What Town Has The Lowest Cost of Living in Connecticut? Here's The Answer…

CONNECTICUT — Connecticut is known for the quality of its schools, the safety of its neighborhoods, and the beauty of its wild spaces.

But its low cost of living? Not so much.

That's not to say there aren't any cheap places to live in the Nutmeg State, just that you will have to travel quite a bit eastward from Downtown Greenwich to find them.

Rankings website Niche.com did all that legwork, and has just published its "2023 Places with the Lowest Cost of Living in Connecticut." The neighborhoods on the list are a little less familiar than those home to the state's best schools, and most are closer to Rhode Island than New York.

As you would expect, there's a more-or-less inverse relationship between a neighborhood's overall quality and the cost of living there. Niche analysts threaded the Quality of Life/Cost of Living needle to determine the best of the least expensive places to live in Connecticut.

These neighborhoods aren't exactly Gold Coast, but neither will you have to choose between paying your mortgage or buying groceries while living there.

At the top of the rankings is Quinebaug, a village inside Thompson in Windham County. It was rated A- for "Cost of Living," and C+ overall — not too shabby a combo for Connecticut.

Here's the rest of Quinebaug's Niche report card:

• Public Schools: C-
• Housing: B
• Good for Families: C+
• Jobs: B-
• Cost of Living: A-
• Outdoor Activities: A-
• Crime & Safety: NA
• Nightlife: C
• Diversity: C-
• Weather: C+
• Health & Fitness: B
• Commute: B-

The sweet spot on the list — the town with the best grade general score and strong cost-of-living placement — is Noank. The seaside village west of Mystic grabbed an A+ overall, and is ranked No. 14 on the "Lowest Cost of Living in Connecticut" list, No. 5 in the state overall, and No. 1 in the Niche rankings for best place to buy a house in the state.

Here's Niche's Top 50 places in Connecticut with the lowest cost of living:

1. Quinebaug
2. North Grosvenor Dale
3. Wauregan
4. Canterbury
5. Franklin
6. Coventry Lake
7. Crystal Lake
8. South Woodstock
9. Hazardville
10. Thompson
11. South Windham
12. Chaplin
13. Stafford
14. Noank
15. Higganum
16. South Coventry
17. Putnam
18. East Granby
19. Bozrah
20. Stafford Springs
21. Baltic
22. Blue Hills
23. Long Hill
24. Killingworth
25. Windsor Locks
26. Plymouth
27. Coventry
28. Brooklyn
29. Thomaston
30. Woodstock
31. Haddam
32. Andover
33. Moodus
34. Torrington
35. North Granby
36. Montville
37. Winsted
38. East Brooklyn
39. Plainfield
40. Killingly
41. Naugatuck
42. Bolton
43. Winchester
44. Danielson
45. Bethlehem
46. Enfield
47. Middlebury
48. Portland
49. Plainville
50. Litchfield