Best PlacesNew Durham, NH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around New Durham, 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.
New Durham ranks 13,186th 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 New Durham
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.
New Durham's strengths and weaknesses
Where New Durham ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 89% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 86% of towns
Where New Durham ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,296 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in New Durham
A household needs to earn about $93,000 a year to comfortably buy the median New Durham home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $97,305, 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 New Durham's effective rate of 1.53%, 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 New Durham
New Durham runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for New Durham.
Who works in New Durham, and how
Work in New Durham centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in New Durham
The coast is about 48 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across New Durham, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in New Durham, month by month
New Durham sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 27° | 18° |
| April | 59° | 46° | 35° |
| July | 87° | 73° | 61° |
| October | 66° | 53° | 42° |
Flying in and out of New Durham
The nearest airport, Portsmouth International at Pease, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 75 miles away.
The best schools in and around New Durham
Schools across New Durham average a B, better than 66% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Carpenter Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- New Durham Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Middleton Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kingswood Regional Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Crescent Lake SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Henry Wilson Memorial SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Kingswood Regional High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Prospect Mountain High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Farmington Senior High SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every New Durham school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
New Durham 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 New Durham against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in New Durham
Is New Durham a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, New Durham ranks 13,186th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, low crime, and tree cover, 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 New Durham expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $322,514. The overall cost of living runs about 20% above the national average. Set against a $97,305 median income, cost of living beats 47% of towns.
Is New Durham safe?
Yes, New Durham is safer than 96% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $146 per resident a year.
Compare New Durham with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to New Durham. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in New Durham 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.
New Durham detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for New Durham: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in New Durham: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of New Durham: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in New Durham: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
New Durham 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.