Shelton, Connecticut

Area Profile

41,889 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Shelton.

Area Score unavailable

Missing required signal: resilience. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3297th of 3,904 cities measured39
GrowthTop 41% of 2,973 cities measured55
Housing affordabilityTop 45% of 4,223 cities measured84
Climate2214th of 4,223 cities measured70
Access3552nd of 4,226 cities measured74
Economic stabilityTop 31% of 4,226 cities measured69
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 4.9% and the Opportunity signal places Shelton in the bottom 16%.

145 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, within 13% of the prior year — steady rather than turning.

Rent takes 19% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 4.2 times that income.

At a glance

Population
41,889
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$108,185
Top 15% nationally
Density
1,368/sq mi
30.6 sq mi of land
Median age
44.5
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Connecticut
Metro area
Nearest major airport
BDL
50 mi · Bradley Intl
Median home value
$452,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.9% is lower than 28% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 5.3% over the past year, to 20,935 employed residents.

42% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 83% of measured US cities.

Household income is higher than at least 85% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$10,854$108,185Top 15%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,776$54,448Top 14%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate6.6%Bottom 31%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute32.1 minTop 25%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher41.7%Top 17%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment20,935Bottom 26%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-5.2%Bottom 2%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-5.3%Bottom 2%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force22,010Bottom 26%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation65.3%Top 33%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)1.3%Top 1%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate4.9%Top 28%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/066.62.8
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.9% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024115k104k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $108,185 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

There are 13.7 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
8
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.7
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Shelton High SchoolShelton School District1,30814.4
Intermediate SchoolShelton School District71412.8
Perry Hill Elementary SchoolShelton School District71114.2
Elizabeth Shelton SchoolShelton School District40513.5
Mohegan SchoolShelton School District32514.1
Long Hill SchoolShelton School District30710.6
Booth Hill SchoolShelton School District30413.8
Sunnyside SchoolShelton School District22916.4

36.6% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Connecticut’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,741 takes 19% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.2 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
19.3%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.2×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,741
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$452,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income4.18Top 24%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate76.5%Top 49%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±55816,927Top 3%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$216$1,741Top 14%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$12,639$452,600Top 14%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income19.3%Top 45%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate4.9%Bottom 28%of 32,0012024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
55/ 100
Top 41% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 5% since 2020, reaching 42,805 in 2024.

Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before.

79% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 3.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
145
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
3.5
Top 39% nationally
Year over year
−13%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
79.3%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202443k41k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2020202120222023202420253168.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−34%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 83°F and January a low of 24°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 44.1 inches, including 33.6 inches of snow.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station BRIDGEPORT SIKORSKY MEM AP, 10.1 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation44.1"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall33.6"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low24°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high83°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing44°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

6 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 50 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Bradley IntlBDL50 mi9,510 ft
New York Stewart IntlSWF52 mi11,817 ft
John F Kennedy IntlJFK57 mi14,511 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

Customize your score

What matters to you?

Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.

Area Score
Your Score

Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.

Compare

Put Shelton side by side with a similar place.

Shelton vs GlasgowShelton vs MarltonShelton vs La PlataShelton vs Middletown

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Shelton

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
0648441,889$108,185