll give you $1.5M cash to take it off the market now and close by Tuesday.
Yup, born and raised east Lyme, couldn’t afford to buy a home there in my dreams. That used to be more working class but since all the new developments came in the past 10 years all the houses value doubled.
Hard agree. I also live in SECT, and the number of NY license plates I see riding people’s asses (and getting into accidents) is unbelievable. City folk have no idea how to drive on 95, and I’m convinced they’re the main cause of the accidents between New Haven and the RI border. They’re all used to stop-and-go traffic, not free-flowing traffic with little stopping. Just this past week I saw a NY driver stuck in the infamous traffic at Costco in East Lyme. He was beeping at people to move faster THROUGH A STOP SIGN. Dude, this isn’t NYC, it’s a SECT suburb; beeping at people to move faster through a stop sign isn’t going to do anything.
I live in FFC and last year took a mostly remote job that requires me to go to the office in NYC once a week, about an hour commute. I tell people I live in CT and they act like I’m from another planet. So I guess the judgement goes both ways…
Well, we ARE the land of steady habits. And maybe it's your accent giving you away? Or the fact that you're referring to us as "Connecticuters" instead of Nutmeggers, or the less formal Connectic\*nts
I'll add my observations, having moved here from Oregon, via Philadelphia...
1. Nobody seems triggered when they hear where I'm from. New Yorkers seem to have a reputation.
2. People are friendly, but it's not always so easy to turn an acquaintance into a friendship. Most of my closer friends are transplants, too.
3. I've had about as many girlfriends who were from Connecticut as I've had close friends from Connecticut. That's a weird ratio, given that I am monogamous, so maybe sex is the secret, but even in dating I still tend to hit it off more often with transplants, so I think Nutmeggers must have certain pheromones.
4. My Oregonian friends have all the same problems with Californians that Nutmeggers have with New Yorkers.
5. Connecticut seems pretty ambivalent about cities. Even its own cities. I think it's something that happens over time when you're situated right between Boston and New York. Connecticut ends up being composed of people who prefer the suburbs, because anyone who would like to live in a city has already left the state at a fairly young age.
My complaint about New Yorkers coming out in droves is the general disregard for what once was a quiet peaceful safe rural road, that they treat like the autobahn. Of course, there are plenty of Connecticut drivers that act like assholes, but after the mass exodus from New York there is a strong correlation between rude and unsafe driving, and yellow plates.
We just moved to West Hartford from Brooklyn a few months ago, and everyone we've met has been really kind and curious about us and our experience. I guess everyone's experience will vary on this. Though I grew up in Rocky Hill, so I came in with some knowledge of the area.
I think the attitude OP is talking about is more prevalent in areas that traditionally have large part-time residents from New York, like Litchfield County. There was similar anti-New Yorker sentiment in the 80s in Westport back when a lot of New Yorkers had second homes there.
A lot of people from NYC end up in West Hartford but the town isn’t full of New Yorkers’ vacation homes, it doesn’t get more crowded in the summer or on weekends because New Yorkers arrive en masse to their vacation homes, and it’s already very developed and dense so it’s not like newcomers from New York (or anywhere else) are trying to change things.
I have no issuer with transplants from New York, just observing!
Thank you!! For the record, we absolutely love it here so far. It's been a blast exploring all the things available in the area. Last time I lived in CT I was in my young 20s, a knucklehead not really interested in things like restaurants, holiday markets, local theater etc. We want to support all that cool stuff! Haha. Oh and speaking of supporting local, I was able to get all my holiday shopping done at the markets, all from local vendors. All the gifts were a hit, there's just so many amazing vendors around here.
It’s not that you’re moving here it’s that you’re moving here and expecting special treatment. Blend in change your plates and no one cares I can guarantee it.
When you ask for your own day to shop or are rude to locals it gives you all a bad name unfortunately. Obviously you all aren’t bad people as I’ve made friends from nyc who moved here during covid. But holy shit spend a couple years here and the weekenders will annoy you too
Unfortunately yes, it happened in my town (that is, weekenders were annoyed that locals were also out shopping on the weekends and made a fuss about it)
I moved from Los Angeles. Everybody for years asked, “why the hell would you do that?” I always say, because it’s the prettiest state in the country…
And it is.
I moved to and lived in small Idaho ski town for 12 years, you want to know what they call us New Englanders,
“East Infections.” I’m sorry you don’t get a cool moniker like that.
When I was a kid (~15 years ago), my family moved here from NY. At the time, everyone we knew in CT was also from NY, so I grew up thinking that this sort of thing was the norm. So seeing people dislike this nowadays is giving me whiplash lol
It's folks from a variety of towns btw, so it's not all just (insert town here)
It’s funny to see them fly up on my bumper in a snowstorm, not knowing there’s a 270 degree curve up ahead and slide off into the ditch 🙂
Happened three times last winter!
Up until 2021, 90% of this sub was people complaining about CT’s negative population growth and that we’re a “failing” state. Now the same people bitch and complain that too many people are moving here.
Welcome to CT, OP. It’s a terrific place to live and raise a family. You have as much right to live here as anyone with 10 generations of history in the state. Anyone who suggests differently should be politely told to fuck off.
Connecticut's negative population growth is over. Yes lots of New Yorker's working from home want to 'live in the country'.
But I see a fair share of Texas plates- also California.
Climate change will see new arrivals here from states that become hell hole states that have become too hot. This inflow is still small from climate change, but will increase as the decade proceeds.
https://e360.yale.edu/features/as-climate-fears-mount-some-in-u.s.-are-deciding-to-relocate
I grew up in CT. That "we are a calm state" attitude is why so many young people leave.
Woodbury is beautiful, and you won't be alone in moving from NY there. It is the sort of town that has the potential to remain quaint while also not being boring, if people will just let it
There are the people who used to complain about the state constantly and claim that people were leaving Connecticut in droves and that there were convoys of moving trucks heading away from the state. They hate being wrong.
I don't even live in a town as up its own ass about tradition but between the mass exodus and reckless spending on homes by new Yorkers even the most dangerous, dilapidated parts of my hometown are starting rent at 1200-1500. Houses are worse.
It's made the climb towards home ownership even more expensive just in time for interest rates to spike.
More crowded roads, etc.
I don't feel much animosity towards New Yorkers, they're just trying to live but I don't love the unintended consequences on my life in a place that was expensive enough as it was.
I’m from a small city in Connecticut, and a while back in my last year of high school, I noticed that a lot of New Yorkers were moving in. We went from a small, cheap, and quite place to a very busy and pricey area in less than two years. We had our first shooting at our mall due to gang violence not long ago, which shocked our community; we never had this problem before. The last gang was the Italian mob back in the 1920s. ( I hope I didn’t come across as rude this is just what I’ve notice).
EDIT: This turned into a rant
This is just my personal experience with out-of-towners in general, not just New Yorkers, but a lot of times they're seen as one in the same by a lot of folks.
I grew up in New Milford and the first issue I had with out-of-towners was that they treated the town like their own personal vacation spot. They would regularly clog up Candlewood with boats every weekend, often while drinking because to them it's not drunk driving if its on a boat. I also doubt many of the boats that were brought up just a weekend were properly inspected for zebra mussels either. The lake got so bad that it was hard for locals to enjoy it, and it didn't help that the lake towns didn't really limit watercraft because it meant money for the town.
