Before you decide to relocate to Connecticut, it’s important to research the exact cost of living around the state. And that’s what we’re going to help you do.
These are the places in Connecticut that cost a pretty penny — the most expensive cities in the state.
We used Saturday Night Science to compare the 2020-2024 American Community Survey on cost of living for the 55 places in Connecticut with more than 5,000 people.
After we saved up for months and could finally afford it, we landed on this list of the ten most expensive cities in Connecticut for 2026.
$250,001 median income · $2,194,168 median home · #3 home prices in Connecticut
Located in
Fairfield County, Connecticut
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$250,001 median income · $2,260,301 median home · #2 home prices in Connecticut
Located in
Fairfield County, Connecticut
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$134,914 median income · $2,265,962 median home · #1 home prices in Connecticut
Located in
Fairfield County, Connecticut
Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. The largest town on Connecticut’s Gold Coast, it is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut as well as the six-state region of New England. It takes roughly 40-50 minutes by train from Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. CNN/Money and Money magazine ranked Greenwich 12th on its list of the “100 Best Places to Live in the United States” in 2005. The town is named after Greenwich, a borough of London in the United Kingdom.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$190,481 median income · $1,439,703 median home · #4 home prices in Connecticut
Located in
Fairfield County, Connecticut
Cos Cob is a neighborhood and census-designated place in the town of Greenwich, Connecticut. It is located at 41.033 north, 73.6 west, on the Connecticut shoreline in southern Fairfield County. It had a population of 6,770 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$148,279 median income · $977,266 median home · #5 home prices in Connecticut
Located in
Fairfield County, Connecticut
Ridgefield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Situated in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains, the 300-year-old community had a population of 24,638 at the 2010 census. The town center, which was formerly a borough, is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$111,586 median income · $704,417 median home · #6 home prices in Connecticut
Located in
Fairfield County, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643. As of July 1, 2014, according to the Census Bureau, the population of Stamford had risen to 128,278, making it the third-largest city in the state and the seventh-largest city in New England. Approximately 30 miles from Manhattan, Stamford is in the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk Metro area which is a part of the Greater New York metropolitan area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$107,616 median income · $653,113 median home · #7 home prices in Connecticut
Located in
Fairfield County, Connecticut
Norwalk, is a U.S city located in southwestern Connecticut, in southern Fairfield County, on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. Norwalk is included statistically within both the New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined Statistical Area as well as the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$142,325 median income · $619,525 median home · #8 home prices in Connecticut
Located in
New Haven County, Connecticut
Orange is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 13,956 at the 2010 census. The town is governed by a Board of Selectmen.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$108,185 median income · $549,374 median home · #10 home prices in Connecticut
Located in
Fairfield County, Connecticut
Shelton is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 39,559 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$138,242 median income · $491,003 median home · #12 home prices in Connecticut
Located in
Hartford County, Connecticut
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Connecticut’s statewide median.
Connecticut statewide median: $436,407
Connecticut statewide median: $95,781
On the map
Mapping the most expensive places in Connecticut
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How We Determined The Most Expensive Places To Live In The Constitution State For 2026
The two most important things to think about when it comes to being able to afford a city in Connecticut are how much money you make and how much you have to spend to live there.
You need to understand your costs in the context of how much money you make.
For example, if the median household earns $100,000 and spends $40,000 on housing, it’s actually cheaper to live there than a place with a median income of $50,000 and housing costs of $21,000. You might spend more on housing, but you have more money overall to play with.
With that example in mind, we derived several statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2020-2024 around incomes and costs. They are:
- Overall Cost Of Living Index
- Median Home Price / Median Income (lower is better)
- Median Income / Median Rent (Higher is better)
- Median Home Price
You can then compare these metrics in each of the places in Connecticut to figure out which is the most expensive.
You are left with a “Cost of Living Index” by taking the average rank of each of these metrics for each city.
So we used that cost of living index to rank all of the 55 places in Connecticut that have more than 5,000 people.
The place with the highest cost of living in Connecticut according to the data is Old Greenwich. We updated this article for 2026. This article is our eleventh time ranking the most expensive places to live in Connecticut.
