City · Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut

Danbury, Connecticut

Danbury is a city in Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut, part of the Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT metro area. It has 87,263 residents. Danbury, Connecticut has a quality-of-life score of 72 out of 100 (high), ranking #4,338 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Connecticut it ranks #101 of 160 cities and towns. It ranks best on gyms and fitness centers (high), average weekly wage (high) and traffic deaths (low). It ranks worst on high ozone days (high), child care cost burden (high) and days with unhealthy air (high).

72High

Quality-of-life score: #4,338 of 15,651 cities and towns
Connecticut: #101 of 160 in CT
Population: 87,263 (2020-2024)
Land area: 42 mi²
Density: 2,075.5 /mi²
FIPS code: 0918430

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety97#426/15,637
Economy45#8,603/15,631
Housing22#11,736/14,977
Health88#1,830/15,609
Healthcare72#4,356/15,650
Environment22#11,979/15,453
Education72#4,454/15,649
Infrastructure47#8,308/15,650
Community73#4,155/15,651
Leisure & amenities98#230/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Danbury, Connecticut ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Western Connecticut Planning Region value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Gyms and fitness centers · high3.3 /10k
99/100Connecticut 1.8 /10kUnited States 1.3 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsWestern Connecticut Planning Region value
Average weekly wage · high$2,607
99/100Connecticut $1,750United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsWestern Connecticut Planning Region value
Traffic deaths · low4.6 /100k
97/100Connecticut 8.8 /100kUnited States 12.3 /100k2020-2024National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationProvisional dataWestern Connecticut Planning Region value
Firearm deaths · low3.0 /100k
96/100Connecticut 4.5 /100kUnited States 12.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionEstimated from related areas or data (see the source notes)Model-based estimateProvisional dataWestern Connecticut Planning Region value
Suicide rate · low6.9 /100k
96/100Connecticut 10.1 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionEstimated from related areas or data (see the source notes)Provisional dataWestern Connecticut Planning Region value
Arts, entertainment and recreation · high10.4 /10k
95/100Connecticut 6.2 /10kUnited States 5.5 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsWestern Connecticut Planning Region value

Weaknesses

High ozone days · high15 days
4/100Connecticut 10 daysUnited States 7 days2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyEstimated from related areas or data (see the source notes)Western Connecticut Planning Region value
Child care cost burden · high41.2%
6/100Connecticut 39.8%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteEstimated from related areas or data (see the source notes)Western Connecticut Planning Region value
Days with unhealthy air · high5.6%
8/100Connecticut 3.5%2025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyEstimated from related areas or data (see the source notes)Western Connecticut Planning Region value
Uninsured residents (under 65) · high17.5%
10/100Connecticut 7.0%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010
High school diploma or higher · low83.4%
12/100Connecticut 91.5%United States 89.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
Average commute time · high29.9 min
13/100Connecticut 26.5 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

New homes permittedImproving
0.8 /1k (2021) → 1.2 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+46%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
86.5% (2015-2019) → 91.3% (2020-2024)
+4.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
4.1× (2015-2019) → 4.9× (2020-2024)
+21%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
54.7% (2015-2019) → 51.9% (2020-2024)
−2.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Median household incomeImproving
$73,297 (2015-2019) → $83,393 (2020-2024)
+14%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
31.7% (2015-2019) → 34.0% (2020-2024)
+2.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Danbury, Connecticut improved on 2 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 3. 9 moved within the margin of error and 1 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved2

Broadband+4.8 points86.5% → 91.3%
Household income+14%$73,297 → $83,393

Declined3

Price / income+0.8×4.1× → 4.9×
Inequality+0.0290.440 → 0.469
Transit use−1.6 points3.9% → 2.3%

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Danbury, Connecticut between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	28.6 min2015-2019	29.9 min2020-2024	+1.3 min	Within the margin of error	33%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.7%2015-2019	34.0%2020-2024	+2.2 points	Within the margin of error	45%
Broadband subscriptions	86.5%2015-2019	91.3%2020-2024	+4.8 points	Improved	31%
Child poverty rate	17.2%2015-2019	16.8%2020-2024	−0.4 points	Within the margin of error	48%
Effective property tax rate	1.76%2015-2019	1.41%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Little change	80%
High school diploma or higher	83.3%2015-2019	83.4%2020-2024	+0.1 points	Within the margin of error	34%
Home price to income ratio	4.1×2015-2019	4.9×2020-2024	+0.8×	Declined	29%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4402015-2019	0.4692020-2024	+0.029	Declined	28%
Median household income	$73,2972015-2019	$83,3932020-2024	+14%	Improved	22%
Poverty rate	11.5%2015-2019	11.7%2020-2024	+0.2 points	Within the margin of error	41%
Public transit commuters	3.9%2015-2019	2.3%2020-2024	−1.6 points	Declined	15%
Rent as share of income	32.4%2015-2019	30.8%2020-2024	−1.6 points	Within the margin of error	66%
Rent-burdened households	54.7%2015-2019	51.9%2020-2024	−2.8 points	Within the margin of error	66%
Unemployment rate	6.0%2015-2019	6.5%2020-2024	+0.5 points	Within the margin of error	38%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	18.5%2015-2019	17.5%2020-2024	−1 points	Within the margin of error	59%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Danbury, Connecticut five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Danbury, Connecticut in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Danbury, Connecticut itself moved −2.5 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

87,263 residents (±40)

Men
Women

80 and over
70–79
60–69

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

33,071 households (±1,001)

Danbury, Connecticut
Connecticut share

Under $25k16%5,183
$25k–50k13%4,359
$50k–75k15%4,831

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

33,071 households (±1,001)

Danbury, Connecticut
Connecticut share

Own54%17,776
Rent46%15,295

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (−4.3 points).