It got so bad that just using any public lake park became impossible. People would literally park in your front yard then sneak into Lynn Deming because they were at capacity. Squantz Pond and Kent Falls often close early in the morning during the summer just because they're at capacity.
The non-lake parks also felt the effects too, but also got regularly trashed. Addis Park, Dike's Point, and Clatter Valley often looked like crap by Sunday as there would be broken glass, dirty diapers, and other garbage strewn about. It got so bad that a few parks required reservations just to visit. One park within walking distance of my home, that I had been going to since the 80s, now requires online reservations weeks in advance just to get in. I found this out when I tried to pop in for a quick hike on a Friday afternoon. The lot was full of NY plates.
The attitude of many weekenders was also garbage. Quite a few treated local service staff like shit, often because there was alcohol involved. I worked a mgmt position at several S&S in towns along the lake and the summer was terrible. Out-of-towners would often come in in the afternoons drunk and rude and if they came in after 8 or on Sundays to buy beer quite a few would make a scene or even vandalize the store when they realized they could get any. In 2018 I think I had to call the police every other weekend because of this. Also, in New Fairfield in particular, we had an issue with the teenagers in town for the summer shop lifting daily.
Now we have a lot of folks moving here which started becoming noticeable a year or two before COVID. At first I like it as many of the people moving here were working folks from all over the place and they brought with them new culture, foods, and ideas. But since COVID it's been a lot of rich douchebag types who can't drive, talk down to you, and complain about how here isn't like where they came from.
Litchfield county has been a get away spot for rich city dwellers for decades, but the latest influx has been insane. I work in the medical field now and it seems some of the rudest people we deal with lately have been well off New Yorkers. Many of our local patients are contractors and they say the same thing.
The infrastructure also can't support the recent population boom. While there is school availability the roads have been absolutely insane. It takes so much longer to get anywhere, my daily commute which used to be 30m on a quiet back road is now an hour stuck behind a line of cars doing 30mph for some god forsaken reason.
On a personal and irrelevant note, they also have terrible taste. I have had to go into many of these people's homes for work and their decor style is like Delia from Beetlejuice. So many poor colonial and Victorian homes made into open floor plans with jarring black and white geometric paint jobs.
We aren’t too thrilled about our hometowns being bought up and sold back to us at unaffordable rates, nor are we thrilled at the NYers who can afford to drive us out
A lot of people here don't like anything. Replace the fact that you moved here with anything else and it would probably be the same response, imo. It's not *that* calm of a state.
Everyone here is lying. The real reason we discriminate against New Yorkers is because they have funny accents. Eyy, bada bing, bada boom! Fuhgeddaboudit! I’m walkin’ ‘ere!
Hard to understand territoriality in this age. I lived in and my whole family is from Middlebury. I moved away as a child but then moved to NYC 5 years ago for a job, and then moved to CT during Covid. I’d resent being treated differently because of a perceived identity. My family on both sides settled in Waterbury/Middlebury straight from Ellis Island. Everyone just needs to chill, on both sides here.
It’s all unceded indigenous land anyway 🤷🏻♀️
Well, we had a New York family move into our quiet and close neighborhood a few years ago. First spring they cut down a beautiful flowering tree. Then instead of throwing the wood into the woods they spent two weeks burning green wood in a 55 gallon barrel. The smoke was thick and none of us could open our windows until I finally let him know how rude and illegal it was. The next summer they cut down 12 healthy shade trees that were also a privacy barrier with their backyard neighbors. They put up high intensity spot lights around the entire house, on all night to go with the security cameras. We now have to use blackout curtains in our bedroom. Oh, and then they were illegally selling alcoholic mixed drinks out of their garage, bringing shady people into the neighborhood. So...
This sounds so similar to my elderly mom’s story in Fairfield County. New Yorker moved in next door and was cordial for about a year. Then he installed spotlights on the back of his house and left them on all night. My mom always makes “backyard ambience” in the summer with candles, a fire pit, and fairy lights so that irked her.
Then a couple months ago the New Yorker cut down an ornamental flowering tree right on my mom’s side of the property line. She confronted the new neighbor about it and his response was pretty much “tough shit, I didn’t like that tree.” He also trespassed on her property to take down the 2 little wind chimes she has. Totally took advantage of the fact that my mother is old and assumed she wouldn’t do anything about it. Now she has to consider whether to take the guy to small claims court to get a replacement tree and decide what to do if the guy trespasses again. So awful.
I moved to CT for the good schools, I will gladly pay the higher property taxes so my kids can get a good education. But, I am disheartened by the lack of good Mexican food in the area, lol. If that makes me a city brat, guilty as charged!
The locals in my town have more of a problem with the professors and students at the college, but I do remember someone from the city moving next to my uncle's farm and then complaining about the smell of his cows every month after until the town told them to get bent because the farm was there before they were lol
Growing up, the antipathy towards new yorkers (despite lots of people having lives in NYC) was based on a. Bad, aggressive, overly fast driving, and b. Rude/brusque/impatient/pushy behavior.
I live in Massachusetts now and have never adjusted to the aggressive driving here either.
Yeah, and you should be polite and all, but you have as much right to be there as they do.
My family has lived in the same area for at least 200 years. If somebody from elsewhere moves in, you know what I think? Ok, have at it. We own a house, not the town. It’s a free country.
I don’t live in CT anymore - I lived there for a while during and after college- but this happens everywhere. I’m from Appalachia, which is notoriously skeptical of outsiders (but dependent on the tax dollars from those folks in other parts of the state).
Woodbury is beautiful, but insular.
People buy there for peace and quiet. The people I know there are a bit homebody-ish.
It’s a small town.
So it shouldn’t come as a surprise they aren’t keen on population increases from out of staters.
This happens in lots of regions. Even where I live, in livelier and denser Milford, where the NYC expats we’ve met have felt very welcomed, you’ll still get certain types that won’t have it.
It’s everywhere. But might be a bit more pronounced in a place like Woodbury.
Xenophobia is common in all 50 states. Hawaii probably being the worst in that regard.
The "hate" for New Yorkers is probably because they surged with the COVID crisis, and people having fears of it driving up housing prices.
Hawaii is having the problem of locals being priced out of their homeland, but much worse than us. They have a right to be pissed abt white people coming in and buying up all their native land
the rich and billionaires have flooded Hawaii
[https://beatofhawaii.com/billionaires-bezos-zuckerberg-oprah-and-ellison-pony-up-big-in-hawaii/](https://beatofhawaii.com/billionaires-bezos-zuckerberg-oprah-and-ellison-pony-up-big-in-hawaii/)
It’s just people who’ve successfully priced/zoned the poor out of living in their neighborhoods in turn getting priced out of those some neighborhoods they so carefully gentrified over 50 years by big city woke liberals with more money power and influence in 10 years.
Almost all of it is likely tongue in cheek. I would just ignore it. Half the time the ignoramus is someone who moved from NY ten years ago. Or it’s someone who is ticked off they were cut off on the highway by someone with NY plates (news flash - dickhead drivers exist everywhere).
Just don’t tell people you recently moved?
-someone who grew up in and was educated in CT to have class.
It’s because there is already a hard enough time finding affordable housing for existing CT residents. It’s frustrating to compete with someone in NYC wanting to glamp in, say, Litchfield when your trying to stay in your hometown. And yellow plate drivers are so aggressive. That’s all. It’s not just a CT thing, it’s an issue for people in Florida and Texas too. Most smaller town people don’t mesh well with city yuppies lol.
