Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Wallingford grades B+ overall, 53rd of 151 graded towns in Connecticut. It has 59 miles of trail. The median household earns $105K and it is healthier than 86% of U.S. towns. The catch is cost: homes are expensive, about $426K for a typical one and 4.8 times the New Haven metro’s $88K median household income. Wallingford’s trail density is 1.5 miles per square mile, near the Connecticut town median (1.3) and above the median of U.S. towns (0.4). Its National Register listings include John Barker House and Samuel Parsons House. Wallingford is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 70% of U.S. towns.
Where Wallingford beats most towns.
Census counts: 2,237 in 1820, 44,396 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1740 and 6 maps from 1892 on.
10 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Wallingford takes its name from Wallingford in Oxfordshire, England, 3,340 miles across the Atlantic.
UKUK editionWallingford, settled in 1667, takes its name from Wallingford, a town in Oxfordshire, England.
Named after: each U.S. town’s Wikipedia article. Grades compare each town with towns in its own country, so they aren’t a head-to-head.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Connecticut), ordered by how far Wallingford is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Wallingford. Close and well known come first.
13 mi Stadium & arenaYale Bowl
14 mi Theme parkLake Compounce
22 mi Stadium & arenaPeoplesBank Arena
23 mi Stadium & arenaPratt & Whitney Stadium
20 mi State parkGillette Castle State Park
37 mi Stadium & arenaMohegan Sun ArenaYale Bowl: Kenneth Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Lake Compounce: Wildcat1 at English Wikipedia, Public domain · PeoplesBank Arena: PeoplesBank Arena, CC BY 2.5 · Pratt & Whitney Stadium: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0 · Gillette Castle State Park: Original uploader was Kevinpepin at en.wikipedia, Public domain · Mohegan Sun Arena: Bbjeter, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Wallingford, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 30, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Wallingford.
Wallingford trades workers with New Haven and other neighbors and is healthy by national standards but mid-pack in Connecticut; it also has seen reported crime rise by about half.
Within Connecticut it is less healthy than 59% of the 154 graded towns: Connecticut sets a high bar.
The share of adults in Wallingford who have diabetes: 9.3%. Of 32 CDC measures, Wallingford beats the Connecticut average on 6 and trails it on 1. Among adults here, 14% say their health is fair or poor, against 14% in Connecticut’s towns and 19% across U.S. towns.
| Wallingford | Connecticut towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 22% | 23% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 9.7% | 14% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 9.3% | 9.4% | 12% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 30% | 35% |
| What stands out | Wallingford | CT |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.8% | 14.9% |
| Fewer adults without reliable transportation | 6% | 8.3% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.7% | 8.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Below: Two of its 17 schools, each with why it was picked. The public schools here belong to the Wallingford School District. 6 public schools serve Wallingford, with 1,822 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dag Hammarskjold Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 593 | C+ |
| Lyman Hall High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 936 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CT on state tests and graduation
Tyler Mill Preserve, at 841 acres with 25.5 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Wallingford has 45 parks and preserves, 2,223 acres in all.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Tyler Mill Preserve | 25.5 mi | 841 |
| 2. William D. Bertini Park | 2.4 mi | 138 |
| 3. Orchard And Spruce Glen | 2.3 mi | 70 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Reported crimes rose from 213 to 495 over the last three FBI years, a rise beyond ordinary year-to-year swings. At 7.8 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 70% of Connecticut’s graded towns.
The rate of reported violence in Wallingford is 0.6 per 1,000 residents. The property offense rate in the town is 10.6 per 1,000 residents.
| Wallingford | Connecticut towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.6 per 1,000 residents | 0.4 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 10.6 per 1,000 residents | 9.6 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Expect July afternoons of 84° and January nights of 19°, with about 39 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Wallingford has about as many jobs (25,484) as working residents, but only 4,396 people both live and work here.
For half of commuters, work is under 11 miles away. 21% of working residents work locally in Wallingford. The top destinations are New Haven (11%), North Haven (6%) and Meriden (5%).
| Wallingford | Connecticut towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 21% | 11% | 8% |
| Median household income | $105,000 | $109,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 5.4% | 5.8% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 24 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Wallingford: 40% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more. Every broad age group is within 4 points of the Connecticut average. In Wallingford, the age of the median resident is 42.6 years.
| Wallingford | Connecticut towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 40% | 45% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 19% | 19% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 21% | 20% | 18% |
| Median age | 42.6 years | 44.4 years | 40.5 years |
52% women, 48% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±1.5 points. Across Connecticut, 50.9% of residents are women.
| Wallingford | CT | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10.3% | 10.4% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8.5% | 9.8% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6.7% | 9.3% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.5% | 12.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.9% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.4% | 12.5% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.4% | 14.2% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 11.2% | 10.7% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 10% | 7.8% | 7% |
| No diploma | 5.7% | 8.5% | 10.4% |
| High school | 29.1% | 25.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 16.6% | 16.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8.3% | 7.6% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 23.7% | 23.3% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 16.7% | 19.2% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Zillow values the typical Wallingford home at about $426,000, up 7.1% in a year, close to the Connecticut typical home. The town’s going rate for rent comes in at $1,374 a month. Among households here, 73% own their home.
| Wallingford | Connecticut towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 73% | 81% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,374 a month | $1,451 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
104 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 12 properties have flooded more than once.
The national flood insurance program has paid 104 claims in Wallingford since 1978. Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 50% of U.S. communities.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
8 within 15 miles of the center of Wallingford
About 6 of every 100 Wallingford residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Connecticut.
10 places in Wallingford on the National Register of Historic Places.
28 notable people were born in Wallingford.
Town in Connecticut, United States
Wallingford is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, centrally located between New Haven and Hartford, and Boston and New York City. The town is part of the South Central Connecticut Planning Region and the New York Metropolitan Area. The population was 44,396 at the 2020 census. The community was named after Wallingford, in England.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
8 towns share a border with Wallingford.
| Town | CT rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wallingford | #53 | B+ | C− | A− | C+ | A |
| North Haven | #84 | B | D | C | B | A |
| Wallingford Center | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Northford | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| North Branford | #76 | B | D | A− | B | A |
| Cheshire | #6 | A+ | C− | A | A | A+ |
| Meriden | #140 | D | D | C+ | C− | C+ |
| Durham | #48 | A− | B− | — | B− | A |
Durham reports no FBI crime data of its own. Wallingford Center and Northford aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Wallingford with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Wallingford grades B+ overall, better than 75% of U.S. towns and #53 of 151 in Connecticut. It grades A for health, A− for safety and C+ for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
28 notable people were born here, including Clarence Dutton and Lyman Hall.
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