Best PlacesBath, NH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bath, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Bath ranks 13,803rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bath
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.
Bath's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bath ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 93% of towns
- QuietBetter than 91% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 91% of towns
Where Bath ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 11% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,270 a month, better than only 12% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 13% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bath
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bath home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,271, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
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 Bath's effective rate of 1.41%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bath
Bath runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bath.
Who works in Bath, and how
Work in Bath centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Bath
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Bath.
What the weather is like in Bath, month by month
Bath sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 21° | 14° |
| April | 54° | 43° | 34° |
| July | 81° | 70° | 61° |
| October | 59° | 49° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Bath
The nearest airport, Lebanon Municipal, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 133 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bath
Schools across Bath average a B−, better than 57% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lafayette Regional SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Bath Village SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- Monroe Consolidated SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lisbon Regional School (middle)B− · 40% proficient
- Haverhill Cooperative Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Lisbon Regional School (high)C · 34% proficient
- Woodsville High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bath school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bath 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 Bath against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bath
Is Bath a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bath ranks 13,803rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, tree cover, and clean air, and lowest on an overheated housing market and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bath expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $268,758. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $77,271 median income, cost of living beats 40% of towns.
Is Bath safe?
Yes, Bath is safer than 91% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $173 per resident a year.
Compare Bath with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bath. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bath 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.
Bath detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bath: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bath: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bath: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bath: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bath detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- 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.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.