Roofing in Fairfield County

Fairfield County's housing, town by town

Added together, Fairfield County's towns come out close to Connecticut as a whole. Summing the American Community Survey estimates for 2019-2023 across all 23 towns gives 379,899 housing units, with 65.9 percent of occupied homes owner-occupied (the state figure is 66.2) and 67.8 percent of units built before 1980 (the state's is 67.7). The county leans slightly newer at the margins: 14 percent of its housing dates from 2000 or later, against 11.8 percent statewide, and 18.7 percent predates 1940, against 20.4. Those totals average out a wide spread, and for a roof it is the town, then the house, that shows what the job likely involves.

The old end is Bridgeport, also the largest town at 59,676 units. Its median year built is 1954, which makes the typical house about 72 years old in 2026, and 32.7 percent of its units predate 1940, the highest share in the county. Darien and Stratford, both at 1957, are the only other towns with a median before 1960, though Darien pairs 27.5 percent prewar housing with 20.1 percent built since 2000. A house that old has very likely outlived its first roof and may have outlived a second: InterNACHI's life expectancy chart gives 3-tab asphalt about 20 years and architectural shingles 30. What sits on it now shapes the next job. IRC R908.3.1.1 forbids laying a new covering over slate, or over a roof that already carries two or more coverings, and R908.5 requires rusted or deteriorated flashings, edgings and vents to be replaced.

No town in the county has a median year built of 1980 or later. The newest are Monroe at 1978 and Brookfield at 1977, about 48 and 49 years, so even there the typical house has passed both asphalt figures. The largest shares of recent building sit in other towns. Westport leads with 23.1 percent of units built since 2000, and Stamford is next at 21.4. Many of those homes probably still have their original shingles, and the earliest are now inside the span the chart gives asphalt.

Ownership spreads just as widely. Owners occupy 97.9 percent of occupied homes in Weston, against 47.6 percent in Stamford and 43.3 percent in Bridgeport, where more homes are rented than owned. That matters for one federal rule. EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting rule applies to paid work that disturbs painted surfaces in target housing, generally housing built before 1978, and most of the county's 67.8 percent built before 1980 likely falls in that window. Pulling painted fascia or rake trim on a roof job can bring the rule in; exterior work disturbing 20 square feet of paint or less is a minor-repair exclusion, except for window replacement or demolition of painted surfaces. Anyone hiring work on an older rental building should settle that first. The tables below list all 23 towns.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019–2023 5-year estimates (tables B25001, B25003, B25024, B25034, B25035) for each town, summed by county. Connecticut's counties are no longer Census reporting areas, so no county-wide median year is given. Town estimates carry a margin of error, which is wider in smaller towns.