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

45,722 workers (±1,213)

Danbury, Connecticut
Connecticut share

Drive alone66%30,270
Carpool15%7,052
Public transit2.3%1,033

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Western Connecticut Planning Region, the county holding most of Danbury's residents.

Western Connecticut Planning Region has 19,955 employer establishments, 317 for every 10,000 residents (1.28× the US rate of 248; 1.29× Connecticut's), with 292,288 paid employees at an average annual pay of $113,020. The Census Bureau also counts 79,134 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 19,955; 79,134 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 317; US 248 · Connecticut 245
Paid employees: 292,288
Average annual pay: $113,020; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Western Connecticut Planning Region by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	1,597	25.3	1.22×About typical	18,754	$86,850	3,859
Restaurants and other eating places	1,543	24.5	1.33×More than typical	21,048	$32,048	319
Specialty trade contractors	1,094	17.4	1.12×About typical	7,066	$76,650	5,062
Services to buildings and dwellings	830	13.2	1.95×More than typical	7,355	$45,647	4,490
Full-service restaurants	755	12	1.56×More than typical	12,399	$36,049	161
Lessors of real estate	752	11.9	0.97×About typical	4,672	$94,790	10,102
Management, scientific and technical consulting	728	11.6	1.72×More than typical	6,766	$137,882	5,051
Landscaping services	619	9.8	2.80×More than typical	3,041	$63,191	1,308
Offices of physicians	588	9.3	1.44×More than typical	8,636	$115,521	797
Personal care services	582	9.2	1.93×More than typical	3,600	$30,274	1,569
Construction of buildings	547	8.7	1.15×About typical	2,751	$98,142	2,557
Limited-service restaurants	547	8.7	1.08×About typical	6,294	$26,813	106

Rank places for an industry Open Western Connecticut Planning Region

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 630,270 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $83.5M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Danbury, Connecticut: $957 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $83.5M; −5.7% vs FY2025
Per resident: $957; US $1,994
Sole-source: 75%; US 30%
Single offer: 18%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Defense Logistics Agency$60.6M73%
Department of State$10.2M12%
Federal Prison System / Bureau of Prisons$6.1M7.3%
U.S. Census Bureau$2.3M2.8%
National Aeronautics and Space Administration$2.2M2.6%
Department of the Navy$944K1.1%
Social Security Administration$736.1K0.9%
Department of Veterans Affairs$313K0.4%

Top recipients

DANBURY MISSION TECHNOLOGIES, LLC$57.2M69%
ETHAN ALLEN RETAIL, INC.$10.2M12%
LINDE INC.$3.2M3.8%
DMT SOLUTIONS GLOBAL CORPORATION$3.1M3.7%
INTEGRATED MEDICAL SOLUTIONS, LLC$2.3M2.7%

Spending by fiscal year

68.6KFY2017
101.1KFY2018
3.2MFY2019
20.2MFY2020
-7.8MFY2021
5.4MFY2022
16.1MFY2023
10.9MFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Navigational, measuring, electromedical, and control instruments manufacturing · 3345$57.5M69%
Office furniture (including fixtures) manufacturing · 3372$10.1M12%
Basic chemical manufacturing · 3251$3.8M4.5%
Business support services · 5614$1.9M2.2%
Electric power generation, transmission and distribution · 2211$1.9M2.2%
Other fabricated metal product manufacturing · 3329

Largest awards whose ZIP code lies mostly in Danbury, Connecticut

DELIVERY ORDER FOR NSN 5865-01-514-2857 AND NSN 5860-01-511-8345$28.8M
DANBURY MISSION TECHNOLOGIES, LLC· Western Connecticut Planning Region, CT· Other equipment & supplies· Oct 21, 2025 – Oct 21, 2025· SPRBL126F0007
PURCHASE OF NSN 5860-01-511-8345 PN L31-20000 AND NSN 5865-01-514-2857 PN L31-30000$26.8M
DANBURY MISSION TECHNOLOGIES, LLC· Western Connecticut Planning Region, CT· Other equipment & supplies· Dec 29, 2025 – Dec 29, 2025· SPRBL126F0026
VPS AN/VVR-4 LDS TASK ORDER TO CALL UP FIRST WD FOR SUPPORT SERVICES PREPARATION$6.1M
DANBURY MISSION TECHNOLOGIES, LLC· Western Connecticut Planning Region, CT· Weapons, aircraft, ships & vehicles· Jan 10, 2024 – May 19, 2026

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Danbury, Connecticut, so they do not add up across cities.

Danbury, Connecticut's figures are part of those of Western Connecticut Planning Region, CT ($135.9M in FY2026), never added to them: 61% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Danbury is mostly in Western Connecticut Planning Region.

See federal money in Western Connecticut Planning Region

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Danbury, Connecticut is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Western Connecticut Planning Region89100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT88

Other cities and towns in Western Connecticut Planning Region

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/0918430

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends