Lower Fairfield County: A Natural History

Speranza

The "Gold Coast", as it is obscenely called, also "better" known as Southwestern Connecticut or Lower Fairfield County, is a region of the state of Connecticut, Long Island Sound, New England, that includes the entire southern portion of Fairfield County as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, Super-Public Use Microdata Area (Super-PUMA) Region 09600.

The area is about 50 miles to the northeast of New York, and is home to many wealthy NYC=based business people -- and some gentlemen!

This area is often portrayed in culture as a bastion of wealth.

Some of the novels and films that have taken place here include:

"The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit",
"The Stepford Wives",
"The Ice Storm", 
"The Swimmer,"
"Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House"
and
"Gentleman's Agreement".

THERE MAY BE MORE!

The distinction of being called the wealthiest town in Connecticut can be attributed to either Darien, Greenwich or New Canaan, depending on the statistic used.

The bad thing is that New Canaan is not COASTAL and so it really doesn't count as 'coast', gold or not!

According to the 2000 US Census, New Canaan was first in per capita income ($82,049), Darien second ($77,519) and Greenwich third ($74,346).

According to the Connecticut 2014-15 Adjusted Equalized Net Grand List per Capita (AENGLC); Per Capita Income for Greenwich was $91,478, Darien $94,376, and New Canaan $99,016 the highest out of the 169 towns in Connecticut.

However, per capita income does not take into account personal assets:

homes, jewelry, art, boats or automobiles.

In 2000, New Canaan had a higher percentage of RESIDENT home-owners (83%) than Greenwich (69%), which may indicate more wealth.

According to some sources, the wealthiest town along the Gold Coast should be New Canaan because of their higher rate of home ownership suggesting a higher level of personal assets.

More recently, another source named Darien the state's richest town in 2011.

An additional consideration is to measure wealth per PERSON - not aggregate town wealth.

Both the Adjusted Equalized Net Grand List per Capita (AENGLC) Wealth Value and the CPR AENGLC Wealth Value, show that Greenwich has the highest wealth value in Connecticut at over $430,000 per person.

The AENGLC is based on the value of residential and commercial real estate, and measures the town's tax base available to pay for public education (see Conn. Dep of Ed).

It is not a measure of the PERSONAL wealth of INDIVIDUAL residents.

Towns and cities
Stamford area --
Darien
Greenwich--Cos Cob
New Canaan
Norwalk--Rowayton
Redding
Ridgefield
Stamford--Shippan Point
Weston
Westport--Green's Farms
Wilton
Bridgeport
Bridgeport--Black Rock
Easton
Fairfield--Greenfield Hill--Southport
Monroe
Shelton
Stratford--Lordship
Trumbull--Nichols

References:

ump up^ Census.gov website retrieved 2011-06-26 [1]
How Census Income Estimates Provide Misleading Statistics on Personal Income for Connecticut Towns [2]
The Daily Fairfield retrieved 2011-07-03[3]
JState of CT official website retrieved on 2011-06-27[4]
South Western Regional Planning Agency
State of Connecticut
New York metropolitan area


Categories: Regions of Connecticut Metropolitan areas of Connecticut New York metropolitan area