The 10 Best Small Towns In New Hampshire For 2024


The best small towns in New Hampshire are Contoocook and New London for 2024 based on Saturday Night Science.

By: Chris Kolmar | About HomeSnacks
Last Updated: January 12, 2024

You’ve seen these lists before. Best places to live in New Hampshire. Best sururbs in New Hampshire. Best counties in New Hampshire.

Etc., etc., etc.

But they all focus on major cities and towns in the Granite State, and no one pays attention to the little guy.

Well, that’s all about to change as we put together a list of the superb small towns in New Hampshire based on numbers–not opinions or hearsay.

We’ll dive right into our methodology in the next section, but first, we thought you might want to know which places in New Hampshire ranked the best based on Saturday Night Science.

Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table

The 15 Best Small Towns To Live In New Hampshire For 2024

  1. Contoocook
  2. New London
  3. East Merrimack
  4. Goffstown
  5. Henniker
  6. Hinsdale
  7. Peterborough
  8. Hampton Beach
  9. Enfield
  10. Pinardville
  11. Plymouth
  12. Lancaster
  13. North Conway
  14. Gorham
  15. Epping

Best Small Towns To Live In New Hampshire Map

What’s the best small town in New Hampshire? Contoocook is the best small town in New Hampshire based on the most recent Census data. If you live in one of these small towns like Contoocook, chances are, you’re not surprised. After all, you know how great you have it.

But for the rest of you–keep reading, and we’ll get to just why these small towns made our list.

For more reading on the Granite State check out:

The 15 Best Small Towns In New Hampshire For 2024

1. Contoocook

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 1,295
Median Income: $103,317 (2nd Best)
Median Home Value: $387,615 (15th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 2.2%

2. New London

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 1,340
Median Income: $83,796 (6th Best)
Median Home Value: $604,767 (2nd Best)
Unemployment Rate: 0.8%

3. East Merrimack

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 4,643
Median Income: $80,234 (8th Best)
Median Home Value: $343,468 (21st Best)
Unemployment Rate: 0.0%

4. Goffstown

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 3,028
Median Income: $131,146 (1st Best)
Median Home Value: $437,915 (7th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 0.0%

5. Henniker

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 2,741
Median Income: $70,839 (12th Best)
Median Home Value: $418,789 (10th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 0.0%

6. Hinsdale

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 1,432
Median Income: $96,161 (3rd Best)
Median Home Value: $256,290 (31st Best)
Unemployment Rate: 1.8%

7. Peterborough

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 2,247
Median Income: $83,906 (5th Best)
Median Home Value: $406,820 (11th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 2.9%

8. Hampton Beach

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 2,650
Median Income: $73,269 (10th Best)
Median Home Value: $579,361 (3rd Best)
Unemployment Rate: 6.7%

9. Enfield

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 2,079
Median Income: $54,493 (25th Best)
Median Home Value: $397,219 (14th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 0.0%

10. Pinardville

Pinardville, NH

Source: Wikipedia User Ken Gallager at en.wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 4,851
Median Income: $71,690 (11th Best)
Median Home Value: $322,192 (26th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 0.8%

11. Plymouth

Plymouth, NH

Source: Wikipedia User P199 | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 4,428
Median Income: $62,172 (19th Best)
Median Home Value: $325,690 (24th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 6.6%

12. Lancaster

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 2,260
Median Income: $67,331 (15th Best)
Median Home Value: $272,735 (29th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 2.6%

13. North Conway

North Conway, NH

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 2,079
Median Income: $59,041 (21st Best)
Median Home Value: $455,697 (6th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 5.2%

14. Gorham

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 2,043
Median Income: $55,845 (24th Best)
Median Home Value: $227,174 (35th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 1.0%

15. Epping

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 2,754
Median Income: $74,798 (9th Best)
Median Home Value: $470,761 (5th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 1.7%

Best States In America

Methodology: How We Determined The Coolest Towns In New Hampshire

We threw a lot of criteria at this report to get the best, most complete results of the best small towns in New Hampshire possible.

