Best PlacesMirror Lake, NH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mirror Lake, 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.
Mirror Lake ranks 3,421st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Mirror Lake
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.
Mirror Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mirror Lake ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 94% of towns
Where Mirror Lake ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 11% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,231 a month, better than only 13% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mirror Lake
A household needs to earn about $125,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mirror Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $111,319, 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 Mirror Lake's effective rate of 0.71%, 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 Mirror Lake
Mirror Lake 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 Mirror Lake.
Who works in Mirror Lake, and how
Work in Mirror Lake centers on other services and hospitality & food. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 17%
Life in Mirror Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mirror Lake.
What the weather is like in Mirror Lake, month by month
Mirror Lake sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 24° | 15° |
| April | 57° | 44° | 33° |
| July | 85° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Mirror Lake
The nearest airport, Portsmouth International at Pease, is about 44 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 89 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mirror Lake
Schools across Mirror Lake average a B, better than 65% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Carpenter Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Moultonborough Central SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Tuftonboro Central SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kingswood Regional Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Moultonborough Middle LevelB− · 42% proficient
- Crescent Lake SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Gilford High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Moultonborough AcademyB · 47% proficient
- Kingswood Regional High SchoolB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mirror Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mirror Lake 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 Mirror Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mirror Lake
Is Mirror Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mirror Lake ranks 3,421st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, low crime, and health care access, and lowest on an overheated housing market and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mirror Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $485,813. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $111,319 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Mirror Lake safe?
Yes, Mirror Lake is safer than 98% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $144 per resident a year.
Compare Mirror Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mirror Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mirror Lake 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.
Mirror Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mirror Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mirror Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mirror Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mirror Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mirror Lake 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.