COMMUNITY DEMOGRAPHICS
 
 
 

Planning for the future of Temple Beth El must be realistic in the context of the community which the Temple serves. This section will, therefore, set forth the environmental assumptions used as a framework for the various components of the strategic plan.
 

Community Demographics
 

The sources for the information presented in this section include the Stamford Planning Commission, U.S. Census data, and CACI Marketing Systems (a marketing demographics company). A sample of raw data compiled is shown in Appendix A (this set of data was drawn from CACI). The key findings are:
 

The total population, both people and households, of the area will remain relatively stable over the planning period. Of particular interest is the population in key zip codes, from which much of our congregation is likely to come - including North Stamford, the Ridges, Springdale, Glenbrook, Westover, New Canaan, Darien and parts of the Greenwich area. (It should be noted that the State of Connecticut is projecting a population increase for Stamford through the year 2040, and forecasts population increases of about 3% from 1995-2005, while CACI data suggests a small decrease in the 1990-1999 time period.)

The age distribution in the key areas will continue to be skewed somewhat to middle and upper age groups. Generally, 20-30% of the population in these areas is 45-64 years old and an additional 12-16% is over 65 years old. The younger adults in Stamford are clustered around the city center, Strawberry Hill and Glenbrook.

The children's population in these areas will increase somewhat from current levels of 11-15% of the population being in the 5-14 age group and another 4-6% being in the 14-19 age group. In the 1990-1994 period, school enrollment was up 17.6% in Stamford, 13.1% in New Canaan, 11.3% in Darien and 9.8% in Greenwich. Private schools accounted for about 15% of student enrollment in 1990.

The geographical areas of interest will continue to house populations which are well educated, well paid and largely white collar workers. In Stamford, 37% of workers fell into the Managerial and Professional category, and another 34% were categorized as Technical, Sales and Administrative. In the more affluent areas like North Stamford, over 60% of workers fall into the Managerial and Professional category.

College education increased from 26% in 1980 to 35% in 1990. Only 18% of the 1990 Stamford population had not completed high school.

Incomes in the key areas will remain well above the median. In the more affluent areas like North Stamford, New Canaan, Darien and Greenwich over 30% of households have incomes exceeding $150,000 and another 10-20% are in the $100,000-150,000 range. (the North Stamford median income of $110,830 in 1990 was about 6 times the median income of the city center area.)

Female labor force participation in Stamford grew from 56% in 1980 to 63.2% in 1990. Almost 70% of children 6-17 years of age were in households with all parents working. This ranged from 38% in the area between Long Ridge and High Ridge south of the Merritt to over 81% in the Strawberry Hill area.

Most of the population growth in 1980-1990 was in the non-white category, particularly Hispanic. Whites constitute 90% of the population in most city census tracts, with only 4 tracts showing 50% or more non-white.

In 1990, about 20% of the population had moved to Stamford within 5 years. This is about the same as in 1980.

In 1990, 23% of the Stamford population spoke a language other than English at home. Of these, 37% spoke Spanish. English fluency in the general population declined in the 1980-1990 time period.

Single family housing units in Stamford increased 9% from 1980 to 1990, to 21,100 units. In the same time frame, multi-family housing units increased by 12% to 18,500.

Renters occupied 11% of single family housing units in Stamford in 1990.

In Stamford, housing is aging, with units over 20 years old growing from 63% to 68% from 1980 to 1990. Units over 30 years old grew from 40 to 49% in this time period.

The median value of housing in Stamford increased 173% from 1980 to 1990, compared to a 64% growth in Consumer Price Index. About 27% of Stamford housing was valued at over $400,000 and 14% at over $500,000 in 1990.
 

The conclusion from all of the community demographic data gathered is that there should be no significant changes over the next 5-10 years. The population of interest to Temple Beth El will remain largely white collar, highly educated, with high family incomes, and live in neighborhoods categorized as "affluent" by almost any standard.
 

There is no reason to suggest that the population of middle to upper income Jewish families in this population will either rise or fall in proportion to the community as a whole. There is reason to believe that the mobility, working parents, and other characteristics of the population examined will also apply to the Jewish population.
 

Jewish Community Demographics
 

The Stamford area appears to have a Jewish population of 10,000-12,000. About half of this number are affiliated with one or more religious institutions and the remainder are a "best guess" from the size of various mailing lists (e.g., UJF). There has been no significant census work done within this community in the past several years.
 

