Real Estate

MAP: Ranking the Top Towns in CT for Real Estate

Where to start your search for the best town in which to buy a home.

Deciding where to buy a home can be one of the most significant — and stressful — decisions in life. It’s important for prospective homebuyers to find a community they love that is also suited to their individual needs.

While finding just the right home and neighborhood can depend on several intangible ‘x-factors,’ Patch has broken down the numbers on the hard metrics that will help you pick the right towns to start your search.

We’ve looked at the numbers for six of those factors individually over the last four weeks and have added one more — school performance — to get our definitive ranking of the best towns in Connecticut to buy real estate.

Use the map above to find the point breakdown for each town in the state. The full methodology for how we got there is listed below.

Be sure to check out the lists of the 14 best and worst towns in Connecticut to purchase property.

Methodology

Each town received points according to seven factors: Average School Classification (0-150); Cost per Month (0-150); Average Salary Paid (15-135); Percent Living in Same Home (0-150); New Residents percent Capita (0-150); Median Years in Town (40-145); and Average Commute (0-150).

With a total of 1,030 possible points, the ultimate scores ranged from 394 (Weston) to a high of 684 (Franklin).

Average School Classification
The State Department of Education classifies schools into one of six categories based on several factors, including standardized testing. Each classification was given a numeric value, with Excelling schools receiving a 1 and Turnaround and Focus schools receiving a 6. Average School Classification is the average score for all public schools within a town.

Learn more about school classifications and rankings here.

Cost per Month
Median monthly costs for all homeowners within a town, including those with and without mortgages. Monthly costs include real estate taxes, property insurance, homeowner association fees, cooperative or condominium fees, mobile home park fees, land rent, utilities and mortgages. The figures do not include maintenance and repairs, reverse annuity mortgages or home-equity credit.

Learn more about monthly costs here.

Average Salary Paid
The average annual wages paid to an employee by a business within that town. Based off Census data collating the total number of employees in a town and the aggregate annual payroll of all businesses.

Learn more about towns with the highest paying jobs here.

Percent in Same Home
Percent of homeowners who reported living in the same home at least one year prior to the Census survey.

New Residents percent Capita
The number of new residents to move to town within the last year for every 100 residents already living there.

Learn more about which towns have the most new homeowners moving in.

Median Years in Town
Median number of years homeowners have lived in town. Calculated by subtracting the median move-in year for all residents from 2013.

Learn more about tenure in town here.

Average Commute
The average time it takes local commuters to get to work, either in the town they live in or without. Calculated using the aggregate daily commute (one-way) for all working residents divided by the total number of commuters living in that town.

Learn more about commuting here, including how much employees earn based on mode of transportation.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here