Best PlacesRye, NH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rye, 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.
Rye ranks 1,304th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rye
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.
Rye's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rye ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Household income$142,566 median, better than 96% of towns
Where Rye ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,375 a month, better than only 7% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 11% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 30% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 72 pleasant days a year, better than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rye
A household needs to earn about $289,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rye home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $142,566, 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 Rye's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 Rye
Rye 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 Rye.
Who works in Rye, and how
Work in Rye centers on professional & technical 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 67%
- Work from home 31%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Rye
Rye has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of towns. The coast is about 2 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Rye and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rye, month by month
Rye 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 Rye
The nearest airport, Portsmouth International at Pease, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 47 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rye
Schools across Rye average an A, better than 94% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Rye Elementary SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- North Hampton SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rye Junior High SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Portsmouth High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Winnacunnet High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rye school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rye 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 Rye against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rye
Is Rye a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rye ranks 1,304th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, low taxes, and an educated workforce, and lowest on an overheated housing market and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rye expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,133,752. The overall cost of living runs about 57% above the national average. Set against a $142,566 median income, cost of living beats 74% of towns.
Is Rye safe?
Yes, Rye is safer than 97% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $146 per resident a year.
Compare Rye with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rye. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rye 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.
Rye detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rye: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rye: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rye: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rye: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rye 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.