Best PlacesCanaan Center, NH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Canaan Center, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Canaan Center ranks 12,116th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Canaan Center
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.
Canaan Center's strengths and weaknesses
Where Canaan Center ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
Where Canaan Center ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Canaan Center
A household needs to earn about $75,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Canaan Center home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $87,179, 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 Canaan Center's effective rate of 2.17%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Canaan Center
Canaan Center runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Canaan Center.
Who works in Canaan Center, and how
Work in Canaan Center centers on professional & technical and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Canaan Center
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Canaan Center.
What the weather is like in Canaan Center, month by month
Canaan Center sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 24° | 14° |
| April | 60° | 45° | 33° |
| July | 87° | 72° | 59° |
| October | 65° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Canaan Center
The nearest airport, Lebanon Municipal, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 106 miles away.
The best schools in and around Canaan Center
Schools across Canaan Center average a C+, better than 51% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bernice A. Ray SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Canaan Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Indian River SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Mascoma Valley Regional High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Canaan Center school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Canaan Center 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 Canaan Center against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Canaan Center
Is Canaan Center a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Canaan Center ranks 12,116th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, clean air, and tree cover, and lowest on property taxes and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Canaan Center expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $242,988. The overall cost of living runs about 0% above the national average. Set against a $87,179 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Canaan Center safe?
Yes, Canaan Center is safer than 93% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $166 per resident a year.
Compare Canaan Center with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Canaan Center. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Canaan Center 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.
Canaan Center detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Canaan Center: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Canaan Center: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Canaan Center: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Canaan Center: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Canaan Center 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.