The Ranking, With Methodology
$54per square foot separating Cheshire (top) from New Britain (bottom) in Central CT's price-per-sqft ranking
On 1,800 square feet of finished space, that gap is roughly $97,000. Same size house, different town, completely different cost basis.
Below is the ranking for five core Central CT towns, based on closed single-family residential sales sourced from SmartMLS data:
| Town | Price Per Sq Ft |
|---|
| Cheshire | $272 |
| Farmington | $268 |
| Berlin | $260 |
| Southington | $254 |
| New Britain | $218 |
Zillow and Redfin publish median sale prices by town. They don't publish this - price per square foot at town-level granularity for Central CT. Most buyers and sellers are making decisions without it.
Why Cheshire and Farmington Sit at the Top
These two towns are essentially tied. A $4/sqft gap between Cheshire and Farmington is noise - not a meaningful difference in what buyers are willing to pay per finished foot of space in either town.
What they share: school systems that consistently draw family buyers who are willing to pay a premium for the district. Housing stock that skews toward larger, well-maintained homes. Lot sizes that give you actual outdoor space. And a buyer profile - dual income, often coming from outside the state for corporate relocations or UConn Health - that shows up financially ready.
Farmington specifically sits along a medical and corporate corridor. Buyers relocating for those jobs prioritize the commute and the schools, and they're less price-sensitive than the average Central CT buyer. That drives the number up.
Cheshire is a tighter community - fewer listings, fewer rentals, a buyer pool that tends to be deeply local and highly motivated. When a well-priced home hits there, it doesn't stay on the market long enough for anyone to reconsider.
$272 and $268 are not accidents. They're what the buyer pool in those towns has decided the space is worth.
Berlin and Southington: The Value Band Nobody Talks About
Berlin at $260 and Southington at $254 are $12 to $18 per square foot below Cheshire and Farmington. On a 2,000 square foot house, that's $24,000 to $36,000 less - for towns with comparable schools, comparable suburban character, and comparable competition for good listings.
I mean, both towns have well under two months of inventory right now. Bidding wars on turnkey properties. Escalation clauses. First weekends that are decisive. The competition in Berlin and Southington is real - you're not getting a discount because these are slow markets. You're getting a discount because the buyer pool here, while still strong, has a slightly different profile than Cheshire. More local, more price-aware, buying a little bit more carefully.
That gap - $18/sqft between Southington and Cheshire - is one of the better value propositions in the region if the lifestyle matches. Same general school quality tier, similar community feel, similar commute patterns. Just $18 less per square foot.
Keep in mind: Price per square foot is a market-level average. Berlin and Southington at $254-$260 still produce individual listings that sell at $290+ when the condition and location are right. The ranking tells you the baseline, not the ceiling.
What New Britain's $218 Actually Says
$218 per square foot is not a low number in absolute terms. New Britain produces real transactions at real prices. But the buyer profile here is different, and so is the math.
More of the housing stock in New Britain is older - built before 1960 in many cases - with older systems, smaller rooms, and the general maintenance reality that comes with century-old construction. Buyers factor that in. You'll see more FHA financing in this market, more investors looking at multi-family, more renovation-focused buyers who need a buffer in the offer price to cover what comes next. That pulls the average down.
The other piece is carrying costs. New Britain's tax burden is higher than the suburban towns on this list - buyers who understand the full cost of ownership weigh that when they're deciding what to offer per square foot.
The flip side: $218 per foot means 1,800 square feet for roughly what 1,300 square feet would cost in Cheshire. If you're a buyer who is comfortable doing some work, or who just needs more space than the premium towns can offer at your budget, New Britain is a completely different conversation than the headline number suggests.
What This Number Doesn't Tell You
A renovated 900 square foot cape in Southington might close at $310 per square foot. A 3,200 square foot older colonial in the same town might close at $210. Both sales go into the average. The $254 town figure is the composite of everything that sold - small and large, updated and dated, well-located and not.