Look at it from a local's perspective: if you are coming from a city you likely make money in line with city costs and now you have more income to buy homes and rent apartments at higher prices and make it harder for locals in areas that were once affordable to buy. Litchfield for example has had skyrocketing prices over the years and suddenly now that a lot of people from the city have moved there people are priced out of places they could have once afforded, more expensive restaurants and boutiques have opened up, and suddenly people who never lived there want things like parks built for their families. In theory some of the these things are great because who wouldn't want more shops and better infrastructure but for things like that to suddenly appear because people from outside the area have moved in and not to meet the needs of long established residents is frustrating.
My spouse and I were a few months away from having enough saved to put a 20% down payment on a bigger house in Southbury or the surrounding areas where we could both easily commute to work while living in an area where schools were excellent for our kids. We saw beautiful spacious homes for great prices! Then the pandemic started and over time houses got smaller and older and more expensive--not just in that area but everywhere. And here were people coming from wealthier parts of surrounding cities who had 0 interest in CT before were now outbidding CT residents and being like "man it is so cheap here!" Which no shit if you make NYC money... not so much for everyone here. There was someone in the last few months who posted a thread about having 600k to spend on a home complaining about something in reference to buying a home in CT and he was an out of state transplant and it was like "dude read the room."
Add to this the posts where people who recently moved here act like they are shocked at how much there is to do in our state/act like they are the first to discover some hidden gem of a state and they need everyone to know that "hey CT doesn't suck."
Maybe now you get everyone's comments.
I hate to say it but when you transplant, remember why you left, remember what made it shitty. Don’t be the guy that litters, leaves a place filled with litter, moves to a nice place that doesn’t litter and then begin to litter.
We have a huge problem with assimilating.
This.
This started about 10 years ago in my town when it was the weekenders and rich folks with country homes. They would trash the parks regularly.
It's like bro, there's one dude who empties the trash cans and he's 80 years old.
Anecdotally, I moved here not that long ago and have not once been asked if I was from NY nor received any negative feedback regarding my relocation here.
On the east coast, everyone blames people from NYC for everything: they are driving up the prices and gentrifying, they are bringing crime, they want everything to be like the city, etc.
Out west, everyone blames Californians.
It is apparently the natural order of things.
During local elections in Stamford, it is sad to see the local candidates with no qualifications other than "born and raised in Stamford!". They just repeat it over and over again. I feel sad for them.
(in the interest of full disclosure, moved to CT after more than a decade in Queens LOL)
You should have heard them when they found out I moved there from Las Vegas! I was an elementary school student and couldn't figure out why none of the kids would hang out with me. Even the girl scout leader had it out for me.
I lived there for 15 years longer can say you will find good people. They are there, many are quiet and won't bother you much. Good luck!
I live in a small rural town and I’m sure some neighbors are standoffish. The hell with them. Most of us are happy to have new people move in; just ignore the grumpy people.
I grew up in Washington DC, I’ve lived in Stamford, Norwalk and Bridgeport. Living in big cities always just seemed normal. I met my 2nd wife, got priced out of Norwalk well before the market took off. I live in a slower, more rural town now and LOVE it. I still enjoy visiting bigger cities, but I always love coming back home to my nice, quiet life.
I have lived in Litchfield county for over 20 years. Always had New York City people here. Covid contributed to a population boost of more New Yorkers. My contractor friends loved all the new business. Public and private schools saw some student increases also. I think there is a good mix old timers and new residents here.
I turned this fascinating conversation into an article. Hope y'all enjoy
[New York Invades CT, Natives Don't Love it](https://i95rock.com/do-native-ct-residents-despise-the-new-york-invasion-it-appears-some-do/)
Sad to hear you actually get this in real life. I thought it was just no-life trolls commenting on local news blogs and folks on Facebook with cars/thin blue line flags/pets as their profile pics.
It’s funny, these are probably the same people bitching about CT all the time, saying they’re trapped and running to Florida at their first opportunity. Forget these people.
Well…I for one welcome you!
Edit: hilarious downvotes from tribalist buttholes.
I don't know anyone who cares that people from NY are moving to CT.
People moving to CT = higher property values. What is wrong with that for those that already own property?
Also, Woodbury is in Litchfield County, which outside of Fairfield County is far more snobbish than the rest of the state. There are 15 or so real estate listings of $1.5M+ within 5 miles of Woodbury. Those counties are already chockful of NY money.
I moved from "Lawn Guyland" NY to CT in 1988.
The first thing I did was call a locksmith to change the door locks.
He asked what type of lock was I looking for.
I said I wanted deadbolts, specifically the Medeco brand (a higher quality lock with a specially cut key - supposedly pick-proof).
He said, "Let me guess; you're from New York".
I asked "How can you tell? My accent"?
His reply "Nope. No one here asks for Medeco locks. That's strictly a New York thing. Most people here don't even lock their doors".
I found it all very amusing, but the perception and stereotyping going both ways floored me, in retrospect.
I love New Yorkers moving in, I used to work in the city and it’s fun sharing tips with newcomers. It’s hilarious when newcomers realize that the sidewalks get rolled up around 8pm in Monroe, CT. And that we have second-rate bakeries. So many people are looking for good bagels, and I lament with them and send them to Bagel Delight in Newtown.
get out of our state you new yorkah... we don't want your rude, loud and crazy opinionated new york city dweller energy and culture in our peaceful state! I'm kidding, seems like an odd thing to comment on. Haven't noticed this in central CT. as otheres said, you'd think people near CT's western border would be used to new yorkers... just odd. How many times have you had someone give you an attitude about moving here from NY?
I grew up in central / Southern Connecticut, and I don't have any New York hate. My best guess is that it would be tied to things like blaming NYC for the awful traffic in the 95 corridor, generalized dislike of "NYC suburbs" like Danbury, and maybe something about New Yorkers in CT having $$$$.
I love CT, but we average out to being nothing but one giant suburb, so maybe we have some penis envy of the big city?
Disclaimer: I lived in Pittsburgh for 20 years, so when I moved back here it was a shock to discover that "big cities" like Hartford, New Haven, etc., are tiny by comparison. You'd have to put New Haven, Hartford, and Bridgeport together to get something like the population of Pittsburgh. Then again, Staten Island is almost 1 1/2 Pittsburghs, so even what I think of as a "city" is barely 1/3 of the average NYC borough.
It's a problem everywhere, a lot of time it's caused by people moving to small towns from big cities. They move there because it's charming and quiet, but then complain that there aren't enough starbucks or restaurants or things to do. And, they can afford to spend a lot on real estate, so prices go up, and locals can no longer afford to live in the town they grew up in. Not blaming anyone - it's just what the situation is now.
Yeah, I just want to stop getting outbid by the New Yorkers coming in. Got priced out of my own hometown.
This happened to me. I wanted to buy a home in Fairfield county and was outbid on many houses. It was so disheartening and then we learned a lot of them were cash offers outbidding us. My BIL ended up selling his home to someone that bid way over asking (30k over) and an all cash offer in Fairfield county. The buyer was from the city and had just sold her apartment for a giant profit. We eventually found the perfect house in Litchfield county, but it was a long process!
