Fairfield County
Fairfield County is comprised of Bethel, Bridgeport, Brookfield, Danbury, Darien, Easton, Fairfield, Greenwich, Monroe, New Canaan, New Fairfield, Newtown, Norwalk, Redding, Ridgefield, Shelton, Sherman, Stamford, Stratford, Trumbull, Weston, Westport, and Wilton.
Demographics
There are 943,332 people living in Fairfield County. Of these, 236,051 (25%) are youth under 20 years old. 360,294, or 38%, are of prime working age, or people between 25 and 54 years old. 153,798 (16%) are 65 years of age and older.
Population by Age
Source: American Community Survey Table B01001, 2019 1-year estimatesPopulation by Race
In Fairfield County, 62% of the population are white non-Hispanic, 11% are black non-Hispanic, and 5% are Asian non-Hispanic. 20% of the population identify as Hispanic or Latino of any race.
The chart below shows the racial composition of the region. People who identify as Hispanic or Latino are listed under one category and not included in the numbers for each race.
Source: American Community Survey Table B03002, 2019 5-year estimatesEconomy
Median Household Income by Town in Fairfield County
Median household income represents the earnings of the "middle" household when all households are ordered from poorest to richest. Fairfield County has the median household income of $95,645, which is higher than the state's median of $78,444. By town, it varies from $232,523 in Darien down to $46,662 in Bridgeport.
Source: American Community Survey Table B19013, 2019 5-year estimatesMedian Household Income by County
Fairfield County has the highest median household income of all counties in Connecticut.
Source: American Community Survey Table B19013, 2019 5-year estimatesLabor Force
Labor force includes all persons aged 16 and over who are not on active duty and who are not inmates of institutions such as prisons or nursing homes.
In Fairfield County, 465,448 people are in the labor force. Of these, 437,051 are employed and 28,397 (6.1%) are unemployed. The unemployment rate of Fairfield County is lower than that in Connecticut (6.3%).
Unemployment Rate by Town in Fairfield County
In Fairfield County, the highest unemployment rate of 9.9% is in Bridgeport, while the lowest unemployment rate of 4.2% is in Westport.
Source: Connecticut Department of Labor, 2021 annual averageUnemployment Rate by County
Source: Connecticut Department of Labor, 2021 annual averageFamilies
Single-Parent Families by Town in Fairfield County
In Fairfield County, 23.1% (or about 54,597) of families are considered single-parent. This is less than the Connecticut average of 26.2% (233,925 families).
The largest share of single-parent families is in Bridgeport (48.6%). At 9.3%, Weston has the smallest share of single-parent families in Fairfield County.
Single-Parent Families by County
Disengaged Youth
Youth are considered disengaged when they are between the ages of 16-19, not enrolled in school, and either unemployed or not in the labor force. In Connecticut, 4.5% of female youth and 5.7% of male youth are disengaged. In Fairfield County,
3.6%
of female youth are disengaged
5.4%
of male youth are disengaged
Schools
When publicly reporting aggregate totals, the Connecticut State Department of Education minimizes the risk of identification of individual students by not releasing the exact number if the total is fewer than 6.
Because so many school districts in Connecticut have small enrollment counts, we often lose important information. For example, we do not know whether a school district had 5 bullying incidents or 1.
By enrollment, Bridgeport (19,231 students), Stamford (16,079 students), and Danbury (11,843 students) are the largest school districts in the county.
Enrollment by School District in Fairfield County
Enrollment by Race
Because of data supression by CT Department of Education, we cannot determine exact counts of students of certain minority groups in many school districts. An approximate racial profile of students in Fairfield County is 47% white non-Hispanic, 12% black non-Hispanic, 5% Asian non-Hispanic, and 32% Hispanic or Latino.
Educational Needs
Fairfield County has 15,285 students who are English Language learners. 48,945 students are eligible for either free or subsidized lunch (34% of all students). There are 22,059 students receiving special education.
English Learners
Free/Subsidized Lunch
Special Education
Bullying Incidents
In 2020-2021, there were 21 bullying incidents in Fairfield County. 9 of 12 school districts that reported bullying incidents suppressed their data.Note: In the 2020-21 school year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students attended school in-person to varying degrees; some learned fully/mostly remotely for the entire school year.
Housing
Federally Subsidized Housing in Connecticut
The map shows properties that participate in at least one subsidy program, according to the National Housing Preservation Database. Hover over the green dots to see address and number of units in each property. This is not an exhaustive list of affordable housing units in Connecticut.
Equalized Net Grand List
The Net Grand List is an aggregate of the assessed value of taxable property in the town. The Office of Policy and Management (OPM) equalizes each town's grand list since valuations occur once every four years. Thus the value of a town that recently went through an assessment could vary from a town that is several years away from its last valuation.
As a way to understand the different values across towns, CTData provides a per capita (per person) calculation.
In Connecticut, towns along the coast (with some exceptions such as Bridgeport, New Haven, New London), and towns along the western border tend to have higher per capita equalized net grand list values.
About
Connecticut County Data Stories project was developed by CTData Collaborative to show how the 8 Connecticut counties compare in economy and demographics.
