Bridgeport & New Haven Get Bad News in 2025 Rent Study

Best & Worst Places to Rent in the U.S.

Wallet Hub just dropped their annual study of the Best & Worst Places to Rent in America (2025). To put this list together, they looked at a bunch of different factors—things like affordability, rental vacancy rates, rent-to-price ratios, cost of living, and safety.

Like most of their lists, this one covered 183 cities and towns across the U.S. When the dust settled, Overland Park, Kansas grabbed the top spot as the best place for renters, while Memphis, Tennessee landed dead last.

The Top 5 Best Cities/Towns for Renters:

1. Overland Park, KS
2. Scottsdale, AZ
3. Chandler, AZ
4. Gilbert, AZ
5. Bismarck, ND

The Top 5 Worst Cities/Towns for Renters:

1. Memphis, TN
2. Detroit, MI
3. Cleveland, OH
4. Tacoma, WA
5. New Orleans, LA

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So, how did Connecticut do? Yeah… not great.

We had two cities on the list, and both were sitting pretty close to the bottom.

• Bridgeport came in at #151 out of 183
• New Haven wasn’t far behind at #147

Honestly, it’s easy to see how they landed there. Both cities are a lot less affordable than they should be, and neither exactly screams “safe.”

But here’s the twist—despite all that, I’ve been seeing reports saying Bridgeport’s real estate market is on fire right now. People are scooping up homes and commercial properties like crazy. Translation? I’m predicting a wave of gentrification, with a generous sprinkle of Starbucks locations popping up.

One thing I know for sure—if Danbury was big enough to qualify for this study, its affordability score would’ve dragged it way down too. Renting in the Hat City isn’t exactly a walk in the park.