Best PlacesCheshire County, NH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Cheshire County, 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.
Cheshire County ranks 549th of 3,144 U.S. counties 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 Cheshire 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 Cheshire County
The parts of Cheshire 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.
Walpole
Fewer homes sit empty and schools score higher.
Rindge & Jaffrey
More households have young kids and incomes run higher.
Keene
Streets are more walkable, though it is noisier.
Hinsdale & Winchester
Fewer adults hold degrees and health outcomes score lower.
Scores across Cheshire County run from about the 27th to the 88th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Cheshire County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cheshire County ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 95% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 94% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of counties
Where Cheshire County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,272 a month, better than only 8% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 10% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 66 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Cheshire County
A household needs to earn about $88,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cheshire County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $84,945; 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 Cheshire County's effective rate of 1.99%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cheshire County
Cheshire County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cheshire County.
Who works in Cheshire County, and how
Work in Cheshire County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Cheshire County
Cheshire County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of counties and more parkland per resident than 94% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Cheshire County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Cheshire County growing, and who is moving in?
Cheshire County has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Boston, MA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Cheshire County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Cheshire County, month by month
Cheshire County sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 25° | 15° |
| April | 60° | 45° | 33° |
| July | 85° | 71° | 59° |
| October | 65° | 51° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Cheshire County
The nearest airport, Manchester Boston Regional, is about 42 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 70 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cheshire County
Schools across Cheshire County average a C, better than 35% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Nelson Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- North Walpole SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Peterborough Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Walpole Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- South Meadow SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Great Brook SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Fall Mountain Regional High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Keene High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Conval Regional High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cheshire County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cheshire 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 Cheshire County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Cheshire County suits
Families
Schools land around the 35th percentile and crime safety beats 94%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 13% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Cheshire County
Is Cheshire County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cheshire County ranks 549th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low taxes, tree cover, and low crime, 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 Cheshire County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $289,361. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $84,945 median income, cost of living beats 66% of counties.
Is Cheshire County safe?
Yes, Cheshire County is safer than 94% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $216 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Cheshire County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 36 with lows near 15. That works out to about 66 pleasant days a year, more than 13% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Cheshire County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Walpole, Rindge & Jaffrey, and Keene. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Cheshire County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cheshire County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cheshire 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.
Cheshire County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cheshire County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cheshire County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cheshire County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cheshire County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cheshire 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.