Best PlacesPassaconaway, NH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Passaconaway, 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.
Passaconaway ranks 7,043rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Passaconaway
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.
Passaconaway's strengths and weaknesses
Where Passaconaway ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 93% of towns
- Short commute19.5 minutes each way, better than 89% of towns
Where Passaconaway ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 50 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 11% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Passaconaway
A household needs to earn about $94,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Passaconaway home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $104,331, 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 Passaconaway's effective rate of 0.94%, 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 Passaconaway
Passaconaway 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 Passaconaway.
Who works in Passaconaway, and how
Work in Passaconaway centers on hospitality & food and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Passaconaway
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Passaconaway.
What the weather is like in Passaconaway, month by month
Passaconaway sees roughly 50 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 23° | 13° |
| April | 57° | 43° | 32° |
| July | 84° | 69° | 57° |
| October | 63° | 49° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Passaconaway
The nearest airport, Lebanon Municipal, is about 51 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 112 miles away.
The best schools in and around Passaconaway
Schools across Passaconaway average a C+, better than 43% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Waterville Valley Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Lin-wood Public School (elem)B− · 44% proficient
- Josiah Bartlett Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lin-wood Public School (middle)C · 34% proficient
- A. Crosby Kennett Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Kennett High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Lin-wood Public School (high)C− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Passaconaway school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Passaconaway 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 Passaconaway against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Passaconaway
Is Passaconaway a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Passaconaway ranks 7,043rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, clean air, and tree cover, and lowest on the weather 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 Passaconaway expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $352,647. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $104,331 median income, cost of living beats 79% of towns.
Is Passaconaway safe?
Yes, Passaconaway is safer than 84% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $199 per resident a year.
Compare Passaconaway with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Passaconaway. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Passaconaway 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.
Passaconaway detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Passaconaway: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Passaconaway: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Passaconaway: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Passaconaway: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Passaconaway 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.