Best PlacesPlaistow, NH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Plaistow, 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.
Plaistow ranks 3,474th 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 Plaistow
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.
Plaistow's strengths and weaknesses
Where Plaistow ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 93% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 92% of towns
Where Plaistow ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,375 a month, better than only 7% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 7% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 11% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 12% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Plaistow
A household needs to earn about $118,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Plaistow home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $113,456; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Plaistow's effective rate of 1.66%, 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 Plaistow
Plaistow'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 Plaistow.
Who works in Plaistow, and how
Work in Plaistow centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Plaistow
Plaistow has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns. The coast is about 19 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Plaistow and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Plaistow, month by month
Plaistow sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 30° | 21° |
| April | 61° | 48° | 37° |
| July | 88° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 67° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Plaistow
The nearest airport, Manchester Boston Regional, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 33 miles away.
The best schools in and around Plaistow
Schools across Plaistow average a C+, better than 46% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Atkinson AcademyB · 48% proficient
- Daniel J. Bakie SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Memorial SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Timberlane Regional Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Sanborn Regional Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Timberlane Regional High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Sanborn Regional High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Plaistow school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Plaistow 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 Plaistow against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Plaistow
Is Plaistow a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Plaistow ranks 3,474th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, few empty homes, and big-city access, and lowest on childcare costs and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Plaistow expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $403,226. The overall cost of living runs about 13% above the national average. Set against a $113,456 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Plaistow safe?
Yes, Plaistow is safer than 91% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $200 per resident a year.
Compare Plaistow with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Plaistow. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Plaistow 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.
Plaistow detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Plaistow: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Plaistow: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Plaistow: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Plaistow: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Plaistow 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.