New London County, Connecticut

New London County is a county in Connecticut, United States, on the state’s southeastern shore where the Thames River meets Long Island Sound. It had a population of 268,555 at the 2020 census and covers 772 square miles (1,999 km2), centred near 41°28′N 72°06′W.

Connecticut abolished county government statewide in 1960, so New London County has no county seat and no county administration today. Its historic seat, New London, held the county courts from 1666 until the abolition, and its postal code is 06320. The county’s FIPS code, 09011, survives only as a statistical label. New London County comprises 21 towns — two of them, New London and Norwich, chartered as consolidated cities — plus a further two dozen recognised villages and census-designated places, all in the Eastern time zone.

Towns & Villages in New London County

Every incorporated place in New London County is one of its 21 towns; several also contain named villages or census-designated places (CDPs) that never incorporated on their own. The table below lists all 21 towns plus the county’s best-known villages and CDPs, with the town each sits inside.

New London and Norwich are consolidated city-towns — each is legally both a city and a town, with a single government, rather than a separate municipality carved out of a larger town. Mystic and Old Mystic straddle the Groton–Stonington line and are counted once here even though the Census Bureau maps parts of each CDP into both towns.

ZIP Codes

• 06320 — New London (also serves the New London Coast Guard Academy campus)
• 06360 — Norwich
• 06340 — Groton and Noank
• 06378 — Stonington borough
• 06379 — Pawcatuck
• 06355 — Mystic
• 06372 — Old Mystic
• 06357 — Niantic
• 06333 — East Lyme
• 06385 — Waterford
• 06353 — Montville
• 06382 — Uncasville
• 06339 — Ledyard
• 06335 — Gales Ferry
• 06359 — North Stonington
• 06351 — Jewett City (also serves Griswold and Lisbon)
• 06330 — Baltic (also serves Sprague)
• 06415 — Colchester
• 06249 — Lebanon
• 06371 — Old Lyme and Lyme
• 06365 — Preston
• 06420 — Salem
• 06384 — Voluntown

Bozrah and Franklin, the county’s two smallest towns, share post offices with their larger neighbours rather than carrying a dedicated ZIP code of their own.

Geography

New London County occupies Connecticut’s southeastern corner, a rolling upland of granite ledges and second-growth forest cut by the Thames, Yantic, Shetucket and Quinebaug rivers, all draining south into Long Island Sound at New London Harbor. The shoreline runs from the mouth of the Connecticut River at Old Lyme east to the Rhode Island line at Stonington, backed by beach communities, salt marsh and the county’s two federally recognised tribal reservations, Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot.

The county borders Windham County to the north, Middlesex County to the west, Long Island Sound to the south, and Rhode Island’s Washington County to the east, with a short stretch of Kent County touching its northeastern corner near Voluntown.

Demographics

New London County counted 268,555 residents at the 2020 census, most concentrated along the Thames and the shoreline. Norwich, at 40,125, is the largest municipality, followed closely by Groton at 38,411 and New London at 27,367. Household incomes vary sharply within the county: shoreline and Mystic-area towns run well above the Connecticut median of $91,665, while the former mill towns along the Thames and Shetucket — Norwich, Griswold, Sprague — trend below it. Population density across the county’s 665 square miles of land works out to roughly 404 people per square mile.

Economy & Local Life

Defense and gaming anchor the county’s economy. General Dynamics Electric Boat, which builds nuclear submarines at its Groton shipyard, and Naval Submarine Base New London, the U.S. Navy’s primary East Coast submarine base, are the county’s largest employers. Two tribally owned resort casinos, Mohegan Sun in Montville and Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, draw millions of visitors a year and employ thousands more. Pfizer maintains a major research campus straddling New London and Groton. Higher education adds Connecticut College, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and Mitchell College, all in New London, plus a satellite Three Rivers Community College campus in Norwich.

History

New London County was established on May 10, 1666, by an act of the Connecticut General Court, one of the colony’s original four counties, named for London, England. New London itself grew into one of the world’s busiest whaling ports in the early 1800s, ranked alongside Nantucket and New Bedford, Massachusetts, before the trade collapsed and shipping and manufacturing took its place. Connecticut abolished all eight of its county governments in 1960, leaving the county lines in place as census and judicial-district boundaries only. The U.S. Navy has based submarines at Groton since 1868, and the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes opened their casinos in 1996 and 1992 respectively, reshaping the county’s economy a second time.

Getting There

Interstate 95 runs the length of the shoreline through New London, Groton and Stonington; Interstate 395 branches north from Waterford through Norwich toward Windham County. Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor stops at New London Union Station, with connecting Shore Line East commuter service to New Haven.

• New Haven — 45 miles west
• Providence, Rhode Island — 40 miles east
• Hartford — 45 miles north

The nearest commercial airport is Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport, about 35 miles east of Norwich; Bradley International Airport near Hartford is roughly 50 miles north.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is New London County?
It occupies Connecticut’s southeastern corner, on Long Island Sound between the Connecticut River and Rhode Island.

What is the population of New London County?
268,555 at the 2020 census.

How big is New London County?
772 square miles (1,999 km2), including 107 square miles of water.

Does New London County have a county seat?
No. Connecticut abolished county government in 1960; New London served as the historic seat before that.

How many towns are in New London County?
21 towns, two of them — New London and Norwich — chartered as consolidated cities.

What ZIP codes are in New London County?
Every town has its own ZIP code or shares one with a neighbouring village; New London is 06320, Norwich is 06360 and Groton is 06340.

What are New London County’s two casino resorts?
Mohegan Sun in Montville and Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, both owned and operated by federally recognised tribal nations.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Connecticut.