Best PlacesCenter Strafford, NH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Center Strafford, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Center Strafford ranks 3,396th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Center Strafford
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.
Center Strafford's strengths and weaknesses
Where Center Strafford ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$111,300 median, better than 90% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 89% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of towns
Where Center Strafford ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,297 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 11% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Center Strafford
A household needs to earn about $114,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Center Strafford home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $111,300; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Center Strafford's effective rate of 1.61%, 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 Center Strafford
Center Strafford's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Center Strafford.
Who works in Center Strafford, and how
Work in Center Strafford centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Center Strafford
The coast is about 38 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Center Strafford, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Center Strafford, month by month
Center Strafford sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 27° | 18° |
| April | 59° | 46° | 35° |
| July | 87° | 73° | 61° |
| October | 66° | 53° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Center Strafford
The nearest airport, Portsmouth International at Pease, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 62 miles away.
The best schools in and around Center Strafford
Schools across Center Strafford average a B−, better than 62% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Strafford SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Barrington Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Coe-brown Northwood AcademyA− · 63% proficient
- Spaulding High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Farmington Senior High SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Center Strafford school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Center Strafford 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 Center Strafford against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Center Strafford
Is Center Strafford a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Center Strafford ranks 3,396th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, low taxes, and high incomes, 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 Center Strafford expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $393,345. The overall cost of living runs about 20% above the national average. Set against a $111,300 median income, cost of living beats 66% of towns.
Is Center Strafford safe?
Yes, Center Strafford is safer than 100% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $117 per resident a year.
Compare Center Strafford with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Center Strafford. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Center Strafford 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.
Center Strafford detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Center Strafford: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Center Strafford: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Center Strafford: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Center Strafford: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Center Strafford 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.