In 1990, the Council of Jewish Federations did a major survey of the U.S. Jewish population. The data that follows is drawn from their publications "Highlights of the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey" and "Jewish Environmental Scan - Toward the Year 2000" which are based on screening interviews of 125,813 randomly selected adult Americans and in-depth interviews of 2,441 qualified respondents (i.e., in a household with at least one person who qualified as "Jewish or Jewishly affiliated").
 

The planning assumption for Temple Beth El is that the Jewish population of the Stamford area mirrors the National Jewish population as defined by the CJF survey.
 

The U.S. Jewish population is characterized by several subgroupings:
 
 

Jewish Identity Category	Number (000)	% of Jewishly Identified Population	% of Total Population in Qualified Households
Born Jews - Religion Judaism	4,210	62	51
Converts - Jews by Choice	185	3	2
Total - Jews by Religion	4,395	65	53
Born Jews - No Religion (Secular Jews)	1,120	16	14
Total Core Jewish Population	5,515	81	67
Born/Raised Jewish - Converted Out	210	9	3
Adults of Jewish Parentage - Other Current Religions	415	6	5
Children Under 18 Being Raised with Other Current Religion	700	10	9
Total Jewish Ethnic/ Religious Preference	6,840	100	84
Gentile Adults Living with Total Jewish Population	1,350		16
Total Jewish Population in 3.2 MM Households	8,200		100

PLANNING ASSUMPTIONS
 
 
 
 

Major study findings of interest to Beth El strategic planning are:

Population size will remain constant to about 2000 and then decline somewhat.

The younger age skewing of the Jewish Descent - Other Current Religion population suggests an increased rate of such losses in recent years.

The overall picture of movement into and out of Judaism is somewhat balanced in total, but there is a disproportionate exchange of females between the Core Jewish and Gentile populations of the U.S.

Older population (65 and over) will experience nominal growth from the current 15-20% level. Compared to the U.S. population, the Core Jewish Population contains proportionately nearly one-third more elderly persons.

The percentage of Jewish nuclear families (two parents, one working, all family members "Jews by religion") will decline to less than 15% of all households containing a core Jew due to dual-career households, intermarriages, single parent households, and alternative lifestyles.

Jewish family size will remain below that of non-Jewish households.

Intermarriage will rise from current 50% levels to over 70% by the year 2000.

The number of intermarried households with children will exceed the number of Jewish ones.

Only 25% of children in intermarried households will be raised as "Jews by religion", the majority being raised as secular Jews or in another religion.

Of those Jewish children raised as "Jews by religion", about 80% will receive some form of formal religious training.

Conservative Judaism will continue to be the largest segment, claiming 40-45% of those with temple/synagogue affiliation. Gains will come mostly from the Orthodox segment and most losses will be to either Reform or Reconstructionist movements, but no major shifts in relative populations will occur.

Jews will continue to be among the best educated and wealthiest population segments in the U.S., but the cost of "living Jewishly" will become increasingly a problem for many.

High Holy Day attendance at a religious service will remain stable at more than 60% of those claiming to be "Jews by religion". Weekly attendance of this same population will remain below 15%.
 

A key conclusion of this demographic and projection data is that the population of practicing Conservative Jews in all-Jewish families will decline over the next several years. Any gains to compensate for this decline will have to come from inter-married families, from currently unaffiliated Jews, and from other Jewish segments.
 
 

TEMPLE BETH EL DEMOGRAPHICS
 
 

The survey of Temple Beth El members taken in late 1994 by Yankelovich Partners, Inc. describes the current membership:
 

Age distribution is skewed to older members, with 55% over age 50 and 31% over age 60.
 

Of the 44% of members under age 50, 83% have been members less than 10 years.
 

Of the 36% of members who joined in the past 10 years, 88% have children under 10 years old, and 63% have children 10-17 years old.
 

42% of member families have children under 18 years old. Of those members who joined 10-19 years ago, 66% have children under 18 years old.
 

Length of membership is pretty evenly distributed, with about a third of the members joining in the past 10 years, a third between 10 and 20 years, and a third over 20 years.
 

23% of members have children in Jewish Day School.
 

A key conclusion to be drawn here is that the congregation is diverse in age, length of membership, and interests in programs for children and older adults.