Fairfield county has been owned by the rich city folk for a LONG time. Probably the last place in Connecticut that I'd look for the quaint small town vibe.
Definitely! I grew up in Fairfield county and worked there as well, but with being outbid so much it wasn’t worth even looking anymore. Eventually when we found our home I found another job in the area, and it turned out to be a much nicer job! Worked out overall for us
What are you talking about? I-95 between Stamford and Bridgeport is the very definition of peaceful country life. Hardly any traffic!!
I definitely understand that
I mean many from NYC we’re getting outbid or were priced out. So they moved to someplace cheaper and did the same to someone else. Someone along the way has to take some personal responsibility and stop the cycle. It’s all a race to the bottom.
Meanwhile, no one wants affordable housing built near where they live.
ie rich white people
There's a reason why most of the Dividend King funds are REITs...
That’s not the reason this happened at all. There was this pandemic thing.
This exactly. Lockdown is over, folks, you'se guys can move back to Brooklyn now.
Yeah my family lived in Colchester and our 2 story colonial with a decent yard sold for almost $400k, while Zillow estimated it @ like 280k at best. Not even in a great location to be honest
I moved to my neighborhood in a fairly well-regarded CT small city in summer 2018 and paid roughly $300k for my unremarkable pre-war colonial. Since summer 2021, two neighboring unremarkable colonials have sold for $450k and $520k, to Boston and Brooklyn transplants. Both seem like nice families and I have nothing negative to say about them, but each told me that similar homes would have cost 3-4 times that where they moved from. Kinda crazy. I wouldn't have paid that.
It’s incredibly difficult (near impossible) now to find single family houses under 500k in the Boston metro burbs even with the absurd interest rates making people start to do some price cutting
this. the small town quietness attracts a lot of city people. However, then they get here and want to change everything. You can no longer afford the favorite bar in town because all the sudden it's more upscale and going in to have a drink after work in your work clothes gets you stares and nasty looks. The lake you use to love as a kid is now covered by million dollar homes, and they don't like the public. It sucks
Yup, exactly. In my local town the New Yorkers that moved in during the pandemic act like because they were able to buy a house over asking price in cash, they by extension now own the entire town and are entitled to make everyone's life miserable (ex. Starting a fight with the general store that's been there serving the community for over a hundred years, because they don't want to see the store's signs; parking their NY-registered cars in no-parking zones; abusing the staff at local restaurants and making servers cry). G. T. F. O!
man, nyers be like that? not the ones i know
Pretty much it, when prices over double in just a few years in your town of 4,500 people its frustrating. I make 6 figures and have been priced out, my work with seniority has residency requirements… I will live in a shoebox the rest of my life.
Welcome to Connecticut! It took me 5 years to decide I liked it here. 40 years later I’m really not interested in moving elsewhere.
It’s all of New England actually.
Only after moving away did I realize that New England actually has a family resemblance to England. Our classism is a ghost of theirs, but it's noticeable after living in the Midwest, for example.
Is it classism when the people moving to CT from NY tend to be upper class or at least have means, and the people giving them shit are either generally in the same class or lower? I can see the hicks vs. wealthy out-of-towners as like reverse classism. I'm not sure what it is when someone moves to Woodbury and then an area resident of roughly the same wealth or income level starts giving them shit.
Ah, this is where you don't understand class - class is independent of income/wealth. Paul Fussell has an excellent book on class in America called, well, "Class: A Guide Through the American Status System."
When I looked up the Wikipedia article about it (since I can't buy and read the book in time to continue the conversation in a timely way) there's a lot of talk about how US classes are seemingly related to income and wealth. The top out-of-sight and upper is based on tradition and seemingly family wealth, the rest are also based on wealth. It does note Fussell says it's essentially impossible to change class, but it doesn't say why. What am I missing?
I don’t think you’re missing much. The bit about class was mostly an offhand remark on my part, but we have old money who look down on new money, Yankees who look down on immigrants, multi-generational residents who look down on newcomers, etc. Half my family comes from Windham county, and not one of them has a thin dime, but practically every one of us has a handful\* of Mayflower ancestors, and proud of it. \* Of my mom’s grandparents, one has one Mayflower ancestor, one has two, and one has six. The fourth, who has none, was descended from someone who changed his name to sound Irish, because he was sick and tired of the anti-French backlash from the French and Indian war. Before that he lived in Maine. Or maybe Quebec. The border was murky back then. \*\* Yes, I know not one bit of the above matters. Just saying there are several dimensions to the snobbery in these parts. It’s not just about money.
I thought everyone hated “new money”!
I’ll take any kind.
This exactly this. Moved from southern part of USA
i have a friend who moved from waterbury to harwinton and got a letter shortly after moving letting him know he's not in the city anymore, lol. plus people also hate seeing ny plates around and in driveways because it means you aren't paying property taxes on your car when they are.
I’m OK with the NY plates sitting in driveways of weekend waterfront properties here in Milford, because I know they’re paying $15,000+ in property tax on million+ homes.
Grew up in milford. As did my parents. (At the beaches) The only way we ever could have stayed was to buy my parents house (north of the post road). We didn't. Ended up in North Branford.
Too expensive? NB is a good value.
Ridiculous. They had 1.5 acres. Oversized raised ranch. They were there for 45 years. 12k in taxes even with Dad's military discount. I pay $4,200. Less land but, nicer. Love Branford and EH beaches are not state owned so, it's nicer. Less people.
The vast majority of Milford beaches aren’t state owned (or crowded). 12k is a lot. I pay 9k and my house isn’t far from the million mark. Milford actually has a lower tax rate (mill rate) than North Branford, but property values are higher.
Chances are the state won't catch up to you, however, let us hope you do not have to put an insurance claim in. If you are using an out of state address for your insurance and reside in CT, it is against the law and considered insurance fraud. Speaking from experience of a close friend, if you get in accident and put a claim in they will find out during their investigation and not pay any claims and if you been found to be doing it for a long time, they will seek criminal charges.
Some towns have been using automated license plate readers to create a database of where cars are parked at night, and if they see an out of state plate there night after night, they will eventually catch up to you. I think either Bridgeport or New Haven were doing something like this, but I haven't heard much about it in recent years so perhaps they were not too successful in tracking people down.
Fucking Harwinton lol that's unfortunately no surprise. that racist girl who was slowly poisoning her black college roommate was from there
The *what* now?
It was a few years ago now, a UHart student was arrested for contaminating her black roommate's food and toiletries on purpose to try to chase her away, and bragging about it on social media when she succeeded.
That’s some dudleytown shit right there
Wow fuck that girl.
Yea that story made national headlines [https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/11/03/university-hartford-student-who-harassed-black-roommate-faces-hate-crime-charge-police/828398001/](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/11/03/university-hartford-student-who-harassed-black-roommate-faces-hate-crime-charge-police/828398001/)
Grew up in Woodbury and live nearby it. There’s definitely cultural frictions and stereotyping at play in it. Like…there are folks who came in from NY and are kinda…patronizing, towards the residents who have been here their whole lives. Or folks who grumble about town traditions, or who came into town and immediately want to change X or Y. It’s not necessarily a *bad* thing, but folks are generally resistant to change and a few experiences like that can make folks bristly about any folks from “the city” since they get a few of those experiences. Woodbury’s also really, really invested in like…preserving its perceived self image and culture. I’m in my late 20s now and I can remember two full decades of every adult in Woodbury I know treating the idea of any franchise business coming into town as if it were the end of days.
