Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Salisbury’s best subject grades are an A− for health, history, and the outdoors; its weakest is a C− for walkability. Of the 127 New Hampshire towns we compare, none has a lower share of working residents who work in town than Salisbury. 21% of the land in Salisbury is conserved, above both New Hampshire’s towns (18%) and U.S. towns (4.3%). The biggest place to walk is Blackwater Flood Control Reservoir, 2,562 acres with 4.4 miles of trail. Salisbury has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Salisbury beats most towns.
Census counts: 1,372 in 1790, a low of 350 in 1930, 1,422 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1796 and 4 maps from 1927 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Hampshire), ordered by how far Salisbury is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Salisbury, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 19, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Salisbury.
Salisbury tracks New Hampshire closely on all 32 CDC measures. 29% of Salisbury adults feel lonely, where New Hampshire’s towns sit at 30% and U.S. towns at 33%. 15% of adults binge drink in Salisbury.
| Salisbury | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 30% | 33% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 16% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 33% | 36% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 80% | 78% | 79% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by the Merrimack Valley School District. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salisbury Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 64 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NH on state tests and graduation
Most working residents leave Salisbury for work: only 2% work in town. The average trip to work in Salisbury is 32 minutes. Since 2013, Salisbury has added 37 jobs, to 130 in 2023.
| Salisbury | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 32 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $112,000 | $103,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 7.1% | 6.8% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Adults 18 to 34 are 10% of residents (21% statewide); adults 35 to 64 are 45% of residents (40% statewide). Salisbury’s median age is 51.5 years. Salisbury has grown 6.5% since 2020, to 1,516 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Salisbury | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 51.5 years | 44.8 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 25% | 20% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 37% | 39% | 29% |
Somewhere between 32% and 58% women
The Census survey reached too few of Salisbury’s residents to say more: its margin here is ±12.9 points. Across New Hampshire, 50.1% of residents are women.
| Salisbury | NH | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 4.9% | 9.3% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 15.2% | 8.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 3.8% | 8.7% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 6% | 12.7% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13% | 12.4% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 18.8% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.4% | 15.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 19% | 12.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6% | 7.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4% | 5.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 30.9% | 26.8% | 26% |
| Some college | 16.6% | 17.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 11.3% | 9.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 17.5% | 24.5% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 19.8% | 16.1% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,500, single groups can be off by several points
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Blackwater Flood Control Reservoir | 4.4 mi | 2,562 |
| 2. Elliot and Catherine Reiner Woodland Conservancy | 2.8 mi | 657 |
| 3. State Forest Nursery | 0.6 mi | 440 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Salisbury has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 81°, January nights drop to 11° and about 68 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 67% of U.S. communities. Since 2006, 3 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Salisbury.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The typical Salisbury home is worth about $459,000, up 3.7% in a year, 10% below the New Hampshire typical home. 97% of Salisbury households own their home.
| Salisbury | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 97% | 82% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,917 a month | $1,388 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Salisbury. Close and well known come first.
27 mi LakeLake Winnipesaukee
40 mi MountainMount Monadnock
16 mi Ski areaMount Sunapee77 runs · 1,469 ft vertical
14 mi MuseumCanterbury Shaker Village
32 mi Stadium & arenaSNHU Arena
8 mi Ski areaRagged Mountain Resort42 runs · 1,103 ft verticalLake Winnipesaukee: No machine-readable author provided. JohnJHenderson~commonswiki assumed (based o, Public domain · Mount Monadnock: Jonwmcinenrey, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mount Sunapee: User:Josephbrophy, Public domain · Canterbury Shaker Village: SayCheeeeeese, Public domain · SNHU Arena: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0 · Ragged Mountain Resort: Tom Morgan, Public domain
2 within 15 miles of the center of Salisbury
About 2 of every 100 Salisbury residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Hampshire.
Where Salisbury’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
6 notable people were born in Salisbury.
Town in New Hampshire, United States
Salisbury is a town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,422 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Salisbury.
| Town | NH rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salisbury | — | — | C− | — | B− | A− |
| Andover | — | — | C+ | B+ | C | A− |
| Franklin | #102 | C | B− | B | D− | B+ |
| Warner | #30 | A− | C | A+ | B | A |
| Boscawen | #83 | B− | C | A | B− | A− |
| Webster | — | — | C | — | B− | A− |
Salisbury, Andover and Webster have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Salisbury and Webster report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Salisbury with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes. That is 4.7 years of the area's median household income ($97,004 across the Concord, NH area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
6 notable people were born here, including Daniel Webster and Samuel E. Pingree.
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