The full plate
Most Expensive Cities In Connecticut
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Cost Of Living | Population | Median Income | Average Home Price | Home/Income Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old Greenwich | 289 | 6,936 | $250,001 | $2,194,168 | 8.8x |
| 2 | Riverside | 277 | 8,954 | $250,001 | $2,260,301 | 9.0x |
| 3 | Greenwich | 235 | 14,792 | $134,914 | $2,265,962 | 16.8x |
| 4 | Cos Cob | 217 | 7,546 | $190,481 | $1,439,703 | 7.6x |
| 5 | Ridgefield | 167 | 6,970 | $148,279 | $977,266 | 6.6x |
| 6 | Stamford | 158 | 137,144 | $111,586 | $704,417 | 6.3x |
| 7 | Norwalk | 143 | 92,187 | $107,616 | $653,113 | 6.1x |
| 8 | Orange | 137 | 14,315 | $142,325 | $619,525 | 4.4x |
| 9 | Shelton | 129 | 41,889 | $108,185 | $549,374 | 5.1x |
| 10 | Simsbury Center | 128 | 6,198 | $138,242 | $491,003 | 3.6x |
| 11 | West Hartford | 127 | 63,620 | $129,890 | $487,818 | 3.8x |
| 12 | Danbury | 126 | 87,263 | $83,393 | $478,979 | 5.7x |
| 13 | Bethel | 125 | 11,404 | $90,848 | $554,248 | 6.1x |
| 14 | Cheshire Village | 125 | 6,172 | $117,218 | $504,443 | 4.3x |
| 15 | North Haven | 123 | 24,336 | $132,689 | $460,566 | 3.5x |
| 16 | Glastonbury Center | 121 | 7,266 | $107,357 | $444,019 | 4.1x |
| 17 | Branford Center | 120 | 6,305 | $74,150 | $393,230 | 5.3x |
| 18 | Southwood Acres | 119 | 8,115 | $110,286 | $318,652 | 2.9x |
| 19 | Sherwood Manor | 119 | 5,706 | $90,821 | $303,665 | 3.3x |
| 20 | New Milford | 118 | 8,188 | $83,235 | $460,616 | 5.5x |
| 21 | Kensington | 117 | 9,962 | $109,447 | $392,992 | 3.6x |
| 22 | Storrs | 116 | 15,207 | $37,839 | $386,688 | 10.2x |
| 23 | Pawcatuck | 116 | 5,577 | $80,114 | $428,914 | 5.4x |
| 24 | Wallingford Center | 115 | 18,208 | $89,959 | $379,671 | 4.2x |
| 25 | New Haven | 114 | 134,349 | $56,851 | $326,440 | 5.7x |
| 26 | Wethersfield | 114 | 27,250 | $126,806 | $424,098 | 3.3x |
| 27 | Thompsonville | 114 | 7,927 | $71,805 | $287,370 | 4.0x |
| 28 | Windsor Locks | 113 | 12,579 | $81,205 | $327,845 | 4.0x |
| 29 | Oakville | 113 | 9,276 | $95,515 | $333,639 | 3.5x |
| 30 | East Haven | 112 | 27,806 | $94,628 | $353,436 | 3.7x |
| 31 | Hazardville | 112 | 6,022 | $81,893 | $288,916 | 3.5x |
| 32 | Portland | 112 | 5,944 | $89,401 | $402,704 | 4.5x |
| 33 | Bridgeport | 111 | 149,153 | $58,685 | $355,127 | 6.1x |
| 34 | West Haven | 111 | 55,351 | $74,382 | $354,725 | 4.8x |
| 35 | Middletown | 111 | 47,958 | $79,438 | $354,795 | 4.5x |
| 36 | Derby | 111 | 12,487 | $79,500 | $336,765 | 4.2x |
| 37 | Bristol | 110 | 61,462 | $79,076 | $339,024 | 4.3x |
| 38 | Newington | 110 | 30,896 | $102,884 | $369,180 | 3.6x |
| 39 | Groton | 110 | 9,490 | $79,577 | $425,384 | 5.3x |
| 40 | New London | 109 | 27,625 | $59,098 | $312,695 | 5.3x |
| 41 | Ansonia | 109 | 19,033 | $85,877 | $374,885 | 4.4x |
| 42 | Terryville | 109 | 5,461 | $72,813 | $289,986 | 4.0x |
| 43 | Meriden | 108 | 60,545 | $71,253 | $315,833 | 4.4x |
| 44 | Naugatuck | 107 | 31,800 | $96,324 | $346,062 | 3.6x |
| 45 | East Hartford | 106 | 50,918 | $70,778 | $300,292 | 4.2x |
| 46 | Norwich | 106 | 39,973 | $65,024 | $293,052 | 4.5x |
| 47 | Hartford | 104 | 121,127 | $46,411 | $198,965 | 4.3x |
| 48 | New Britain | 104 | 74,223 | $58,613 | $298,511 | 5.1x |
| 49 | Manchester | 104 | 36,759 | $74,267 | $323,532 | 4.4x |
| 50 | Winsted | 104 | 6,977 | $64,871 | $272,293 | 4.2x |
| 51 | Putnam | 103 | 7,120 | $65,511 | $343,176 | 5.2x |
| 52 | Torrington | 102 | 35,547 | $70,856 | $295,024 | 4.2x |
| 53 | Rockville | 102 | 7,072 | $51,232 | $260,131 | 5.1x |
| 54 | Waterbury | 101 | 114,869 | $51,886 | $276,344 | 5.3x |
| 55 | Willimantic | 101 | 18,096 | $45,962 | $266,600 | 5.8x |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024, Zillow research. 55 places with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
Summary: Taking A Chunk Out Of Your Paycheck In Connecticut For 2026
Well, there you have it, the places in Connecticut that have the highest cost of living, with Old Greenwich ranking as the most expensive city in the Constitution State.
The most expensive cities in Connecticut are Old Greenwich, Riverside, Greenwich, Cos Cob, Ridgefield, Stamford, Norwalk, Orange, Shelton, and Simsbury Center.