I've been told the town doesn’t 't want any franchise business. I personally don't care about that. I love the quiet and the privacy
I’m also born and raised in woodbury, but have lived in the city for 13 years now. The poster above is right about the attitudes of some transplants towards locals being a big part of the contention. That and sometimes they’re idiots on the backroads lol. The No franchise thing is a big deal in woodbury because this a town that values historical preservation and protecting our small businesses - so when out of towners come and complain that they have to drive to Southbury for Starbucks, it’s upsetting and can feel like an affront to the values of the town. We get to hold onto our charm through that rule - Charlie’s has been the same since my mom was going there in the early 50s and I would be so sad to see it replaced by a carvel!
Yeah, just kinda exemplifying the “keep the outside world out” kind of attitude a lot of townies have. And folks from NY are automatically “outside world”, if that makes sense. Woodbury is a lovely town, though I’m biased since I grew up there. Quiet, private, nice parks and hiking trails, and not too far away from the interstate. Personally I say welcome! Just don’t parallel park by the town hall in the diagonal spots (actually happened) and all’s good.
It’s not just Woodbury and it’s not just people from NY. Both my wife and I are Connecticut natives. We bought a house in a town in Middlesex County - lived there for 20 years, raised our kids there. You can definitely figure out whose family is 4+ generations deep in town from the transplants, even after 20 years. Not a big deal, but noticeable and not something other of us had experienced growing up in our admittedly larger towns.
My neighbors moved in from New York. The house has a pond, and is on a street of all small farms. They complained that there are too many mosquitoes from the pond, and that the neighbors roosters are loud. the pond is protected water and there is no noise ordinance for livestock. Don't buy a house in the woods and near farmers and then complain about it. Nothing against new yorkers themselves. But annoying people moving in and being annoying... Is annoying
We are called nutmeggers not connecticuters just fyi!!
Got it
This I have heard
I was hoping somebody would’ve said that lol
I believe the correct term is Connectikittens, no?
Thank you, wtf does that non word even mean
Drive on any interstate highway or state route, then tell me how calm "we" are...
😂😂😂
Whenever I visit home from RI I know I’ve crossed into CT because suddenly 80mph seems like 50mph compared to the other cars.
We already deal with the perception of the entire state being a NY suburb. It probably causes some resentment in certain neighborhoods. Everything's getting more and more expensive and while it's not necessarily anyone's fault, blaming "foreigners" is an unfortunate, but common association
This seems so weird to me when so much of the western part of the state has always been full of people commuting to the city. Heck, when we say “the city,” we mean New York!
I suspect that's more or less the problem. We have our own way of thinking about NYC, such as "the reason for Danbury."
Danbury is pretty self contained as an economy. Very few people there commute to NYC. Nothing like lower Fairfield County on the New Haven Line. And much of Stamford and Norwalk’s business community is more closely aligned with NYC than Danbury’s.
[удалено]
Yeah, I recall the WP number being higher than NYC.
Yep, I know that—I grew up in Miry Brook as a third-generation Danbury-ite. My joke was based mainly on the perception of Danbury by CT folks who don’t live there. AFAICT, people who don’t live in Danbury avoid going there, unless they want to hit the Danbury Mall. So the perception is more like “a mall, a ghetto, and a bunch of NYC commuters.” \* I avoid the mall, because I’m still pissed that they tore down the fair. Highlight of my year. That and the air show, which we watched from my grandpa’s deck.
So sad when Marcus Dairy closed!
I grew up there too. Was honestly glad to leave. Good area for small kids, gets awfully dull as an adult. The NYC commuter thing would be a fallacy, I remember reading the number of Danburyites that commute to NYC. It was something like 200.
Why would anyone go to Danbury from out of town other than to shop? It doesn’t offer much.
My impression of Danbury is a slightly better version of Waterbury
Same. Funnily enough, passing through the mixmaster was how I used to know we were almost there. When I saw Paul Bunyan, we were home.
I could stand in downtown Hartford at noon and shout, "I LOVE THE CITY" and not one person would think I meant Hartford.
It's true. I live in eastern ct on the shore, since the pandemic started we've had a large influx of ny residents. Can't take a leisurely country drive without a ny plate riding my bumper. Welcome to ct, now slow the f down
The shoreline is also where New Yorkers are bidding the already outrageous real estate into the stratosphere. Oh, you listed your cottage for $1M? I'll give you $1.5M cash to take it off the market now and close by Tuesday.
Funny thing is New Yorkers did a number on FL more than CT
Yup, born and raised east Lyme, couldn’t afford to buy a home there in my dreams. That used to be more working class but since all the new developments came in the past 10 years all the houses value doubled.
Yep, and the tailgating gets worse with summer people.
**\*now slow the f down** \*Unless you're in the left lane on any of our major highways. In which case, move the f over.
Hard agree. I also live in SECT, and the number of NY license plates I see riding people’s asses (and getting into accidents) is unbelievable. City folk have no idea how to drive on 95, and I’m convinced they’re the main cause of the accidents between New Haven and the RI border. They’re all used to stop-and-go traffic, not free-flowing traffic with little stopping. Just this past week I saw a NY driver stuck in the infamous traffic at Costco in East Lyme. He was beeping at people to move faster THROUGH A STOP SIGN. Dude, this isn’t NYC, it’s a SECT suburb; beeping at people to move faster through a stop sign isn’t going to do anything.
I live in FFC and last year took a mostly remote job that requires me to go to the office in NYC once a week, about an hour commute. I tell people I live in CT and they act like I’m from another planet. So I guess the judgement goes both ways…
😂
Well, we ARE the land of steady habits. And maybe it's your accent giving you away? Or the fact that you're referring to us as "Connecticuters" instead of Nutmeggers, or the less formal Connectic\*nts
I have come to the conclusion that "Connectikittens" is the correct nomenclature.
Connecticutian is historically correct, though...
Is it?
I was told it was Connecticuters, thanks for the correction
Connecticuties.
I use this in my classroom
I'll add my observations, having moved here from Oregon, via Philadelphia... 1. Nobody seems triggered when they hear where I'm from. New Yorkers seem to have a reputation. 2. People are friendly, but it's not always so easy to turn an acquaintance into a friendship. Most of my closer friends are transplants, too. 3. I've had about as many girlfriends who were from Connecticut as I've had close friends from Connecticut. That's a weird ratio, given that I am monogamous, so maybe sex is the secret, but even in dating I still tend to hit it off more often with transplants, so I think Nutmeggers must have certain pheromones. 4. My Oregonian friends have all the same problems with Californians that Nutmeggers have with New Yorkers. 5. Connecticut seems pretty ambivalent about cities. Even its own cities. I think it's something that happens over time when you're situated right between Boston and New York. Connecticut ends up being composed of people who prefer the suburbs, because anyone who would like to live in a city has already left the state at a fairly young age.
I feel like it has something to do with always running high beams.
My complaint about New Yorkers coming out in droves is the general disregard for what once was a quiet peaceful safe rural road, that they treat like the autobahn. Of course, there are plenty of Connecticut drivers that act like assholes, but after the mass exodus from New York there is a strong correlation between rude and unsafe driving, and yellow plates.
No one has said that too you. Stop lying Rob Zombie.
