Best Places to Buy Rental Property in Connecticut (2026)

Connecticut shows a 1.7-point spread in gross asking rental yield, from 6.3 percent in Wallingford to 8.0 percent in Branford. Read the ratio as a screen and weigh it with purchase price, expenses and demand before ranking any of these markets against another. Second is Southbury: 7.8 percent gross, $400,000 to buy, $2,600 a month to rent. Volume and yield part ways: Milford closes about 92 homes a month, more than any other city here, and ranks sixteenth on yield at 6.4 percent. Eight cities on this list carry a confirmed-close median as well as an asking median. Milford has the largest close sample, 94, with a median of $2,500, 7 percent below the $2,700 asking median; the samples are separate, so this is not evidence that the same homes leased above or below their advertised rent. Measured against the whole state, these are cheap markets: a median of $373,500 here against $450,000 statewide. The table shows the 20 highest-yielding markets among 54 Connecticut cities meeting the coverage requirements; the yield range above describes the markets shown.

The ranking

Gross yield here is an asking rental yield screen: twelve times the median asking rent over the median closed price, before taxes, insurance, vacancy, management or repairs. Sales use municipal boundaries. Rental listings use the associated city name and may cover a wider postal area. The ratio therefore compares related, but not perfectly matched, market samples, and a home bought at the median price does not necessarily earn the median rent. Confirmed-close medians appear where at least 30 confirmed lease closes were recorded in the window.

City by city

1. Branford, 8.0 percent gross

Branford is one of the cities with a confirmed-close sample: 59 closes with a median of $2,600 beside a $2,500 asking median, a 4 percent difference between two separate samples, not a measured gap on the same listings. The numbers: $375,000 median closed price across 305 closings, $2,500 median asking rent across 484 listings, 8.0 percent gross. The Branford market page carries the monthly figures.

2. Southbury, 7.8 percent gross

Rent is what puts Southbury second here; on price alone it would sit fourteenth of 20. Homes in Southbury closed at a median of $400,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,600, a gross yield of 7.8 percent. Houses there closed at about $237 per square foot. See the Southbury page for the property mix and the price band.

3. Norwich, 7.5 percent gross

Read Norwich's $1,800 rent as an apartment figure: 62 percent of its listings are apartments or condos, and the house median is $1,925. At $286,750 to buy and $1,800 a month to rent, Norwich yields 7.5 percent gross on 404 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $192 per square foot. Full detail is on the Norwich market page.

4. Groton, 7.4 percent gross

Groton's confirmed-close median, $2,300 on 73 closes, sits close to its $2,245 asking median; the samples are separate, so read it as agreement between two medians rather than a validated yield. The numbers: $362,000 median closed price across 151 closings, $2,245 median asking rent across 402 listings, 7.4 percent gross. Full detail is on the Groton market page.

5. Hamden, 7.4 percent gross

Hamden also carries a confirmed-close median: 45 confirmed lease closes in the last twelve months have a median of $2,200, 4 percent below the $2,300 asking median. The two samples are not paired, so this describes the samples rather than the same homes. Homes in Hamden closed at a median of $372,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,300, a gross yield of 7.4 percent. Full detail is on the Hamden market page.

6. Newington, 7.2 percent gross

Homes in Newington went under contract in a median of 7 days, so a buyer chasing its 7.2 percent yield needs financing ready before the search. Homes in Newington closed at a median of $365,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,200, a gross yield of 7.2 percent. Full detail is on the Newington market page.

7. North Haven, 6.9 percent gross

Rent is what puts North Haven seventh here; on price alone it would sit eighteenth of 20. The numbers: $490,000 median closed price across 191 closings, $2,825 median asking rent across 144 listings, 6.9 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $278 per square foot. The North Haven market page carries the monthly figures.

8. Trumbull, 6.9 percent gross

Rent is what puts Trumbull eighth here; on price alone it would sit twentieth of 20. At $660,000 to buy and $3,800 a month to rent, Trumbull yields 6.9 percent gross on 262 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $311 per square foot. See the Trumbull page for the property mix and the price band.

9. Naugatuck, 6.9 percent gross

In Naugatuck the two samples agree: 31 confirmed lease closes have a median of $1,900, within a few percent of the $1,950 asking median, though the samples are separate rather than paired. The numbers: $340,000 median closed price across 266 closings, $1,950 median asking rent across 308 listings, 6.9 percent gross. Full detail is on the Naugatuck market page.

10. East Haven, 6.8 percent gross

The numbers: $370,000 median closed price across 233 closings, $2,105 median asking rent across 260 listings, 6.8 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $268 per square foot. The East Haven market page carries the monthly figures.

11. Waterford, 6.7 percent gross

Waterford ranks eleventh on yield but only sixteenth on entry price: the $2,400 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. At $430,000 to buy and $2,400 a month to rent, Waterford yields 6.7 percent gross on 171 tracked closings. Full detail is on the Waterford market page.

