Editor’s Note: This is not investment advice, and we are not financial advisers.
Suppose real estate is the most significant investment a majority of people make in their lifetime. In that case, it’s best to understand the places in Connecticut with best potential return on investment.
After working in real estate adjacent roles for over a decade, I had the hypothesis that the best place to buy for a return on investment would be up-and-coming cities. Smaller cities where crime might be high now, but people still move to.
To test my hypothesis, we are going to look at places in Connecticut that are growing faster than average, but where home prices are below average, and crime rates are higher than average.
In everyday terms, these might be “deals”. The best deal in Connecticut at the moment according to Saturday Night Science? That would be Groton.
1.6% population growth · 1.9% home price growth
Located in
New London County, Connecticut
Groton is a town located on the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 40,115 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
1.0% population growth · -0.4% home price growth
Located in
New Haven County, Connecticut
Derby is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 12,903 at the 2010 census. It is the smallest consolidated city of Connecticut by area and population.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
0.4% population growth · 0.8% home price growth
Located in
New Haven County, Connecticut
Ansonia is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, on the Naugatuck River, immediately north of Derby, and about 12 miles northwest of New Haven. The population was 19,249 at the 2010 census. The ZIP code for Ansonia is 06401. The city is served by the Metro-North Railroad. Ansonia Station is a stop on the railroad passenger commuter service’s Waterbury line, connecting to New York’s Grand Central Terminal. Ansonia also is served by the Connecticut Transit bus carrier. Connecticut Route 8 serves Ansonia.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
1.6% population growth · 0.2% home price growth
Located in
New London County, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States. It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Southeastern Connecticut.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
0.5% population growth · -0.2% home price growth
Located in
New Haven County, Connecticut
Naugatuck is a consolidated borough and town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town spans both sides of the Naugatuck River just south of Waterbury, and includes the communities of Union City on the east side of the river, which has its own post office, Straitsville on the southeast, and Millville on the west. As of the 2010 census, Naugatuck had a population of 31,862.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
0.2% population growth · 2.7% home price growth
Located in
Litchfield County, Connecticut
Torrington is the largest city in Litchfield County, Connecticut and the Litchfield Hills region. It is also the core city of the largest micropolitan area in the United States. The city population was 36,383 according to the 2010 census.
-0.0% population growth · 1.7% home price growth
Located in
New London County, Connecticut
Norwich, known as ‘The Rose of New England’, is a city in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 40,493 at the 2010 United States Census. Three rivers, the Yantic, the Shetucket, and the Quinebaug, flow into the city and form its harbor, from which the Thames River flows south to Long Island Sound.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
1.2% population growth · 1.1% home price growth
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
0.7% population growth · 1.9% home price growth
Located in
Middlesex County, Connecticut
Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles south of Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated as a town under its original Indian name, Mattabeseck. It received its present name in 1653. Middletown was included within Hartford County upon its creation on May 10, 1666. In 1784, the central settlement was incorporated as a city distinct from the town. Both were included within newly formed Middlesex County in May 1785. In 1923, the City of Middletown was consolidated with the Town, making the city limits of the city quite extensive.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
0.5% population growth · 1.1% home price growth
Located in
New Haven County, Connecticut
Milford is a Coterminous municipality within Coastal Connecticut and New Haven County, Connecticut, between Bridgeport, Connecticut and New Haven, Connecticut. The population was 51,271 at the 2010 census. The city includes the borough of Woodmont and the village of Devon. Milford is part of the New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined Statistical Area. It is the headquarters of the mega business Subway
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
On the map
Where Connecticut’s best buys are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How do you determine the best places to buy a home in Connecticut for 2026?
We were in real estate for almost five years and have worked on this site for over a decade. Suffice it to say we’ve put a lot of thought into finding an excellent place to buy a home.
So all that thinking has come to this moment where we get to spell out how we’d approach finding an up-and-coming place to live in Connecticut. Put differently, the analysis will try to find places in Connecticut with undervalued homes relative to pent-up demand using Saturday Night Science.
To do that, we looked at the most recent American Community Survey Census data for 2020-2024 and compared it to the previous vintage. Specifically, we used the following criteria:
- Y-o-Y Change In Population (People want to live here)
- Y-o-Y Change In Median Home Prices (People are willing to pay for it)
- Home Prices Relative To The State Average (It’s still kinda cheap)
We want places that are growing, have seen home prices increase in recent years, and are still “cheap” for Connecticut, with these caveats: home prices had to be within 20% of the state average, home prices increased in the last year, and the city had above 9,000 people.
So of the 142 cities and towns in Connecticut, only 21 places made it through our initial filters to even be considered.
We then ranked each place from 1 to 21 for the above criteria, with 1 being the best. We averaged the rankings to create a “best place to buy” index, with the place having the lowest index being the best.
Turns out that Groton is the best potential gem in the not-so-rough in the Constitution State.
The full plate
Best Places To Buy A Home In Connecticut
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Median Home Price | Population Change | Home Price Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Groton | 9,490 | $425,384 | 1.6% | 1.9% |
| 2 | Derby | 12,487 | $336,765 | 1.0% | -0.4% |
| 3 | Ansonia | 19,033 | $374,885 | 0.4% | 0.8% |
| 4 | New London | 27,625 | $312,695 | 1.6% | 0.2% |
| 5 | Naugatuck | 31,800 | $346,062 | 0.5% | -0.2% |
| 6 | Torrington | 35,547 | $295,024 | 0.2% | 2.7% |
| 7 | Norwich | 39,973 | $293,052 | -0.0% | 1.7% |
| 8 | Shelton | 41,889 | $549,374 | 1.2% | 1.1% |
| 9 | Middletown | 47,958 | $354,795 | 0.7% | 1.9% |
| 10 | Milford | 51,023 | $493,542 | 0.5% | 1.1% |
| 11 | West Haven | 55,351 | $354,725 | 0.4% | 3.5% |
| 12 | Meriden | 60,545 | $315,833 | 0.2% | 0.3% |
| 13 | Bristol | 61,462 | $339,024 | 0.5% | 1.3% |
| 14 | New Britain | 74,223 | $298,511 | 1.3% | 2.1% |
| 15 | Danbury | 87,263 | $478,979 | 1.4% | 1.6% |
| 16 | Norwalk | 92,187 | $653,113 | 0.9% | 1.6% |
| 17 | Waterbury | 114,869 | $276,344 | 0.4% | 1.1% |
| 18 | Hartford | 121,127 | $198,965 | 1.0% | 0.3% |
| 19 | Stamford | 137,144 | $704,417 | 1.0% | 3.5% |
| 20 | New Haven | 134,349 | $326,440 | 1.1% | 2.0% |
| 21 | Bridgeport | 149,153 | $355,127 | 0.8% | 0.8% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024 via Saturday Night Science. 21 Connecticut cities cleared the filters.
Summary
Summary: The Best Places To Purchase A House In Connecticut for 2026
There’s our analysis of the best places to buy a house in Connecticut. And, to be clear, we aren’t necessarily saying these places are the best places to live, just that it looks like they might be in a couple of years based on the data.
In fact, every place in the following table meets our criteria, so even though it may not look super long, remember we started off with all 142 places in the state.
The best cities to buy a house in Connecticut are Groton, Derby, Ansonia, New London, Naugatuck, Torrington, Norwich, Shelton, Middletown, and Milford.
So if we could rent or buy in these cities, we’d definitely buy.
