Best PlacesRochester, NH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rochester, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Rochester ranks 1,233rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Rochester
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.
Rochester's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rochester ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 97% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 90% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 89% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of cities
Where Rochester ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of cities
- School gradeD+, better than only 12% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 13% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Rochester
A household needs to earn about $82,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rochester home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $84,174, 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 Rochester's effective rate of 1.69%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rochester
Rochester 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 Rochester.
Who works in Rochester, and how
Work in Rochester centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Rochester
Rochester has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of cities and more parkland per resident than 87% of cities. The coast is about 29 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Rochester and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rochester, month by month
Rochester sees roughly 67 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 Rochester
The nearest airport, Portsmouth International at Pease, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 65 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rochester
Schools across Rochester average a D+, better than 12% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Maple Street Magnet SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Barrington Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- East Rochester SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Barrington Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Henry Wilson Memorial SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Rochester Middle SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Spaulding High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Nute High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Somersworth High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rochester school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rochester 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 Rochester against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Rochester suits
Families
Schools land around the 12th percentile and crime safety beats 97%.
Common questions about living in Rochester
Is Rochester a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rochester ranks 1,233rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on low taxes, low crime, and clean air, and lowest on cell coverage 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 Rochester expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $279,527. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $84,174 median income, cost of living beats 24% of cities.
Is Rochester safe?
Yes, Rochester is safer than 97% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $164 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Rochester?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 37 with lows near 18. That works out to about 67 pleasant days a year, more than 20% of cities.
Is Rochester good for families?
Schools beat 12% of cities, crime safety beats 97%, and childcare runs $1,297 a month.
Compare Rochester with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rochester. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rochester 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.
Rochester detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rochester: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rochester: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rochester: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rochester: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rochester 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.