Fairfield County Center for Housing Opportunity Report Shows Fairfield County is Unaffordable for Many Workers

New facts sheets for every town and city reveal gap between incomes and available housing

Fact sheets can be found HERE

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (May 19, 2025) – Today, the Fairfield County Center for Housing Opportunity (FCCHO) released a series of fact sheets for every town and city in Fairfield County, revealing a widespread mismatch between salaries and available housing throughout the region. The fact sheets share data on area median income (AMI), and available jobs and apartments to illustrate how Fairfield County's housing market is increasingly unaffordable for many working people, and virtually inaccessible to those whose only income is from Social Security or a minimum wage job.

For example, in New Canaan, where area median income is approximately $104,000/year, a physical therapy assistant’s salary meets the definition of low-income, and a first-year teacher is considered very low-income. A review of apartments available for rent on Apartments.com in March 2025 revealed that none would be affordable in New Canaan for these "low-income" residents.

Some select stats from the report include:

• 28% of working families in Darien struggle to afford the basic cost of living, with the hourly wage needed to afford a 2-bedroom apartment at $50.54. There are no units affordable for those at 80% AMI.
• In Stratford, 41% of working families struggle to afford the basic cost of living, with an hourly wage needed for a 2-bedroom apartment as high as $37.83 — and only ten available units affordable at 80% AMI.
• Trumbull, CT requires an hourly wage of $37.83 to afford a 2-bedroom apartment, making a Behavior Analyst earning $82,000 be classed as low-income, and a first-year teacher making $53,657 to be classed as very low income.

“The lack of affordable housing in Fairfield County is unsustainable,” said Melissa Kaplan-Macey, Chief Initiative Officer at the Centers for Housing Opportunity. “Workers are critical members of all of our communities and when they can’t afford to live in the places they serve, we are all risking our economy and our well being. Examining this issue on a town by town basis makes it clear – we need to invest in solutions that prioritize building housing that is affordable.”

FCCHO is encouraging residents, advocates, and decision makers to use these fact sheets as a resource to engage in important conversations about what it means to be able to afford to live in Fairfield County and the need to take action to create the affordable homes all of our communities need.