Best PlacesCarroll County, NH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Carroll County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Carroll County ranks 543rd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Carroll County
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.
The best areas in Carroll County
The parts of Carroll County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Wolfeboro
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and fewer homes sit empty.
Sanbornville
More households have young kids, though commutes are longer.
North Conway
Tree cover is thinner and it is noisier.
Center Conway
Homes cost less, though schools score lower.
Scores across Carroll County run from about the 21st to the 94th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Carroll County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Carroll County ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 98% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 94% of counties
Where Carroll County ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 7% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,231 a month, better than only 8% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 10% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Carroll County
A household needs to earn about $112,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carroll County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $89,628, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Carroll County's effective rate of 0.95%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Carroll County
Carroll County 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 Carroll County.
Who works in Carroll County, and how
Work in Carroll County 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 79%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Carroll County
Carroll County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of counties and more parkland per resident than 74% of counties. The coast is about 68 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Carroll County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Carroll County growing, and who is moving in?
Carroll County has grown about 11% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Boston, MA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Carroll County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Carroll County, month by month
Carroll County sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 22° | 10° |
| April | 58° | 44° | 30° |
| July | 85° | 71° | 57° |
| October | 64° | 49° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Carroll County
The nearest airport, Portland International Jetport, is about 44 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 100 miles away.
The best schools in and around Carroll County
Schools across Carroll County average a C+, better than 55% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- New Suncook SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Molly Ockett SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Holderness Central SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sacopee Valley Middle SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Kingswood Regional Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Moultonborough Middle LevelB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Sacopee Valley High SchA+ · 80% proficient
- Moultonborough AcademyB · 47% proficient
- Kingswood Regional High SchoolB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carroll County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carroll County 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 Carroll County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Carroll County suits
Families
Schools land around the 55th percentile and crime safety beats 94%.
Common questions about living in Carroll County
Is Carroll County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carroll County ranks 543rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on health care access, low taxes, and tree cover, and lowest on an overheated housing market and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Carroll County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $419,768. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $89,628 median income, cost of living beats 64% of counties.
Is Carroll County safe?
Yes, Carroll County is safer than 94% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $222 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Carroll County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 35 with lows near 10. That works out to about 65 pleasant days a year, more than 12% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Carroll County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Wolfeboro, Sanbornville, and North Conway. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Carroll County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carroll County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carroll County 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.
Carroll County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carroll County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carroll County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carroll County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carroll County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carroll County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.