Via 95, the towns between Fairfield and New Haven are Bridgeport, Stratford, Milford, and West Haven. On the Merritt, you've got Trumbull, Orange and Woodbridge.

Biased though I am, Milford is the best of those.

Why is Milford the best?

Do you have a car? You’ll find cheaper rents in the valley - Ansonia, Derby, Seymour, Shelton and will still be about 20 minutes away from either Fairfield or New Haven.

Nice downtown/green with lots of restaurants and walkability and activity. Great beaches. Affordable housing. Low property taxes.

I have a car, but it’s up there in miles and I want to generally cut down on my driving.

Take the rent increase to the fair rent commission first. While you wait for your case to be heard, you pay your current rent, and often they will rule in favor of the tenant or for a compromise between tenant and landlord. The ruling is good for a year, then you can appeal again on the next increase.

+1 for milford, although the rent might not be that much cheaper as the land use is mostly single family homes and not too many apartments. Lots of great spots to hang out in town with different vibes and it would probably be best for your fairfield/new haven situation given the metro north line. Some new apartments just went up by the train station but if you need to go out further, there are covered bike lockers.

Anywhere along 95 will let you commute via train. The Milford stop is right downtown and pretty convenient depending on where in town you live. I believe commuter parking is free at West Haven too, which might be an option. You can live anywhere and drive a couple miles and park to take the train.

Have people had a lot of luck with this? The stuff I heard coming out of the commission early on didn’t seem promising

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if you are trying to get out of new haven, the only cheaper options along that stretch of the shoreline are west haven (which is still pretty affordable) and bridgeport (which, like new haven, varies wildly depending on which neighborhood you are looking in)

as others have said, the naugatuck river valley has affordable rents, too. it's served by the waterbury branch line of metro north so it's possible to live a car-light existence up there, although it's much easier along the shore.

Since you are renting, taxes won’t be as big of a deal then if you bought, so you might want to look at the Black Rock section of Bridgeport. Definitely has a social life that is walkable. Can walk to a train station. If you are hung up on the taxes, then look at Milford. Also consider when would you be driving to either Fairfield or New Haven, you don’t want to be stuck driving on 95 to Fairfield in the morning!

Milford

Bridgeport is staring you in the face.

Born and Raised.

Though, I HATE the fact that they are building so many apartments and condos. Beginning to look like west haven. So sad.

Affordable?( I am lucky to have been born and raised in milford.)

The new apartments behind the funeral home are $1800 for a studio.

Taxes are high for most people. My parents paid $10k a year with Dad's military discount.

i've never used it but there's a Shoreline East train to Metro North. it's not expensive compared to gas and parking. it goes all the way to New London.

Rent isn't going to be great along the shoreline but it could expand OP's range a bit

Yeah, for renters Bridgeport is probably more affordable and Bridgeport station easier to bike to, a lot of wide streets and abandoned factories with little traffic in the area to get there. take your bike up in the elevator

and Milford train station, which is really small and charming would probably suck for biking to. close to Post Road, narrow streets and a lot of cars, unless you lived right by the green which sounds expensive

As someone who has rented - mostly in Milford - since coming to Connecticut 12 years ago, I love the fact that Milford continues to add apartments. The more, the merrier.

People want to move to Milford. Do you want the city to keep developing single family homes on farmland/woods where you need to own a car and contribute to traffic, or do you want existing lots near transit to be redeveloped to allow multifamily units?

They tend to at the very least split the difference between what you and landlord are asking for IME. Wildaliz the new head of the commission is very pro tenant.

Orange

If you’re looking for a cheap apartment I’d say West Haven is your best choice, it’s not bad & it’s the closest to New Haven. If you’re looking for a house & don’t mind spending more and driving a bit more, Milford is your go to.

I grew up in north milford. They've bought most of the farms. Put in ugly office buildings and housing developments (people don't realize that the ones they built on east rutland (Lexington Greens) are on swamp lands...lol!) We used to ice skate there.

Yes. I'd rather see single family, privately owned homes. They tend to care more about where they live and take care of them. I have renters near me and they don't care. Oh they originally say "it's beautiful and quiet" few months later, they throw their papers and bottles on the ground. Play their music so loud it rattles windows. So, no......no more rentals.

Check out apartment communities in Black-rock CT, moved to the area of the haven and it’s a better vibe.

lol whatever nimby. i also grew up in the east rutland area and i love those new apartments they put in and i hope they do more around town to give people options on living in milford!

As usual, an ignorant person has to call names.

I refuse to have an intelligent conversation with an unarmed person..

In a few years, you'll be complaining. I can't tell you how many times my parents were almost hit just walking to their mailbox which is on the same side as their home. Had cars stolen and their home broken into.

You aren't thinking about the already stressed out school system.