Stamford Ranks Fifth Lowest in Median Income for County

Stamford's household earnings are the fifth lowest in Fairfield County and dropped by more than $2,600 from 2009 to 2010, according to recent research.

The median annual household income in Stamford in 2010 was $73,034. Although it may rank low in Fairfield County, Stamford's median income figures are still higher than the median figure for the entire state, and they aren't much lower than the median for even Fairfield County.

In its town profiles, updated this month, The Connecticut Economic Resource Center, Inc. listed income data for Fairfield County’s 23 towns. In both 2009 and 2010, CERC found, Stamford was 19th out of 23 municipalities (fifth from the bottom) in ranking county towns by median family income.

Darien tops the rankings with median household income of $185,619, followed by New Canaan, Weston and Wilton. Bridgeport is at the bottom of the list with a median household income of $36,250. Norwalk, Danbury and Stratford also have lower household median incomes, according to the report.

The median household income in Stamford in 2009 was $75,723, which means it dropped a few thousand dollars, or 3.5 percent, from 2009 to  2010.

"Household" is a term preferred by economists to describe people living in the same residence. "Median" is a way of measuring typical amounts of a group by listing all the numbers in a data set and picking the middle number. In this case, half of all incomes in a particular city or town should be above the median income number, and half below.

The median income for the state is $65,686 and for Fairfield County is $77,620. While the Fairfield County figure may seem low compared to the much higher numbers for most of the towns listed below, the municipalities with the largest populations — Bridgeport, Norwalk and Stamford — also have the lowest incomes and are at or near the bottom of the list.

These figures are compiled by CERC DataFinder/AGS and are for 2010:

CERC describes itself on its website as a "a nonprofit corporation and public-private partnership that provides objective research, marketing and economic development resources consistent with our mission of making Connecticut a more competitive business environment."