Best PlacesPortsmouth, NH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Portsmouth, 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.
Portsmouth ranks 2,078th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Portsmouth
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.
Portsmouth's strengths and weaknesses
Where Portsmouth ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 95% of towns
Where Portsmouth ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,375 a month, better than only 7% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 7% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 11% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Portsmouth
A household needs to earn about $201,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Portsmouth home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $107,568, 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 Portsmouth's effective rate of 1.02%, 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 Portsmouth
Portsmouth 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 Portsmouth.
Who works in Portsmouth, and how
Work in Portsmouth centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Portsmouth
Portsmouth has more restaurants and bars per resident than 95% of towns and more parkland per resident than 93% of towns. The coast is about 6 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Portsmouth and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Portsmouth, month by month
Portsmouth sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 29° | 20° |
| April | 58° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Portsmouth
The nearest airport, Portsmouth International at Pease, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 50 miles away.
The best schools in and around Portsmouth
Schools across Portsmouth average an A−, better than 86% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Peter Woodbury SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
- Newington Public SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Moharimet SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Marshwood Middle SchoolA+ · 92% proficient
- Shapleigh SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
- Ross A. Lurgio Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top high schools
- Robert W Traip AcademyA+ · 98% proficient
- Oyster River High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Bedford High SchoolA− · 66% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Portsmouth school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Portsmouth 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 Portsmouth against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Portsmouth suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 21% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Portsmouth
Is Portsmouth a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Portsmouth ranks 2,078th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, low taxes, and an educated workforce, and lowest on childcare costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Portsmouth expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $746,827. The overall cost of living runs about 44% above the national average. Set against a $107,568 median income, cost of living beats 46% of towns.
Is Portsmouth safe?
Yes, Portsmouth is safer than 72% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $268 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Portsmouth?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 39 with lows near 20. That works out to about 72 pleasant days a year, more than 31% of towns.
Is Portsmouth good for families?
Schools beat 86% of towns, crime safety beats 72%, and childcare runs $1,375 a month.
Compare Portsmouth with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Portsmouth. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Portsmouth 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.
Portsmouth detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Portsmouth: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Portsmouth: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Portsmouth: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Portsmouth: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Portsmouth 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.