Best PlacesStrafford County, NH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Strafford County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Strafford County ranks 286th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 26 minutes away. Its strengths are low crime and low taxes. The cost shows up in an overheated housing market, property taxes, and childcare costs.
The best neighborhoods in Strafford County
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.
The best areas in Strafford County
The parts of Strafford County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Lee
More households have young kids, tree cover is thicker, and schools score higher.
Dover
Fewer homes sit empty and more adults hold degrees.
Durham
Biking is better and streets are more walkable.
Barrington
It is quieter and incomes run higher.
Somersworth & Rollinsford
Scores close to Barrington, except that local pay stretches less far here.
Farmington & New Durham
Commutes are longer and health outcomes score lower.
Rochester
Homes cost less.
Scores across Strafford County run from about the 24th to the 99th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Strafford County's strengths and weaknesses
Strafford County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Low crime is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Low taxes and population health follow.
The one real hole is an overheated housing market, near the bottom of the country. Property taxes and childcare costs also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Strafford County ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 93% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 93% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of counties
Where Strafford County ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,297 a month, better than only 7% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 10% of counties
- Short commute26.0 minutes each way, better than only 36% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Strafford County
A household needs to earn about $111,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Strafford County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $95,906, 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 Strafford County's effective rate of 1.78%, 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 Strafford County
Strafford County'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 Strafford County.
Who works in Strafford County, and how
Work in Strafford County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Strafford County
Strafford County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 71% of counties and more parkland per resident than 66% of counties. The coast is about 26 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Strafford County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Strafford County growing, and who is moving in?
Strafford County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Boston, MA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Strafford County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Strafford County, month by month
Strafford County sees roughly 82 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 Strafford County
The nearest airport, Portsmouth International at Pease, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 61 miles away.
The best schools in and around Strafford County
Schools across Strafford County average a C+, better than 57% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Marshwood Great Works SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Vivian E Hussey SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Newington Public SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Marshwood Middle SchoolA+ · 92% proficient
- Oyster River Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Barrington Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Marshwood High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Oyster River High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Coe-brown Northwood AcademyA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Strafford County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Strafford County 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 Strafford County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Strafford County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 16% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Strafford County
Is Strafford County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Strafford County ranks 286th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low crime, low taxes, and population health, and lowest on an overheated housing market and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Strafford County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $375,136. The overall cost of living runs about 15% above the national average. Set against a $95,906 median income, cost of living beats 58% of counties.
Is Strafford County safe?
Yes, Strafford County is safer than 100% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $169 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Strafford County?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 37 with lows near 18. That works out to about 82 pleasant days a year, more than 41% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Strafford County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Lee, Dover, and Durham. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Strafford County good for families?
Schools beat 57% of counties, crime safety beats 100%, and childcare runs $1,297 a month.
Is Strafford County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 58% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 62% of counties. About 16% of workers already work from home.
Compare Strafford County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Strafford County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Strafford County 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.
Strafford County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Strafford County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Strafford County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Strafford County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Strafford County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Strafford County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.