Using the most recent data from the Census’s 2018-2022 American Community Survey, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Saturday Night Science, this is the criteria we used:

  • Population Density (Higher is better)
  • Lowest Unemployment Rates
  • Housing costs (Higher is better. More demand.)
  • Adjusted Median Income (Higher is better)
  • Highly Educated Adults (Higher is better)
  • Insurance Rates (Higher is better)
  • Commute Times (Lower is better)

We looked at places with populations lower than 5,000 people and greater than 1,000, of which there were many – 36 to be exact.

We then ranked each place in each category with scores from 1 to 36, averaged them out, and the lowest scores went to our Best Small Towns in New Hampshire. Top of that list — Contoocook.

This is our tenth time ranking the best small places to live in New Hampshire.

Summary: Science Can Tackle Any Issue, Even Small Ones

We said it once, and we’ll say it again — this list: it’s just science. We did the research, crunched the numbers, and it turns out these 15 small towns in New Hampshire are the best in which to live.

And who can argue with that?

The best small towns in New Hampshire are Contoocook, New London, East Merrimack, Goffstown, Henniker, Hinsdale, Peterborough, Hampton Beach, Enfield, and Pinardville.

If you’re curious, here are the worst small towns in New Hampshire:

  1. Winchester
  2. Farmington
  3. Colebrook

For more New Hampshire reading, check out:

Best Small Towns In New Hampshire

Rank City Population Median Income Median Home Value Unemployment Rate
1 Contoocook, NH 1,295 $103,317 2.2%
2 New London, NH 1,340 $83,796 0.8%
3 East Merrimack, NH 4,643 $80,234 0.0%
4 Goffstown, NH 3,028 $131,146 0.0%
5 Henniker, NH 2,741 $70,839 0.0%
6 Hinsdale, NH 1,432 $96,161 1.8%
7 Peterborough, NH 2,247 $83,906 2.9%
8 Hampton Beach, NH 2,650 $73,269 6.7%
9 Enfield, NH 2,079 $54,493 0.0%
10 Pinardville, NH 4,851 $71,690 0.8%
11 Plymouth, NH 4,428 $62,172 6.6%
12 Lancaster, NH 2,260 $67,331 2.6%
13 North Conway, NH 2,079 $59,041 5.2%
14 Gorham, NH 2,043 $55,845 1.0%
15 Epping, NH 2,754 $74,798 1.7%
16 Tilton Northfield, NH 3,035 $63,553 1.8%
17 West Swanzey, NH 1,200 $57,762 5.4%
18 Wolfeboro, NH 2,813 $47,990 0.2%
19 Hillsborough, NH 1,567 $63,854 0.0%
20 Meredith, NH 2,758 $46,850 6.5%
21 Jaffrey, NH 3,036 $86,384 7.4%
22 Raymond, NH 4,006 $69,912 6.5%
23 Pittsfield, NH 1,784 $46,154 4.9%
24 Lincoln, NH 1,017 $58,125 2.4%
25 Conway, NH 3,847 $46,771 15.3%
26 Wilton, NH 1,333 $59,556 5.2%
27 Whitefield, NH 1,332 $53,750 5.1%
28 Antrim, NH 1,320 $83,542 2.2%
29 Bristol, NH 2,095 $69,306 2.0%
30 Woodsville, NH 1,329 $53,578 2.8%
31 Littleton, NH 4,587 $40,873 5.1%
32 Ashland, NH 1,520 $40,559 2.6%
33 Greenville, NH 1,061 $67,321 12.1%
34 Colebrook, NH 1,100 $42,500 0.2%
35 Farmington, NH 3,722 $44,664 4.3%
36 Winchester, NH 1,369 $45,298 6.0%
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

 Best Small Towns