Weston Wins The Bronze In Wealth

Though the median income in each of Weston, Redding and Easton dropped more than $10,000 from 2009 to 2010, the three towns remain in the top half of the wealthiest in Fairfield County.

The median annual household income in Weston in 2010 was $180,321, down from 2009's median of $190,636. The median annual household income in Easton in 2010 was $148,271, down from 2009's median of $159,701. The median annual household income in Redding in 2010 was $119,788, down from 2009's median of $131,477.

Although it may rank low in Fairfield County, Norwalk'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 Weston topped the list. This year, it dropped to third behind Darien and New Canaan. In 2009, Easton ranked fifth. This year, it dropped to sixth, flipping spots with Westport. In 2009, Redding ranked eighth. This year, it dropped to ninth, flipping spots with Greenwich.

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. Danbury and Stratford also have lower household median incomes, according to the report.

"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 populations of the largest municipalities with the lowest incomes—Bridgeport, Norwalk and Stamford—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."