Best PlacesGilsum, NH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gilsum, 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.
Gilsum ranks 6,625th of 50,333 U.S. towns 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 Gilsum
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.
Gilsum's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gilsum ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 91% of towns
Where Gilsum ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 11% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,272 a month, better than only 12% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gilsum
A household needs to earn about $91,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gilsum home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $92,358, 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 Gilsum's effective rate of 1.88%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Gilsum
Gilsum runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Gilsum.
Who works in Gilsum, and how
Work in Gilsum centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Gilsum
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Gilsum.
What the weather is like in Gilsum, month by month
Gilsum sees roughly 60 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 Gilsum
The nearest airport, Lebanon Municipal, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 80 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gilsum
Schools across Gilsum average a C, better than 30% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- John D. Perkins AcademyC− · 29% proficient
- Gilsum Steam AcademyC− · 29% proficient
Top middle schools
- Vilas Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Monadnock Regional Middle SchoolD− · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Fall Mountain Regional High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Keene High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Monadnock Regional High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gilsum school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gilsum 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 Gilsum against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gilsum
Is Gilsum a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gilsum ranks 6,625th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, low crime, and clean air, 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 Gilsum expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $302,967. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $92,358 median income, cost of living beats 72% of towns.
Is Gilsum safe?
Yes, Gilsum is safer than 99% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $126 per resident a year.
Compare Gilsum with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gilsum. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gilsum 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.
Gilsum detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gilsum: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gilsum: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gilsum: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gilsum: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gilsum 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.