Best PlacesEtna, NH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Etna, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Etna ranks 46th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Etna
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.
Etna's strengths and weaknesses
Where Etna ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$200,461 median, better than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
Where Etna ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 11% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,270 a month, better than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Etna
A household needs to earn about $238,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Etna home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $200,461, 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 Etna's effective rate of 1.64%, 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 Etna
Etna runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Etna.
Who works in Etna, and how
Work in Etna centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Etna
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Etna.
What the weather is like in Etna, month by month
Etna sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 24° | 14° |
| April | 60° | 45° | 33° |
| July | 87° | 72° | 59° |
| October | 65° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Etna
The nearest airport, Lebanon Municipal, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 110 miles away.
The best schools in and around Etna
Schools across Etna average an A, better than 96% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bernice A. Ray SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
Top middle schools
- Frances C. Richmond SchoolA+ · 72% proficient
- Lebanon Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Indian River SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Hanover High SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Lebanon High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Mascoma Valley Regional High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Etna school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Etna 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 Etna against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Etna
Is Etna a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Etna ranks 46th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, high incomes, and population health, and lowest on property taxes and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Etna expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $818,166. The overall cost of living runs about 19% above the national average. Set against a $200,461 median income, cost of living beats 99% of towns.
Is Etna safe?
Yes, Etna is safer than 78% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $211 per resident a year.
Compare Etna with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Etna. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Etna 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.
Etna detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Etna: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Etna: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Etna: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Etna: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Etna 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.