Best PlacesMountain Lakes, NH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mountain Lakes, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Mountain Lakes ranks 41,307th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Mountain Lakes
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.
Mountain Lakes' strengths and weaknesses
Where Mountain Lakes ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 86% of towns
Where Mountain Lakes ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 5% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 7% of towns
- Household income$44,674 median, better than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mountain Lakes
A household needs to earn about $72,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mountain Lakes home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $44,674, 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 Mountain Lakes' effective rate of 1.81%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mountain Lakes
Mountain Lakes's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mountain Lakes.
Who works in Mountain Lakes, and how
Work in Mountain Lakes centers on health care & social and finance & insurance. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Mountain Lakes
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mountain Lakes.
What the weather is like in Mountain Lakes, month by month
Mountain Lakes sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 21° | 14° |
| April | 54° | 43° | 34° |
| July | 81° | 70° | 61° |
| October | 59° | 49° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Mountain Lakes
The nearest airport, Lebanon Municipal, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 130 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mountain Lakes
Schools across Mountain Lakes average a C−, better than 23% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Woodsville Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Haverhill Cooperative Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Woodsville High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mountain Lakes school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mountain Lakes 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 Mountain Lakes against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mountain Lakes
Is Mountain Lakes a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mountain Lakes ranks 41,307th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, tree cover, and clean air, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mountain Lakes expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $241,500. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $44,674 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Mountain Lakes safe?
Mountain Lakes is safer than 53% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $273 per resident a year.
Compare Mountain Lakes with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mountain Lakes. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mountain Lakes 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.
Mountain Lakes detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mountain Lakes: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mountain Lakes: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mountain Lakes: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mountain Lakes: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mountain Lakes 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.