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Fairfield County

Located just outside New York City in Connecticut, Fairfield is a slowly growing county with a population of around 950,000. Bridgeport is the county’s largest city, while Stamford is the primary business hub; the county’s other major cities include Norwalk, Danbury, and Greenwich.

download the full Fairfield County report

Fairfield County Economic Indicators

Economic and Demographic Trends

	Population 2023	Pop growth 2023, 10-year change (%)	GDP 2022, billions ($)	Job growth 2023, 5-year change (%)	Median household income 2022 ($)	Median home price 2022 ($)	Pop share age 25+ with BA+ 2022 (%)
Fairfield County	963,011	2.2	104	-1.0	102,000	406,000	51.2
Poughkeepsie Metro	706,651	4.4	42	0.9	85,200	360,000	36.3
Putnam-Rockland-Westchester	1,438,224	2.8	130	0.2	102,000	550,000	50.4
Connecticut	3,617,176	0.6	319	-0.3	85,300	347,000	42.3
United States	334,914,895	5.5	25,744	4.8	71,700	321,000	35.7

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis; IPUMS USA-University of Minnesota; and New York Fed calculations. Data retrieved through data.census.gov, Moody's Economy.com, or directly from source.

*Neighboring Metros

The New York Fed publishes indicators, trends, research and analysis on our Second District. Explore the content below to learn more.

Empire State Manufacturing Survey: Business Activity Picks Up

July 15, 2025

Business activity grew slightly in New York State’s manufacturing sector in July, with the headline general business conditions index climbing 22 points to 5.5. Learn more in our monthly survey of New York manufacturers as they assess current conditions and the future outlook.

collage of portrait images of people of different demographics

Regional Economic Heterogeneity Indicators

July 8, 2025

The Economic Heterogeneity Indicators are broad-based economic indicators that measure macroeconomic outcomes experienced by different demographic, economic, and geographic groups across the New York-New Jersey metro area, as well as all other counties in New York state.

Full Regional Report | Regional Data

image collage of four scenes with people affected by fire, flooding, wind damage

New Dataset Maps Losses from Natural Disasters to the County Level

BY Matteo Crosignani and Martin Hiti | July 1, 2025

The Losses from Natural Disasters Indicator represents the first publicly available comprehensive dataset on county-level damages, injuries, and fatalities from natural disasters in the United States. Since the dataset can be easily matched with county-level data on economic activity and employment, it enables precise analysis of the impact of extreme weather events on local economies and banking networks.

Early Benchmarked Employment Data

June 25, 2025

Our economists provide early benchmarks of initial monthly employment releases throughout the year and make the benchmarked data about the New York Fed region available to the public on a monthly basis.

Regional Employment Trends

June 25, 2025

These interactive charts illustrate payroll employment trends for more than 20 geographies in the Second District, from the state level down to metropolitan areas.

Business Leaders Survey: Service Sector Activity Declines Significantly

June 17, 2025

Business activity declined in the New York-Northern New Jersey region’s service sector for a fourth consecutive month in June. The survey’s headline business activity index came in at -13.2, and firms remained pessimistic about the outlook. Learn more in our monthly regional service sector survey on current and future business trends.

Economic Activity in the Second District Continued to Decline Modestly

June 4, 2025

Economic activity in the Second District continued to decline modestly amid heightened uncertainty. Employment held steady, though demand for workers softened and wage growth slowed to a modest pace. Selling price increases remained moderate, but input prices grew strongly with tariff-induced cost increases. Capital spending plans declined, and the outlook was quite pessimistic.

a worker standing in front of a large metal power turbine in a factory. Or a worker stands in front of a massive metal power turbine in factory OR the back of a worker standing in front of large metal power turbine.

Are Businesses Absorbing the Tariffs or Passing Them on to Their Customers?

BY Jaison R. Abel, Richard Deitz, Sebastian Heise, Ben Hyman, and Nick Montalbano | June 4, 2025

Recent import tariffs have left businesses with difficult and complex decisions about whether to absorb the tariffs, raise their prices to recover the higher costs, or some combination of both. The authors discuss the New York Fed’s May survey of businesses in the New York–Northern New Jersey region, which indicates most businesses passed on at least some of the higher tariffs to their customers.

Quarterly Household Debt & Credit Report (with state information)

May 13, 2025

The report provides unique data and insight into the credit conditions of U.S. consumers and provides a quarterly snapshot of household trends in borrowing and indebtedness, including data about mortgages, student loans, credit cards, auto loans and delinquencies.

Mapping Home Price Changes

May 2025

Explore year-over-year changes in home prices both regionally and nationally, using this dynamic map — updated monthly with new home price index data on 1,200 U.S. counties since 2003.

