Concord, the state capital · Photo: AlexiusHoratius · CC BY-SA 3.0How New Hampshire stacks up
Only one state charges homeowners more in property tax: in New Hampshire, the typical property-tax bill is $6,667. On home ownership, New Hampshire is a state of two halves: 25% of residents live in top-quarter towns such as Windham and Amherst, and 47% in bottom-quarter ones such as Manchester and Nashua. Its overall score of 84 ranks 9th, an A−.
Each subject puts the official state figure beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
1st of 51A+100/100 Consistently safe. No state puts more of its people in the nation’s safest quarter of towns (42%). New Hampshire reports 119 violent crimes per 100,000 people, against 329 nationally. Among its neighbors it does best on safety, with Maine second.
Counting property crime too (property + 4 × violent, the weighting our town grades use): lowest.
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, state estimate 2025.
Measure: reported crime per resident over the engine’s three crime years (property + 4 × violent), as in our Safety grades. 28 New Hampshire towns of 10,000+ against 3,410 nationally.
Hardly any high-crime towns
Its safest larger towns are Windham (#39), Merrimack (#79) and Durham (#99), ranked against every U.S. town of 10,000+.
| State | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | 42% | 0% | |
| Rhode Island | 37% | 0% | |
| New Jersey | 35% | 20% | |
| Pennsylvania | 29% | 37% | |
| Maine | 29% | 15% | |
| Massachusetts | 29% | 24% |
Some towns not counted
Each town’s figure is built from its own department’s FBI reports, so towns with gaps sit out rather than being estimated. Here the towns counted hold 96% of residents of towns of 10,000+. One town, Rochester, has too few years reported and sits out. Its neighbors are counted about as fully, 94% to 98%.
Schools
6th of 51A90/100 Among the strongest schools in the country. Town by town it lands near the middle, with Hanover its best at #48 of 5,230. New Hampshire’s students rank 6th highest on the Nation’s Report Card: 36% reach Proficient.
Graduation: 88.1% finish high school on time (class of 2023), 15th highest. The grade weighs test results and graduation equally.
Per-pupil spending, $23,296 (9th highest), is shown for context and not graded.
Source: NCES, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2024, public schools; EDFacts graduation rates; Census school finance.
Measure: graduation rate and test results, averaged; each district’s state-test proficiency is put on the NAEP yardstick (its result ÷ the state average × the state’s NAEP proficiency) so districts compare across states. 29 New Hampshire towns of 10,000+ against 5,230 nationally.
Cost of living
42nd of 51C−18/100 Living here costs more than in most states. New Hampshire homeowners pay a typical $6,667 a year in property tax (2nd highest). Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Durham ranks highest, at #1,026.
A typical home costs 4.1 years of median household income, 21st highest.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: our cost-of-living score: home value, rent and tax bill against area income, plus the share paying 30%+ for housing. 29 New Hampshire towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Health
6th of 51A90/100 Consistently healthy. About one adult in seven here says their health is fair or poor (2nd lowest). Its larger towns score well almost across the board, from Hanover to Windham.
Source: CDC PLACES 2025 release (BRFSS model estimates).
Measure: our health score: seven CDC PLACES measures (general, physical and mental health, obesity, diabetes, smoking, inactivity). 29 New Hampshire towns of 10,000+ against 5,218 nationally.
Housing
2nd of 51A+98/100 High home ownership, but not everywhere. The gap between towns is wide: 47% of residents live in bottom-quarter places like Manchester. 73% of homes are lived in by their owners, against 65% nationally (6th highest). It leads its neighbors on home ownership, ahead of Maine.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: share of occupied homes that are owner-occupied. 29 New Hampshire towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Natural hazards
35th of 51C32/100 Somewhat more exposed than average. Natural hazards are expected to cost $135 a year per $100,000 of buildings, the 25th lowest rate in the country. Even its best town, Somersworth, ranks #1,459 of 5,239 nationally. The state total looks better than its towns do.
The federal government declared 15 major disasters here between 2015 and 2025 (17th most).
What drives it: inland flooding 79%, hurricane 10%, earthquake 4% of expected building damage.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (Dec. 2025): expected annual building loss over building value, all census tracts; FEMA disaster declarations.
Measure: FEMA National Risk Index: expected yearly building loss from 18 natural hazards, as a share of building value. 29 New Hampshire towns of 10,000+ against 5,239 nationally.
Commute
43rd of 51C−16/100 Longer commutes than most states. Commutes stretch longest from Derry. Workers spend 26.7 minutes getting to work, the 12th longest commute among the states. Lebanon leads its towns at #71 nationally; 12% of residents live in top-quarter towns.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: average one-way commute of the town’s workers. 29 New Hampshire towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Growth
43rd of 51C−16/100 Slow growth. Builders added 3.7 homes per 1,000 residents in 2025, after the population grew 4.6% from 2010 to 2020 (21st slowest). Even its best town, Windham, ranks #1,013 of 5,079 nationally.
New homes permitted in 2025: 3.7 per 1,000 residents (18th fewest).
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 and 2020 decennial counts; Census building permits.
Measure: population change between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. 29 New Hampshire towns of 10,000+ against 5,079 nationally.
How New Hampshire compares to its neighbors
New Hampshire beats every neighbor on safety and housing; on natural hazards, every neighbor beats it.
| New Hampshire | Massachusetts | Vermont | Maine | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | A− 849th of 51 | B+ 7016th of 51 | C 3036th of 51 | B+ 6618th of 51 |
| Safety | A+ 1003rd official · 42% in top towns | B+ 7426th official · 29% in top towns | B− 5010th official · 0% in top towns | A+ 961st official · 29% in top towns |
| Schools | A 906th official · 31% in top towns | A+ 981st official · 39% in top towns | D 1230th official · 0% in top towns | C− 1642nd official · 0% in top towns |
| Cost of living | C− 1850th official · 8% in top towns | D 647th official · 1% in top towns | D− 044th official · 0% in top towns | C 3232nd official · 6% in top towns |
| Health | A 902nd official · 40% in top towns | A 8610th official · 41% in top towns | A+ 982nd official · 69% in top towns | C+ 4427th official · 16% in top towns |
| Housing | A+ 986th official · 25% in top towns | B− 5047th official · 23% in top towns | B 643rd official · 6% in top towns | A+ 962nd official · 21% in top towns |
| Natural hazards | C 3225th official · 0% in top towns | A 869th official · 53% in top towns | A− 8012th official · 45% in top towns | A− 8410th official · 45% in top towns |
| Commute | C− 1640th official · 12% in top towns | D 847th official · 7% in top towns | A− 7817th official · 87% in top towns | B+ 7023rd official · 56% in top towns |
| Growth | C− 1631st official · 2% in top towns | C+ 4022nd official · 9% in top towns | D 1041st official · 6% in top towns | C 2643rd official · 16% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the state’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of residents of 10,000+ towns living in a nationally top-quarter town. Neighbor names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is the figure a state agency or federal survey publishes for the whole state, ranked against the other 49 states and D.C. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the state’s towns and cities of 10,000+, the share whose town falls in the national top quarter of 10,000+ towns. A state can do well on one and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the state’s standing among the 50 states and D.C.: the two measures’ percentiles averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. 100 is the best state, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, commute 10, housing 8, natural hazards 8, growth 8 (out of 100). D.C., a single city, is left out of the town measure and graded on official figures alone.
What it is not. A state figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a state is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out towns under 10,000 and towns missing data. Neither says anything about any one neighborhood.
Schools use the Nation’s Report Card because each state’s own tests are set to different bars. Hazards use FEMA’s expected building damage, the same loss rate behind our town hazard grades. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work