12. Wethersfield, 6.6 percent gross

Wethersfield moves fast, 7 days from listing to contract at the median, which matters more than its 6.6 percent yield if you cannot close quickly. The numbers: $420,000 median closed price across 225 closings, $2,300 median asking rent across 113 listings, 6.6 percent gross. The Wethersfield market page carries the monthly figures.

13. Windsor, 6.6 percent gross

Windsor moves fast, 8 days from listing to contract at the median, which matters more than its 6.6 percent yield if you cannot close quickly. Homes in Windsor closed at a median of $378,450 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,070, a gross yield of 6.6 percent. Full detail is on the Windsor market page.

14. Meriden, 6.5 percent gross

Meriden is one of the cities with a confirmed-close sample: 30 closes with a median of $1,650 beside a $1,750 asking median, a 6 percent difference between two separate samples, not a measured gap on the same listings. Homes in Meriden closed at a median of $322,500 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,750, a gross yield of 6.5 percent. See the Meriden page for the property mix and the price band.

15. Enfield, 6.4 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Enfield far: it is fifth cheapest on this list and fifteenth on yield, with rent of $1,875 against a $350,000 median price. Homes in Enfield closed at a median of $350,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,875, a gross yield of 6.4 percent. Houses there closed at about $223 per square foot. See the Enfield page for the property mix and the price band.

16. Milford, 6.4 percent gross

Milford also carries a confirmed-close median: 94 confirmed lease closes in the last twelve months have a median of $2,500, 7 percent below the $2,700 asking median. The two samples are not paired, so this describes the samples rather than the same homes. The numbers: $504,000 median closed price across 550 closings, $2,700 median asking rent across 737 listings, 6.4 percent gross. The Milford market page carries the monthly figures.

17. South Windsor, 6.4 percent gross

Homes in South Windsor went under contract in a median of 7 days, so a buyer chasing its 6.4 percent yield needs financing ready before the search. At $442,000 to buy and $2,360 a month to rent, South Windsor yields 6.4 percent gross on 300 tracked closings. See the South Windsor page for the property mix and the price band.

18. Torrington, 6.4 percent gross

Torrington is one of the cities with a confirmed-close sample: 58 closes with a median of $1,600 beside a $1,650 asking median, a 3 percent difference between two separate samples, not a measured gap on the same listings. The numbers: $310,000 median closed price across 403 closings, $1,650 median asking rent across 539 listings, 6.4 percent gross. The Torrington market page carries the monthly figures.

19. Manchester, 6.3 percent gross

Manchester also carries a confirmed-close median: 39 confirmed lease closes in the last twelve months have a median of $2,000, 8 percent above the $1,850 asking median. The two samples are not paired, so this describes the samples rather than the same homes. The numbers: $350,000 median closed price across 412 closings, $1,850 median asking rent across 568 listings, 6.3 percent gross. See the Manchester page for the property mix and the price band.

20. Wallingford, 6.3 percent gross

Wallingford is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: thirteenth on price, twentieth on yield, because a $380,000 home there rents for only $2,000. The numbers: $380,000 median closed price across 380 closings, $2,000 median asking rent across 343 listings, 6.3 percent gross. See the Wallingford page for the property mix and the price band.

How this ranking is built

• •Cities: every Connecticut city where Resideline tracked at least 100 closings inside the municipal boundary in its reporting window (six or twelve months) and at least 50 rental listings under the city's name since October 3, 2025: 54 cities qualify and the table shows the 20 highest-yielding.
• •Prices: the median price homes closed at inside the city limits, from Resideline's tracked closings; the state comparison uses the statewide median of $450,000 across 29,214 closings.
• •Rents: the median advertised rent on rental listings Resideline tracked in the last twelve months, all property types, measured on the listings that carry the city's name (a postal footprint, wider than the city line in some places).
• •Confirmed-close medians: Observed rent blends two kinds of record: confirmed lease closes extracted from property records, and the final asking rent on listings that left Resideline tracking without a recorded close. Where a city has at least 30 confirmed closes in the window, their median is printed beside the asking figure; in the last twelve months about a quarter of Resideline's close episodes are confirmed closes. The asking and confirmed-close samples are separate, not paired, so a difference between their medians is not a measured gap on the same listings.
• •What is missing: taxes, insurance, vacancy, management and repairs, which turn a gross yield into a net one, and the unit mix, which differs between what sells and what rents.

Sources and related pages

• •Resideline tracked closings inside city limits (window per city, updated October 4, 2026) and rental listings since October 3, 2025; confirmed lease closes extracted from property records.
• •More Connecticut rankings: Cheapest cities to buy a house in Connecticut ranks the same kind of list with each city's price per square foot for houses, realized appreciation and days to contract beside the median, and Cap Rate by City ranks the Connecticut cities Resideline tracks by gross rental yield. The Connecticut housing market hub carries the statewide figures and the largest Connecticut markets by closings.
• •Asking rent vs observed rent compares live asking rents with final asking rents under that study's own definition; it says nothing about confirmed lease closes.

Prepared with Resideline's research pipeline and reviewed by Jeffrey Batista, Resideline's founder.