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Place dossier plate
SheetCT-DARIEN-DOWNTOWN-CT · Darien Downtown, CT 1,329 pop · income 96th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Darien Downtown
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Darien Downtown on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Edison · lowest
27,440
Edison · lowest
27,440 median HH income
11.2% of the leader · rank #1
Cascades · near
166,023
Cascades · near
166,023 median HH income
68.0% of the leader · rank #2
Cedar Knolls · near
166,077
Cedar Knolls · near
166,077 median HH income
68.0% of the leader · rank #3
Pottersville · near
166,087
Pottersville · near
166,087 median HH income
68.0% of the leader · rank #4
Sugar Bush Kn… · near
166,087
Sugar Bush Kn… · near
166,087 median HH income
68.0% of the leader · rank #5
Darien Downto… · this city
166,111
Darien Downto… · this city
166,111 median HH income
68.0% of the leader · rank #6
Lakes West · highest
244,286
Lakes West · highest
244,286 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Darien Downtown on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 1,329.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Darien Downtown places in the 96th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
96th
percentile, household income
96th
percentile, home value
86th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Darien Downtown, CT
Darien Downtown is a small town in Connecticut, home to 1,329 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Darien Downtown report a median income of $166,111 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Typical homes in Darien Downtown are valued around $908,200, and the median resident age is 44.7 years. Educational attainment runs 80.5% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 52.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Connecticut carries a cost-of-living premium: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Connecticut scores 103.6 (Above Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,955 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Connecticut run around $345, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 87.6 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Darien Downtown's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from comparison shortlist to housing and income to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Darien Downtown, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, annual population history; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Darien Downtown?
Within Connecticut, the closest population matches are Lakes West (1,308 residents, $244,286 income); Canaan (1,297 residents, $31,986 income); Lakes East (1,295 residents, $211,728 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Ashton, ID (1,329 residents); Payne, OH (1,329 residents); Shasta, CA (1,330 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
How far does income reach against housing in Darien Downtown?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
What does the journey to work look like in Darien Downtown?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 36.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Top-decile income · poverty 0.0% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
103.6 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, Connecticut average
A-
City profile score · Darien Downtown, CT
81/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Household income A+
$166,111
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share A+
80.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Cost of living F
103.6 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Darien Downtown profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 100/100 (A+) · $166,111
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Bachelor's+ share: 100/100 (A+) · 80.5%
Cost of living: 24/100 (F) · 103.6 index
How does Darien Downtown compare to other US cities?
Here's how Darien Downtown stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income96% higher than other cities
Home value96% pricier than other cities
Median rent86% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Darien Downtown against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Connecticut only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Connecticut-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Darien Downtown near the bottom of Connecticut's cities
Among the 207 Connecticut cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Darien Downtown ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Darien Downtown only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#44 of 198
78th percentile in Connecticut
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 207
0th percentile in Connecticut
Median Home Value
#25 of 201
88th percentile in Connecticut
Poverty Rate
#141 of 204
0th percentile in Connecticut
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#18 of 207
91st percentile in Connecticut
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Connecticut only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
96th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Darien Downtown's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$908,2004th percentilemore affordable than 4% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,529 of 15,516
More affordable than 13% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,126 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.5×, Darien Downtown sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,529 of 15,516 and #10,126 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$166,111Darien Downtown, CT median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Darien Downtown, CT median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Darien Downtown, CT.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)80.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)52.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,329
Median Income
$166,111
Median Home Value
$908,200
Median Age
44.7
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
52.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
80.5%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
36.4%
Carpool
9.0%
Public Transit
20.0%
Walk
5.8%
Work from Home
28.9%
Based on 536 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Connecticut statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $345
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Connecticut at $345 (electricity about $175 , water and sewer about $60 ).
These are Connecticut statewide averages, not a meter reading for Darien Downtown. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Connecticut's BEA cost-of-living index is 103.6 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Darien Downtown is $1,955/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Connecticut statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 87.6 / 100 (Very High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Connecticut statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Darien Downtown sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Darien Downtown compares to similar-size Connecticut cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.