So you can't use the town average to price an individual house. That's what a comparative market analysis does - it looks at properties actually similar to yours, not the full-town blend. What the $/sqft ranking does is something different. It tells you where the market as a whole is valuing space in each town, and it lets you benchmark any specific listing against that.
If a house is listed at $310/sqft in Berlin, that's 19% above the town average. Ask why. Maybe it's a recent gut renovation with a brand new kitchen and mechanicals - in which case, buyers may well pay it. If you're in this situation, here's what I'd do: pull the comps for renovated homes in that town specifically and see if the premium is supported. Or maybe it's an overpriced listing that's going to sit. The $/sqft ranking helps you ask the right question. It doesn't answer it for you.
That distinction matters, so, so much in this market.
What I'd Do With These Numbers
For buyers: before you make an offer on anything in these towns, know what the town is trading at per square foot. If a 1,500 sqft house in Farmington is listed at $420,000, that's $280/sqft - slightly above the town average. Is the premium justified? That depends on the condition, the location within town, the lot. But now you're asking the right question instead of just reacting to a list price.
For sellers: your price per square foot when you list should land somewhere that makes sense relative to your town's average. Substantially above it and the market will tell you quickly - days on market accumulate, buyers pass, and you end up reducing anyway. Significantly below it means you're leaving money on the table that the market was ready to pay you.
Long story short: Cheshire and Farmington command a premium because their buyer pools decide they're worth it - schools, commute, housing quality. Berlin and Southington offer comparable value at a real discount per foot, which is why both towns run extremely tight on inventory right now. And New Britain at $218 is a different calculation entirely, one that works for specific buyers in specific situations.
The number doesn't tell you which town to choose. That's a life decision. But it tells you what you're actually paying for space - and that's a fact worth knowing before you bid.
Bottom line: Price per square foot by town is the number Zillow doesn't give you. Cheshire leads Central CT at $272, New Britain is at $218, and the towns in between represent real differences in what buyers are getting per dollar of finished space.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the price per square foot for homes in Cheshire CT?
Based on closed single-family residential sales in Central CT sourced from SmartMLS data, Cheshire leads the ranking at approximately $272 per square foot. That makes it the highest-cost town per finished square foot among the core Central CT markets tracked here. The premium reflects strong school system demand, larger lot sizes, and a buyer pool that includes significant corporate relocation traffic.
How does price per square foot compare between Southington and Cheshire CT?
Southington currently trades at approximately $254 per square foot, compared to $272 in Cheshire. That $18 gap translates to roughly $36,000 on a 2,000 square foot home. Both towns are competitive markets with tight inventory and multiple-offer situations on desirable listings. The Southington discount reflects a buyer pool that skews slightly more local and price-sensitive, not a meaningful difference in school quality or lifestyle for most families.
Why is price per square foot lower in New Britain than in surrounding CT towns?
New Britain's $218 per square foot average reflects a different housing stock and buyer profile than suburban towns like Cheshire or Farmington. The city has more older pre-1960 construction, more FHA and investor buyers who price in renovation and maintenance costs, and higher property tax carrying costs than surrounding suburbs. The lower $/sqft means more space per dollar, which is a real advantage for buyers who can absorb the work or want more square footage within a limited budget.
Is price per square foot a good way to compare CT towns?
For comparing towns to each other, yes - it's one of the better apples-to-apples metrics because it normalizes for house size. A $400K listing means different things depending on whether it's 1,200 sqft or 2,200 sqft. Price per sqft cuts through that. Where it breaks down is using the town average to price an individual home - a renovated cape and a dated colonial in the same town can trade at very different $/sqft. The town figure tells you the baseline; a comparative market analysis tells you where your specific property sits.
What is the price per square foot for homes in Berlin CT?
Berlin is currently tracking at approximately $260 per square foot based on closed single-family sales in Central CT. That puts it third among the five core Central CT towns in this ranking, behind Cheshire ($272) and Farmington ($268) and ahead of Southington ($254) and New Britain ($218). Berlin combines a relatively lower tax burden compared to many neighboring towns with strong school systems and tight inventory - typically under one month of supply - making it a competitive market even at a slight discount to Farmington and Cheshire.