Hartford Business Journal

6 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JANUARY 12, 2026 jobs in 2024, from roughly 385,000 a decade earlier. Hartford has faced high-profile setbacks, including Aetna's 2018 acquisition by Rhode Island-based CVS Health and hundreds of layoffs that ensued. The number of jobs in Connecti- cut's insurance sector has declined, too, dropping 15.5% between 2020 and 2024, from 43,300 to 36,600, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Conversely, Hartford has seen a number of insurers grow or move to the city in recent years, including Sun Life U.S., Global Atlantic Financial Group and Talcott Financial Group. Marketers say Hartford's insurance identity is steeped in its history, dating back to 1810, when Hartford Fire Insurance Co. became the city's first insurer. By the mid-20th century, Hart- ford was home to dozens of major insurers. The iconic Travelers Tower opened in 1919 and was briefly the tallest building in the world outside New York City. Aetna, founded in Hartford in 1853, grew into one of the nation's largest health insurers. More recently, insurance CEOs have again emerged as civic conveners, with The Hartford CEO Christopher Swift organizing a formal committee of corporate and public leaders focused on Hartford's long-term direction. The group also includes senior executives from Travelers, Hartford Steam Boiler, Nassau Finan- cial Group and Aetna, among others. "This isn't about creating a percep- tion," said Kara Mitchell, principal of client service at Mintz + Hoke. "Hartford is the insurance capital. The industry concentration that we have here and our historic identity is something that we wanted to make sure we brought forward very clearly through the branding and the campaign — making sure that was central to continuing to build on that equity over time." 'Hartford of the West' Des Moines, Iowa has followed Hartford's lead, branding itself as an insurance hub. It hosts several major insurers, including Principal Financial Group and Nationwide. But Des Moines' own branding concedes Hartford's dominance. "We found in our research that Des Moines has coined themselves as the Hartford of the West," Ormsby said. "And we have since found that there's merchandise that says that. So they don't even think they're in competition with us. They just want to be like us." The marketers point to a travel poster at Des Moines International Airport that features the city's skyline with the tagline "Hartford of the West" — a tacit acknowledgment that Hartford remains the standard by which other insurance centers measure themselves. Cost advantage Another of Hartford's key selling points is its relative affordability for insurance companies — a claim that counters Connecticut's reputation for high living costs and taxes. A 2023 study by accounting firm CohnReznick, commissioned by the Alliance, compared effective business tax rates and Class A office lease costs across 15 major metropolitan areas. For insurance companies, Hartford posted the second-lowest combined annual tax and lease costs at $879,000 for a hypothetical 20,000-square-foot user — $16,000 more than Des Moines. That compares with $1.27 million in Dallas-Fort Worth, $1.45 million in suburban Virginia, $1.61 million in Chicago, and $2.37 million in New York. "Hartford punches above its weight," the CohnReznick study concluded, noting the city's "compet- itive cost structures, especially regarding property taxes," even while individual taxpayers face higher taxes. The marketing materials say Hartford's cost of living is 31% lower than Boston's and 66% lower than New York City's, with rent 52% lower than Boston and 66% lower than New York. Further elevating Hartford's stature in terms of its perception as the insurance capital of the world: it literally owns the digital real estate to support the claim. Goddard said the Alliance controls the domain name InsuranceCapi- talOfTheWorld.com, and a Google search for the phrase typically leads directly to Hartford. "In the economic development world, if you own the narrative, then it doesn't matter what anybody else says," Goddard added, half-jokingly noting the URL "is available for $42 million if they'd like to buy it." Goddard recounted a recent visit from a London-based insurance technology executive scouting U.S. locations. "As they were crossing the bridge from East Hartford into downtown Hartford, looking at the names on top of the buildings, they said, 'Oh my God, this is the Disneyland of insur- ance,'" Goddard said. "Everybody they want to talk to is in Hartford." That concentration of industry expertise — actuaries, underwriters, claims specialists, risk managers and insurance technology providers clustered in one metropolitan area — represents Hartford's core compet- itive advantage, marketers say. InsurTech Corridor Part of the Alliance's strategy involves positioning Hartford as a global innovation hub through the InsurTech Corridor, a partnership between Connecticut and the United Kingdom designed to help insurance technology startups establish opera- tions in both markets. At the Alliance's December 2025 annual meeting, The Floow — a U.K.- based insurance technology company specializing in telematics and driver behavior data — announced it would locate its U.S. headquarters in Hartford. The company, founded in 2012, works with major insurers including Progressive, AAA and Plymouth Rock. The Alliance believes that Hartford provides the upstart with the room it needs to grow. Ten U.K. insurtech companies have committed to opening Hartford offices through the partnership. "We're focusing on early-stage companies that are growing fast — that can grow organically, bring some of their own people to start, and then build from there," Goddard said. A travel poster at Des Moines International Airport brands Iowa's capital as the 'Hartford of the West.' Here is an ad from the MetroHartford Alliance's marketing campaign promoting Hartford as the Insurance Capital of the World. Industry Identity Continued from page 5

• Cover