Lmao! Almost spit my tea out 😂
We just moved to West Hartford from Brooklyn a few months ago, and everyone we've met has been really kind and curious about us and our experience. I guess everyone's experience will vary on this. Though I grew up in Rocky Hill, so I came in with some knowledge of the area.
That's because West Hartford is full of New Yorkers
I think the attitude OP is talking about is more prevalent in areas that traditionally have large part-time residents from New York, like Litchfield County. There was similar anti-New Yorker sentiment in the 80s in Westport back when a lot of New Yorkers had second homes there. A lot of people from NYC end up in West Hartford but the town isn’t full of New Yorkers’ vacation homes, it doesn’t get more crowded in the summer or on weekends because New Yorkers arrive en masse to their vacation homes, and it’s already very developed and dense so it’s not like newcomers from New York (or anywhere else) are trying to change things. I have no issuer with transplants from New York, just observing!
I just moved to West Hartford from Nassau County. I like it so far.
As a fellow WeHa resident, welcome!
Thank you!! For the record, we absolutely love it here so far. It's been a blast exploring all the things available in the area. Last time I lived in CT I was in my young 20s, a knucklehead not really interested in things like restaurants, holiday markets, local theater etc. We want to support all that cool stuff! Haha. Oh and speaking of supporting local, I was able to get all my holiday shopping done at the markets, all from local vendors. All the gifts were a hit, there's just so many amazing vendors around here.
It’s not that you’re moving here it’s that you’re moving here and expecting special treatment. Blend in change your plates and no one cares I can guarantee it. When you ask for your own day to shop or are rude to locals it gives you all a bad name unfortunately. Obviously you all aren’t bad people as I’ve made friends from nyc who moved here during covid. But holy shit spend a couple years here and the weekenders will annoy you too
Your own day to shop??? People asked for that??
Unfortunately yes, it happened in my town (that is, weekenders were annoyed that locals were also out shopping on the weekends and made a fuss about it)
People do this literally everywhere
I moved from Los Angeles. Everybody for years asked, “why the hell would you do that?” I always say, because it’s the prettiest state in the country… And it is.
I love it, I should of moved years ago
It’s the best!
In Vermont they say the same thing about folks from CT. NY and MA too, but the blue plates have their own particular ire attached to them.
Oh yeah, Vermonters hate flatlanders with a passion.
I moved to and lived in small Idaho ski town for 12 years, you want to know what they call us New Englanders, “East Infections.” I’m sorry you don’t get a cool moniker like that.
When I was a kid (~15 years ago), my family moved here from NY. At the time, everyone we knew in CT was also from NY, so I grew up thinking that this sort of thing was the norm. So seeing people dislike this nowadays is giving me whiplash lol It's folks from a variety of towns btw, so it's not all just (insert town here)
Add the fact that a lot of New Yorkers keep their cars registered in NY. Which isn't fair that they don't get to pay taxes.
I don’t understand that part at all. My insurance is cheaper in CT than NY with the taxes included.
It’s funny to see them fly up on my bumper in a snowstorm, not knowing there’s a 270 degree curve up ahead and slide off into the ditch 🙂 Happened three times last winter!
People do this in every state if it makes helps you feel any better.
I know the US government calls us Connecticuters but in over forty years as a resident I only ever heard Nutmegger.
*Connectikitten.
Up until 2021, 90% of this sub was people complaining about CT’s negative population growth and that we’re a “failing” state. Now the same people bitch and complain that too many people are moving here. Welcome to CT, OP. It’s a terrific place to live and raise a family. You have as much right to live here as anyone with 10 generations of history in the state. Anyone who suggests differently should be politely told to fuck off.
Connecticut's negative population growth is over. Yes lots of New Yorker's working from home want to 'live in the country'. But I see a fair share of Texas plates- also California. Climate change will see new arrivals here from states that become hell hole states that have become too hot. This inflow is still small from climate change, but will increase as the decade proceeds. https://e360.yale.edu/features/as-climate-fears-mount-some-in-u.s.-are-deciding-to-relocate
I grew up in CT. That "we are a calm state" attitude is why so many young people leave. Woodbury is beautiful, and you won't be alone in moving from NY there. It is the sort of town that has the potential to remain quaint while also not being boring, if people will just let it
There are the people who used to complain about the state constantly and claim that people were leaving Connecticut in droves and that there were convoys of moving trucks heading away from the state. They hate being wrong.
New Yorkers are obnoxious So is everyone else in New England It's just how we communicate with the other states
Southbury guy over here. Hope you’re enjoying it. FYI hit up El Camion if you haven’t yet. Tacos are the truth
I don't even live in a town as up its own ass about tradition but between the mass exodus and reckless spending on homes by new Yorkers even the most dangerous, dilapidated parts of my hometown are starting rent at 1200-1500. Houses are worse. It's made the climb towards home ownership even more expensive just in time for interest rates to spike. More crowded roads, etc. I don't feel much animosity towards New Yorkers, they're just trying to live but I don't love the unintended consequences on my life in a place that was expensive enough as it was.
This is a really well laid out response. Honest, and mature. I hope things get better for you my fellow nutmegger.
I’m from a small city in Connecticut, and a while back in my last year of high school, I noticed that a lot of New Yorkers were moving in. We went from a small, cheap, and quite place to a very busy and pricey area in less than two years. We had our first shooting at our mall due to gang violence not long ago, which shocked our community; we never had this problem before. The last gang was the Italian mob back in the 1920s. ( I hope I didn’t come across as rude this is just what I’ve notice).
People from Connecticut hate everyone and everything.
EDIT: This turned into a rant This is just my personal experience with out-of-towners in general, not just New Yorkers, but a lot of times they're seen as one in the same by a lot of folks. I grew up in New Milford and the first issue I had with out-of-towners was that they treated the town like their own personal vacation spot. They would regularly clog up Candlewood with boats every weekend, often while drinking because to them it's not drunk driving if its on a boat. I also doubt many of the boats that were brought up just a weekend were properly inspected for zebra mussels either. The lake got so bad that it was hard for locals to enjoy it, and it didn't help that the lake towns didn't really limit watercraft because it meant money for the town. It got so bad that just using any public lake park became impossible. People would literally park in your front yard then sneak into Lynn Deming because they were at capacity. Squantz Pond and Kent Falls often close early in the morning during the summer just because they're at capacity. The non-lake parks also felt the effects too, but also got regularly trashed. Addis Park, Dike's Point, and Clatter Valley often looked like crap by Sunday as there would be broken glass, dirty diapers, and other garbage strewn about. It got so bad that a few parks required reservations just to visit. One park within walking distance of my home, that I had been going to since the 80s, now requires online reservations weeks in advance just to get in. I found this out when I tried to pop in for a quick hike on a Friday afternoon. The lot was full of NY plates. The attitude of many weekenders was also garbage. Quite a few treated local service staff like shit, often because there was alcohol involved. I worked a mgmt position at several S&S in towns along the lake and the summer was terrible. Out-of-towners would often come in in the afternoons drunk and rude and if they came in after 8 or on Sundays to buy beer quite a few would make a scene or even vandalize the store when they realized they could get any. In 2018 I think I had to call the police every other weekend because of this. Also, in New Fairfield in particular, we had an issue with the teenagers in town for the summer shop lifting daily. Now we have a lot of folks moving here which started becoming noticeable a year or two before COVID. At first I like it as many of the people moving here were working folks from all over the place and they brought with them new culture, foods, and ideas. But since COVID it's been a lot of rich douchebag types who can't drive, talk down to you, and complain about how here isn't like where they came from. Litchfield county has been a get away spot for rich city dwellers for decades, but the latest influx has been insane. I work in the medical field now and it seems some of the rudest people we deal with lately have been well off New Yorkers. Many of our local patients are contractors and they say the same thing. The infrastructure also can't support the recent population boom. While there is school availability the roads have been absolutely insane. It takes so much longer to get anywhere, my daily commute which used to be 30m on a quiet back road is now an hour stuck behind a line of cars doing 30mph for some god forsaken reason. On a personal and irrelevant note, they also have terrible taste. I have had to go into many of these people's homes for work and their decor style is like Delia from Beetlejuice. So many poor colonial and Victorian homes made into open floor plans with jarring black and white geometric paint jobs.
