Best PlacesCoos County, NH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Coos 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.
Coos County ranks 1,778th 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 Coos 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 Coos County
The parts of Coos 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.
Whitefield
Crime runs lower, tree cover is thicker, and more adults hold degrees.
Gorham
Fewer homes sit empty and biking is better.
Lancaster
More households have young kids and local pay stretches further.
Berlin
Fewer residents vote and it is noisier.
Scores across Coos County run from about the 14th to the 73rd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Coos County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Coos County ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 87% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 87% of counties
- QuietBetter than 87% of counties
Where Coos County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,202 a month, better than only 9% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 10% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Coos County
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Coos County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,049, 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 Coos County's effective rate of 1.75%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Coos County
Coos 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 Coos County.
Who works in Coos County, and how
Work in Coos 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 86%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Coos County
Coos County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Coos County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Coos County growing, and who is moving in?
Coos County has lost about 5% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Boston, MA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Coos County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Coos County, month by month
Coos County sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 8. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 19° | 8° |
| April | 55° | 41° | 28° |
| July | 83° | 68° | 53° |
| October | 62° | 47° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Coos County
The nearest airport, Lebanon Municipal, is about 79 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 152 miles away.
The best schools in and around Coos County
Schools across Coos County average a C−, better than 21% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Milan Village Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Stark Village SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Edward Fenn SchoolB− · 44% proficient
Top middle schools
- Daisy Bronson Junior High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Gorham Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Groveton High School (middle)D · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Profile Senior High SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Kennett High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Colebrook Academy And Elementary School (h)C · 34% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Coos County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Coos 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 Coos County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Coos County suits
Families
Schools land around the 21st percentile and crime safety beats 69%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 8% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Coos County
Is Coos County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Coos County ranks 1,778th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low taxes, tree cover, and cheap car insurance, 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 Coos County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $192,603. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $60,049 median income, cost of living beats 19% of counties.
Is Coos County safe?
Yes, Coos County is safer than 69% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $282 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Coos County?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 31 with lows near 8. That works out to about 59 pleasant days a year, more than 5% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Coos County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Whitefield, Gorham, and Lancaster. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Coos County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Coos County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Coos 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.
Coos County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Coos County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Coos County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Coos County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Coos County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Coos 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.