New Britain, CT

The affordability dashboard for New Britain, CT aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 3 ZIP codes covering 73,240 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of D (41/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $59,718, median home value of $221,131, median rent of $1,268 per month, and 19.2% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $1,653 per month (studio $1,133, 1BR $1,306, 3BR $1,992, 4BR $2,363). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $17,160 per year, consuming 29% of the local median household income.

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Pressure points are education, childcare. Unemployment currently reads 8.0% and poverty 18.1% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.