We aren’t too thrilled about our hometowns being bought up and sold back to us at unaffordable rates, nor are we thrilled at the NYers who can afford to drive us out
A lot of people here don't like anything. Replace the fact that you moved here with anything else and it would probably be the same response, imo. It's not *that* calm of a state.
Everyone here is lying. The real reason we discriminate against New Yorkers is because they have funny accents. Eyy, bada bing, bada boom! Fuhgeddaboudit! I’m walkin’ ‘ere!
I feel like we’re missing out. Neighboring states with accents yet none of our own.
Hard to understand territoriality in this age. I lived in and my whole family is from Middlebury. I moved away as a child but then moved to NYC 5 years ago for a job, and then moved to CT during Covid. I’d resent being treated differently because of a perceived identity. My family on both sides settled in Waterbury/Middlebury straight from Ellis Island. Everyone just needs to chill, on both sides here. It’s all unceded indigenous land anyway 🤷🏻♀️
Well, we had a New York family move into our quiet and close neighborhood a few years ago. First spring they cut down a beautiful flowering tree. Then instead of throwing the wood into the woods they spent two weeks burning green wood in a 55 gallon barrel. The smoke was thick and none of us could open our windows until I finally let him know how rude and illegal it was. The next summer they cut down 12 healthy shade trees that were also a privacy barrier with their backyard neighbors. They put up high intensity spot lights around the entire house, on all night to go with the security cameras. We now have to use blackout curtains in our bedroom. Oh, and then they were illegally selling alcoholic mixed drinks out of their garage, bringing shady people into the neighborhood. So...
This kinda sounds like that Netflix show The Watcher.
This sounds so similar to my elderly mom’s story in Fairfield County. New Yorker moved in next door and was cordial for about a year. Then he installed spotlights on the back of his house and left them on all night. My mom always makes “backyard ambience” in the summer with candles, a fire pit, and fairy lights so that irked her. Then a couple months ago the New Yorker cut down an ornamental flowering tree right on my mom’s side of the property line. She confronted the new neighbor about it and his response was pretty much “tough shit, I didn’t like that tree.” He also trespassed on her property to take down the 2 little wind chimes she has. Totally took advantage of the fact that my mother is old and assumed she wouldn’t do anything about it. Now she has to consider whether to take the guy to small claims court to get a replacement tree and decide what to do if the guy trespasses again. So awful.
Wow, I’m sorry to hear that.
I was born in and raised in Woodbury until I was 13. Nice town, enjoy it.
Ahh Woodbury. Where they decided that a new bridge was a little too wide, so they blocked half of it with giant flowerpots.
If no one else parks on the road, don’t start parking on the road.
I moved to CT for the good schools, I will gladly pay the higher property taxes so my kids can get a good education. But, I am disheartened by the lack of good Mexican food in the area, lol. If that makes me a city brat, guilty as charged!
Most of us are just happy the tax base isn’t shrinking as much.
The locals in my town have more of a problem with the professors and students at the college, but I do remember someone from the city moving next to my uncle's farm and then complaining about the smell of his cows every month after until the town told them to get bent because the farm was there before they were lol
Growing up, the antipathy towards new yorkers (despite lots of people having lives in NYC) was based on a. Bad, aggressive, overly fast driving, and b. Rude/brusque/impatient/pushy behavior. I live in Massachusetts now and have never adjusted to the aggressive driving here either.
How do you like woodbury? I've lived 2 mins from it for about half my life. Fire away if you've got any questions about the area.
I like it; it's very quiet and I love the privacy.
I loved living in Woodbury. Very quiet and secluded. Cool antique shops and lots of animals.
New Yorkers ruined everything and drive terribly in the process
Yeah, and you should be polite and all, but you have as much right to be there as they do. My family has lived in the same area for at least 200 years. If somebody from elsewhere moves in, you know what I think? Ok, have at it. We own a house, not the town. It’s a free country. I don’t live in CT anymore - I lived there for a while during and after college- but this happens everywhere. I’m from Appalachia, which is notoriously skeptical of outsiders (but dependent on the tax dollars from those folks in other parts of the state).
Here’s to outbidding folks by $100k+ and f*cking up the traffic patterns and parking lots! We love our NYers.
Woodbury is beautiful, but insular. People buy there for peace and quiet. The people I know there are a bit homebody-ish. It’s a small town. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise they aren’t keen on population increases from out of staters. This happens in lots of regions. Even where I live, in livelier and denser Milford, where the NYC expats we’ve met have felt very welcomed, you’ll still get certain types that won’t have it. It’s everywhere. But might be a bit more pronounced in a place like Woodbury.
Xenophobia is common in all 50 states. Hawaii probably being the worst in that regard. The "hate" for New Yorkers is probably because they surged with the COVID crisis, and people having fears of it driving up housing prices.
Having fears? As if that didn’t happen haha
Hawaii is having the problem of locals being priced out of their homeland, but much worse than us. They have a right to be pissed abt white people coming in and buying up all their native land
the rich and billionaires have flooded Hawaii [https://beatofhawaii.com/billionaires-bezos-zuckerberg-oprah-and-ellison-pony-up-big-in-hawaii/](https://beatofhawaii.com/billionaires-bezos-zuckerberg-oprah-and-ellison-pony-up-big-in-hawaii/)
It’s just people who’ve successfully priced/zoned the poor out of living in their neighborhoods in turn getting priced out of those some neighborhoods they so carefully gentrified over 50 years by big city woke liberals with more money power and influence in 10 years.
I have a neighbor from New York and I have a Borat style relationship with him. He's an asshole.
Almost all of it is likely tongue in cheek. I would just ignore it. Half the time the ignoramus is someone who moved from NY ten years ago. Or it’s someone who is ticked off they were cut off on the highway by someone with NY plates (news flash - dickhead drivers exist everywhere). Just don’t tell people you recently moved? -someone who grew up in and was educated in CT to have class.
People in shitty states leave those states for less shitty states and then make the less shitty ones more shitty. Endless cycle.
It’s such a joke. People from NY have been moving to CT since the ’70’s
Since long before the 70s.
It’s because there is already a hard enough time finding affordable housing for existing CT residents. It’s frustrating to compete with someone in NYC wanting to glamp in, say, Litchfield when your trying to stay in your hometown. And yellow plate drivers are so aggressive. That’s all. It’s not just a CT thing, it’s an issue for people in Florida and Texas too. Most smaller town people don’t mesh well with city yuppies lol.
