Best PlacesHampton, NH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hampton, 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.
Hampton ranks 7,218th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hampton
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.
Hampton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hampton ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 91% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 90% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of towns
Where Hampton ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,375 a month, better than only 7% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 11% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 16% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hampton
A household needs to earn about $153,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hampton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $101,954, 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 Hampton's effective rate of 1.13%, 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 Hampton
Hampton 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 Hampton.
Who works in Hampton, and how
Work in Hampton centers on retail trade 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 75%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Hampton
Hampton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of towns and more parkland per resident than 93% of towns. The coast is about 2 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Hampton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hampton, month by month
Hampton sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 29° | 20° |
| April | 58° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Hampton
The nearest airport, Portsmouth International at Pease, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 41 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hampton
Schools across Hampton average a B+, better than 77% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lincoln Akerman SchoolA · 67% proficient
- North Hampton SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Adeline C. Marston SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hampton AcademyB+ · 47% proficient
- Cooperative Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Seabrook Middle SchoolD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Winnacunnet High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hampton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hampton 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 Hampton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hampton
Is Hampton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hampton ranks 7,218th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, health care access, and big-city access, and lowest on childcare costs 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 Hampton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $560,589. The overall cost of living runs about 37% above the national average. Set against a $101,954 median income, cost of living beats 42% of towns.
Is Hampton safe?
Yes, Hampton is safer than 88% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $193 per resident a year.
Compare Hampton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hampton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hampton 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.
Hampton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hampton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hampton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hampton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hampton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hampton 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.