Nine of out 10 folks in Stamford have graduated high school and nearly half of all city residents earned a bachelor's degree or higher, making it one of the highest educated cities in the country. Major colleges in the area include the University of Connecticut Stamford and Sacred Heart University.

Nicknamed the Fish Church for its unusual shape, the First Presbyterian Church of Stamford is a unique example of modernist architecture, and an architectural landmark. Enhancing the unique shape of the church are the enormous stained glass windows in the sanctuary, which contain more than 20,000 pieces of faceted glass.

The first artificial heart to be successfully implanted in a human was the Jarvik-7 in 1982, designed by a team that included Stamford native Robert Jarvik.

As of 2019, Stamford is home to nine Fortune 500 companies, as well as numerous divisions of large corporations. This gives Stamford the largest financial district in the New York metropolitan region outside of New York City itself, and one of the largest concentrations of corporations in the United States.