The Best Small Cities In Connecticut: 2024 Report

CONNECTICUT — Bright lights and a humming nightlife? Or farm chores and quiet, empty fields?

It's been every homeowner's big decision since Babylonian times, but more people in 2024 are choosing something in-between. According to a 2023 Ipsos Poll, 31 percent of Americans say they would prefer to live in the suburbs, compared to 16 percent for urban areas and 24 percent for rural communities.

But even after you've made your mind up that you're 'burb-bound, there's still plenty of wiggle room to navigate, especially in Connecticut. Education? Quality of life? Safety? There are a lot of variables to solve for in the "best small city" equation.

Personal finance website WalletHub crunched the numbers, comparing more than 1,300 U.S. cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 based on 45 key indicators of livability. They range from housing costs to school-system quality to the number of restaurants per capita. After the abacus had cooled, 20 Connecticut burgs had made the list, with 12 in the top 500.

The full methodology, including how much weight was ascribed to each category, can be found online here.

Given the large sample of cities ranked in this study, WalletHub grouped results by percentile. The 99th percentile represents the top 1 percent of small cities in America.

Stratford placed in the top 97 percent of all small U.S. cities in the survey, with an overall score of 66.63. The town re-claimed its top spot in Connecticut, edging out No. 2 Shelton which took the crown in 2023. West Hartford, Norwalk, and Middletown round out the Nutmeg State's top 5 small cities, according to WalletHub. Torrington entered the Connecticut Top 10 at No. 9, knocking out Naugatuck.

The big movers in 2024 was Naugatuck, which dropped from the 75th percentile to the 63rd. Wethersfield remained the most affordable of the state's top small cities by a wide margin, and Shelton had the top "safety" score. In the all-important category of "quality of life," Manchester edged ahead of Norwalk.

At the top of the list nationally are Carmel, IN (repeating from last year); Brookfield, WI; Lexington, MA; Fishers, IN; and Appleton, WI. From Connecticut, only Stratford made it into the top 100