The 10 Best Places To Buy A House In Connecticut For 2024


The best places to buy a house in Connecticut are Groton and Derby for 2024 based on Saturday Night Science.

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.


Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table


The 10 Best Places To Buy A Home In Connecticut For 2024

  1. Groton
  2. Derby
  3. Ansonia
  4. New London
  5. Naugatuck
  6. Torrington
  7. Norwich
  8. Shelton
  9. Middletown
  10. Milford

Best Places To Buy A House In Connecticut Map

The methodology that wen’t into this can be a bit complicated, so we’ll break it down for you in as much detail as we can below.

For more Connecticut reading:

The 10 Best Cities To Buy A House In Connecticut For 2024

Groton, CT

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 9,364
Median Home Price: $374,397
Population Change: 0.3%
Home Price Change: 10.1%
More on Groton: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Derby, CT

Source: Wikipedia User John Phelan | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 12,373
Median Home Price: $294,531
Population Change: -0.1%
Home Price Change: 8.1%
More on Derby: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Ansonia, CT

Source: Wikipedia User Milfordwoman | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 18,954
Median Home Price: $318,783
Population Change: 0.0%
Home Price Change: 8.7%
More on Ansonia: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

New London, CT

Source: Wikipedia User | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 27,596
Median Home Price: $260,757
Population Change: 0.0%
Home Price Change: 10.2%
More on New London: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Naugatuck, CT

Source: Flickr User eschipul | CC BY-SA 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 31,653
Median Home Price: $295,263
Population Change: 0.2%
Home Price Change: 9.5%
More on Naugatuck: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

6. Torrington

Torrington Location In Connecticut

Torrington, CT

Source: Flickr User Danielle Scott | CC BY-SA 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 35,510
Median Home Price: $247,430
Population Change: 0.2%
Home Price Change: 12.4%
More on Torrington: Real Estate

Norwich, CT

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 40,054
Median Home Price: $243,007
Population Change: 0.1%
Home Price Change: 9.5%
More on Norwich: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Shelton, CT

Source: Wikipedia User TheDemonChicken at English Wikipedia | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

9
/10

Population: 41,206
Median Home Price: $484,367
Population Change: 0.6%
Home Price Change: 8.7%
More on Shelton: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Middletown, CT

Source: Wikipedia User Joe Mabel | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 48,152
Median Home Price: $302,920
Population Change: 2.1%
Home Price Change: 8.9%
More on Middletown: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Milford, CT

Source: Wikipedia User makemake | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

9
/10

Population: 50,664
Median Home Price: $444,403
Population Change: -0.1%
Home Price Change: 10.8%
More on Milford: Data | Crime | Real Estate

Methodology: How do you determine the best places to buy a home in Connecticut for 2024?

We were in real estate for almost five years and have worked on this site for another 9. 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 2018-2022 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 the following caveats:

So of the 0 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.

Summary: The Best Places To Purchase A House In Connecticut for 2024

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 0 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’d could rent or buy in these cities, we’d definitely buy.

For more Connecticut reading, check out:

Best Places To Buy A Home In Connecticut

Rank City Population Median Home Price Population Change Home Price Increase
1 Groton 9,364 $374,397 0.3% 10.1%
2 Derby 12,373 $294,531 -0.1% 8.1%
3 Ansonia 18,954 $318,783 0.0% 8.7%
4 New London 27,596 $260,757 0.0% 10.2%
5 Naugatuck 31,653 $295,263 0.2% 9.5%
6 Torrington 35,510 $247,430 0.2% 12.4%
7 Norwich 40,054 $243,007 0.1% 9.5%
8 Shelton 41,206 $484,367 0.6% 8.7%
9 Middletown 48,152 $302,920 2.1% 8.9%
10 Milford 50,664 $444,403 -0.1% 10.8%
11 West Haven 55,336 $302,368 -0.3% 9.5%
12 Meriden 60,556 $266,816 -0.4% 8.7%
13 Bristol 61,052 $286,446 0.5% 11.0%
14 New Britain 74,212 $251,760 0.3% 11.2%
15 Danbury 86,456 $431,374 0.3% 8.9%
16 Norwalk 91,050 $560,154 0.3% 7.8%
17 Waterbury 114,480 $232,478 0.6% 12.8%
18 Hartford 121,057 $171,873 -0.4% 11.4%
19 Stamford 135,413 $611,989 0.4% 8.3%
20 New Haven 135,736 $279,194 1.4% 6.7%
21 Bridgeport 148,470 $305,486 -0.0% 7.5%
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.