Jaison Abel's Briefing on Economic Conditions in the Region

March 25, 2025

In a presentation for the 2025 New York Fed Regional and Community Banking Conference, Jaison Abel, Head of Microeconomics, discussed economic conditions in the region, including employment, inflation, housing, and business conditions.

Credit Insecurity in the United States: 2018-2023

BY Jake Scott, Ambika Nair, and Claire Kramer Mills | March 6, 2025

The report introduces a geographic measure of credit access across the United States called the Credit Insecurity Index. The index combines data about the share of adults without a credit score or file and the share who have limited access to affordable credit. The report uses the index to measure access to affordable credit at the national, state, city, town, and county level.

illustration of new york city skyline in blue against gold background

Firms’ Inflation Expectations Have Picked Up

By Jaison R. Abel, Richard Deitz, and Ben Hyman | March 5, 2025

After a period of high inflation following the pandemic recession, inflationary pressures have been moderating the past few years, dropping from a peak of 9.1 percent in 2022 to 3 percent at the beginning of 2025. However, firms expect both cost and price increases to move higher in 2025, with year-ahead inflation expectations rising from 3 percent last year at this time to 3.5 to 4 percent, though longer-term inflation expectations remain anchored at around 3 percent.

Technician using a tablet in a car factory

AI and the Labor Market: Will Firms Hire, Fire, or Retrain?

BY Jaison R. Abel, Richard Deitz, Natalia Emanuel, and Benjamin Hyman | September 4, 2024

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to dramatically change the labor market and possibly the nature of work itself. The results of the authors’ August regional business surveys find most firms that expected to use AI in the next six months plan to retrain their workforces, with far fewer reporting adjustments to planned headcounts.

Supply Chain Disruptions Have Eased, But Remain a Concern

BY Jaison R. Abel and Richard Deitz | May 20, 2024

Supply chain disruptions became a major headache for businesses in the aftermath of the pandemic and were a key contributor to the surge in inflation. The authors present new measures in supply availability from the New York Fed’s Business Leaders Survey, Empire State Manufacturing Survey, and Global Supply Chain Pressure Index. They find that supply availability had generally been improving since early 2023, but improvement has stalled over the past couple of months.

Supplemental Survey Report: Regional Supply Chain Insights

May 20, 2024

In response to special questions focused on supply chain disruptions, about a third of service firms and 48 percent of manufacturing firms reported at least some difficulty obtaining supplies they needed this month. Learn more in our supplemental survey report.

Slow Road to Recovery: U.S.V.I. Sees Signs of Resilience

Many Places Still Have Not Recovered from the Pandemic Recession

May 7, 2024

The onset of the pandemic resulted in one of the sharpest and deepest economic downturns in U.S. history. The authors examine the uneven geographic recovery from the pandemic recession, noting that much of the New York-Northern New Jersey region is still way behind.

Andy Haughwout’s Briefing on U.S. and Regional Economic Conditions

April 18, 2024

In a presentation at the 2024 New York Fed Regional and Community Banking Conference, Andy discussed economic conditions, including employment, inflation, business activity, housing, and commercial real estate.

small business workers creating fabric products in shop

Businesses See Inflationary Pressures Moderating

February 21, 2024

Shortly after the recovery from the pandemic recession began, the U.S. economy entered a period of high inflation as surging demand, severe supply disruptions, and worker shortages combined to create large imbalances and inflationary pressures in the economy. Have these pressures moderated for local businesses in the New York–Northern New Jersey region? The New York Fed’s February business surveys asked firms about increases in their costs and prices.

The State of Low-Income America: Credit Access & Housing

BY Claire Kramer-Mills, Ambika Nair, Belicia Rodriguez, and Joelle Scally | JANUARY 18, 2024

As part of our mission to make the U.S. economy stronger and the financial system more stable for all segments of society, the New York Fed issues periodic reports on credit access for low-income Americans. The 2024 report examines low-income households’ access to credit, ability to repay loans, and use of mortgage refinancing through Q3 of 2023.

Small Business Recovery after Natural Disasters

Banks versus Hurricanes

November 20, 2023

Puerto Rico’s location in the Caribbean leaves it highly exposed to all manner of severe weather. Hurricane Maria, which struck the island on September 17, 2017, was a worst case in some respects as it struck just two weeks after Hurricane Irma flooded the island. Even so, the island’s economy and banks recovered surprisingly quickly. This post discusses the various protections—including homeowners’ insurance, federal aid, and mortgage guarantees—that helped buttress the island’s economy and banks.

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