Best PlacesDover, NH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dover, 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.
Dover ranks 433rd of 2,098 U.S. cities 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 Dover
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.
Dover's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dover ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 98% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 97% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 92% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 91% of cities
Where Dover ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 13% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 27% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Dover
A household needs to earn about $132,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dover home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $110,324, 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 Dover's effective rate of 1.84%, 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 Dover
Dover's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Dover.
Who works in Dover, and how
Work in Dover centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Dover
Dover has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of cities and more parkland per resident than 93% of cities. The coast is about 18 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Dover and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Dover, month by month
Dover sees roughly 97 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 27° | 19° |
| April | 56° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 82° | 71° | 62° |
| October | 62° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Dover
The nearest airport, Portsmouth International at Pease, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 58 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dover
Schools across Dover average a B−, better than 53% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Marshwood Great Works SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Newington Public SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Moharimet SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Marshwood Middle SchoolA+ · 92% proficient
- Oyster River Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Barrington Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Marshwood High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Oyster River High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Dover Senior High SchoolB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dover school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dover 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 Dover against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Dover suits
Families
Schools land around the 53rd percentile and crime safety beats 98%.
Retirees
The weather beats 58% of cities and health care access beats 77%.
Common questions about living in Dover
Is Dover a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dover ranks 433rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on low taxes, low crime, and heat safety, and lowest on property taxes and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dover expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $442,124. The overall cost of living runs about 19% above the national average. Set against a $110,324 median income, cost of living beats 49% of cities.
Is Dover safe?
Yes, Dover is safer than 98% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $171 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Dover?
July highs average about 82 degrees, and January highs near 36 with lows near 19. That works out to about 97 pleasant days a year, more than 58% of cities.
Is Dover good for families?
Schools beat 53% of cities, crime safety beats 98%, and childcare runs $1,297 a month.
Compare Dover with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dover. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dover 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.
Dover detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dover: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dover: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dover: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dover: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dover 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.