The local economy of Connecticut and its counties, metro areas and cities, from official US government data.
Unemployment rate
5.1%
August 2026, 4.1% a year ago
Average weekly pay
$2,080
Q1 2026, 1,668,156 jobs
New homes permitted
5,775
Last 12 months to August 2026
Net people moving in
-5,464
2022 to 2023
Newest data: -. Not seasonally adjusted: compare with the same month a year earlier. Click a row for its history.
The newest unemployment rate, pay, new home permits, moves and gas price for Connecticut, updated as new official numbers come out.
Unemployment for Connecticut is seasonally adjusted; for its counties, metro areas and cities it is not, so compare a month with the same month a year earlier. Pay covers all jobs that pay into unemployment insurance. Building permits count homes approved to be built, not homes sold. Moves count households by where they filed their tax returns in two years in a row.
The unemployment rate in Connecticut was 5.1% in August 2026 (seasonally adjusted, preliminary), compared with 4.1% a year earlier. 1,782,456 people were employed out of a labor force of 1,878,825. Among its counties, Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region had the lowest rate (3.8%) and Greater Bridgeport Planning Region the highest (5.6%, not seasonally adjusted).
Average weekly pay in Connecticut was $2,080 in Q1 2026, up 5.2% from a year earlier, across 1,668,156 jobs at 149,963 business locations.
Building permits were issued for 320 new homes in Connecticut in August 2026 (175 single-family and 112 in buildings with 5 or more units). From January to August the total was 3,518, down 24.0% from the same months last year, and 5,775 in the last 12 months. The most homes were permitted in Western Connecticut Planning Region (1,422), Capitol Planning Region (1,305), South Central Connecticut Planning Region (959) over the last 12 months.
No, more people moved out than in. From 2022 to 2023, 78,479 people moved to Connecticut and 83,943 moved away, a net loss of 5,464 (-1.9 per 1,000 residents). Most newcomers came from New York, Massachusetts, Florida, and most people who left went to New York, Florida, Massachusetts.
The weekly survey does not publish a separate price for Connecticut. In its region, New England, regular gasoline averaged $4.37 per gallon in the week of September 28, 2026.