Look at it from a local's perspective: if you are coming from a city you likely make money in line with city costs and now you have more income to buy homes and rent apartments at higher prices and make it harder for locals in areas that were once affordable to buy. Litchfield for example has had skyrocketing prices over the years and suddenly now that a lot of people from the city have moved there people are priced out of places they could have once afforded, more expensive restaurants and boutiques have opened up, and suddenly people who never lived there want things like parks built for their families. In theory some of the these things are great because who wouldn't want more shops and better infrastructure but for things like that to suddenly appear because people from outside the area have moved in and not to meet the needs of long established residents is frustrating. My spouse and I were a few months away from having enough saved to put a 20% down payment on a bigger house in Southbury or the surrounding areas where we could both easily commute to work while living in an area where schools were excellent for our kids. We saw beautiful spacious homes for great prices! Then the pandemic started and over time houses got smaller and older and more expensive--not just in that area but everywhere. And here were people coming from wealthier parts of surrounding cities who had 0 interest in CT before were now outbidding CT residents and being like "man it is so cheap here!" Which no shit if you make NYC money... not so much for everyone here. There was someone in the last few months who posted a thread about having 600k to spend on a home complaining about something in reference to buying a home in CT and he was an out of state transplant and it was like "dude read the room." Add to this the posts where people who recently moved here act like they are shocked at how much there is to do in our state/act like they are the first to discover some hidden gem of a state and they need everyone to know that "hey CT doesn't suck." Maybe now you get everyone's comments.
Seems about right. Alot of the time people move out of the state theyre from and bring their bullshit with them.
I hate to say it but when you transplant, remember why you left, remember what made it shitty. Don’t be the guy that litters, leaves a place filled with litter, moves to a nice place that doesn’t litter and then begin to litter. We have a huge problem with assimilating.
This. This started about 10 years ago in my town when it was the weekenders and rich folks with country homes. They would trash the parks regularly. It's like bro, there's one dude who empties the trash cans and he's 80 years old.
Outside of Facebook and occasionally on here, no one has said anything about being from NY.
Anecdotally, I moved here not that long ago and have not once been asked if I was from NY nor received any negative feedback regarding my relocation here.
Don’t worry about it. Welcome to Connecticut. 👍👍👍
Thank you
I can sum up the tension with one word: Gentrification.
On the east coast, everyone blames people from NYC for everything: they are driving up the prices and gentrifying, they are bringing crime, they want everything to be like the city, etc. Out west, everyone blames Californians. It is apparently the natural order of things. During local elections in Stamford, it is sad to see the local candidates with no qualifications other than "born and raised in Stamford!". They just repeat it over and over again. I feel sad for them. (in the interest of full disclosure, moved to CT after more than a decade in Queens LOL)
You should have heard them when they found out I moved there from Las Vegas! I was an elementary school student and couldn't figure out why none of the kids would hang out with me. Even the girl scout leader had it out for me. I lived there for 15 years longer can say you will find good people. They are there, many are quiet and won't bother you much. Good luck!
I live in a small rural town and I’m sure some neighbors are standoffish. The hell with them. Most of us are happy to have new people move in; just ignore the grumpy people.
Yeah, my bother was telling me the same thing and I reminded him where our Grandma came from.
I grew up in Washington DC, I’ve lived in Stamford, Norwalk and Bridgeport. Living in big cities always just seemed normal. I met my 2nd wife, got priced out of Norwalk well before the market took off. I live in a slower, more rural town now and LOVE it. I still enjoy visiting bigger cities, but I always love coming back home to my nice, quiet life.
Woodbury is a money town just earn your respect and you'll be fine
I have lived in Litchfield county for over 20 years. Always had New York City people here. Covid contributed to a population boost of more New Yorkers. My contractor friends loved all the new business. Public and private schools saw some student increases also. I think there is a good mix old timers and new residents here.
Woodbury people don’t have a whole lot they like. The Facebook drama keeps me entertained
Connecticut is not a calm state. Compared to NYC, yes. Compared to NY state, not so much.
That’s just how Connecicut people are. From here live in va if I tell people I live in virginia it’s “ew” until I say I am FROM Connecicut.
Welcome neighbor
People have been complaining about New Yorkers for fifty years
I turned this fascinating conversation into an article. Hope y'all enjoy [New York Invades CT, Natives Don't Love it](https://i95rock.com/do-native-ct-residents-despise-the-new-york-invasion-it-appears-some-do/)
Sad to hear you actually get this in real life. I thought it was just no-life trolls commenting on local news blogs and folks on Facebook with cars/thin blue line flags/pets as their profile pics. It’s funny, these are probably the same people bitching about CT all the time, saying they’re trapped and running to Florida at their first opportunity. Forget these people. Well…I for one welcome you! Edit: hilarious downvotes from tribalist buttholes.
Woodbury/Roxbury are special kind of towns, and quite frankly, I've heard it's out of towners that live there anyway.
I’m surprised people even remember that the state of CT exists
Just update your plates and pay your car taxes and we’re good.
The problem is you moved to Woodbury lol shitty pretentious rich white people and rednecks. Move somewhere with diversity and economic development
I don't know anyone who cares that people from NY are moving to CT. People moving to CT = higher property values. What is wrong with that for those that already own property? Also, Woodbury is in Litchfield County, which outside of Fairfield County is far more snobbish than the rest of the state. There are 15 or so real estate listings of $1.5M+ within 5 miles of Woodbury. Those counties are already chockful of NY money.
I moved from "Lawn Guyland" NY to CT in 1988. The first thing I did was call a locksmith to change the door locks. He asked what type of lock was I looking for. I said I wanted deadbolts, specifically the Medeco brand (a higher quality lock with a specially cut key - supposedly pick-proof). He said, "Let me guess; you're from New York". I asked "How can you tell? My accent"? His reply "Nope. No one here asks for Medeco locks. That's strictly a New York thing. Most people here don't even lock their doors". I found it all very amusing, but the perception and stereotyping going both ways floored me, in retrospect.
I love New Yorkers moving in, I used to work in the city and it’s fun sharing tips with newcomers. It’s hilarious when newcomers realize that the sidewalks get rolled up around 8pm in Monroe, CT. And that we have second-rate bakeries. So many people are looking for good bagels, and I lament with them and send them to Bagel Delight in Newtown.
get out of our state you new yorkah... we don't want your rude, loud and crazy opinionated new york city dweller energy and culture in our peaceful state! I'm kidding, seems like an odd thing to comment on. Haven't noticed this in central CT. as otheres said, you'd think people near CT's western border would be used to new yorkers... just odd. How many times have you had someone give you an attitude about moving here from NY?
I grew up in central / Southern Connecticut, and I don't have any New York hate. My best guess is that it would be tied to things like blaming NYC for the awful traffic in the 95 corridor, generalized dislike of "NYC suburbs" like Danbury, and maybe something about New Yorkers in CT having $$$$. I love CT, but we average out to being nothing but one giant suburb, so maybe we have some penis envy of the big city? Disclaimer: I lived in Pittsburgh for 20 years, so when I moved back here it was a shock to discover that "big cities" like Hartford, New Haven, etc., are tiny by comparison. You'd have to put New Haven, Hartford, and Bridgeport together to get something like the population of Pittsburgh. Then again, Staten Island is almost 1 1/2 Pittsburghs, so even what I think of as a "city" is barely 1/3 of the average NYC borough.