Best Places03044, NH Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 03044, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

03044 ranks 2,813th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.

#2,813
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 03044

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 03044 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

03044's strengths and weaknesses

Top 1%Low crime
Top 1%Low taxes
Top 3%Few empty homes
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 03044 with other zip codes.

Where 03044 ranks high

  • Crime safetyBetter than 99% of zip codes
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of zip codes
  • Low vacancyBetter than 98% of zip codes
  • Heat safetyBetter than 98% of zip codes
  • Tree shadeBetter than 98% of zip codes

Where 03044 ranks low

  • Low property taxBetter than only 7% of zip codes
  • Cheap childcare$1,375 a month, better than only 11% of zip codes
  • Housing crash safetyBetter than only 12% of zip codes
  • State fiscal healthBetter than only 12% of zip codes
  • Short commute33.0 minutes each way, better than only 16% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 03044

A household needs to earn about $120,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 03044 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $119,527; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.

Income to buy the median home
$120,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$2,802
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $407,883 home
Median rent
$2,492
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,080
Property tax$586
Homeowners insurance$136

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 03044's effective rate of 1.73%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 03044

03044 runs older than the country.

Median age
45
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
22%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.7
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1820%
18 to 3418%
35 to 4919%
50 to 6422%
65 and older22%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 03044.


Who works in 03044, and how

Work in 03044 centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
9%
below the national average
Unemployment
1.1%
below the national average
Job growth
+3.0%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Retail trade18%
Health care & social15%
Manufacturing14%
Construction12%
Education10%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 90%
  • Work from home 9%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 1%

Life in 03044

The coast is about 25 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across 03044, which the map shows.

To the coast
25 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

What the weather is like in 03044, month by month

03044 sees roughly 96 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January36°27°19°
April57°45°36°
July83°71°61°
October62°51°42°

Flying in and out of 03044

The nearest airport, Manchester Boston Regional, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 44 miles away.

Nearest airport
MHT
Manchester Boston Regional, about 16 miles
Airport size
Small hub
125th-busiest in the US, 35 nonstop destinations
Average drive
23 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 03044

Schools across 03044 average a C, better than 32% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 03044 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


03044 measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 03044 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 03044

Is 03044 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 03044 ranks 2,813th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on low crime, low taxes, and few empty homes, and lowest on property taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 03044 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $407,883. The overall cost of living runs about 18% above the national average. Set against a $119,527 median income, cost of living beats 75% of zip codes.

Is 03044 safe?

Yes, 03044 is safer than 100% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $119 per resident a year.


Compare 03044 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 03044. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 03044 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

03044 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 03044: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 03044: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 03044: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 03044: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

03044 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.