The 10 Cheapest Places To Live In New Hampshire In 2026

The 10 Cheapest Places To Live In New Hampshire For 2026

You don’t need to book a flight to Germany to get a sweet deal in Berlin. It might help to know some French though, because, as a city near Quebec, around 65% of Berlin’s population speaks a variant of New England French. Berlin’s the type of place you’ll want to settle down in for the long haul, because it’s where you’ll find the cheapest homes and, more importantly, the best home price to income ratio in the state. Add to that the fact that Berlin is one of the best places for families in New Hampshire, and you’ve got a recipe for a successful long-term stay. On the downside, Berlin is the least economical place to rent on this list. But we promise that once you see the stunning views from Jericho Mountain, your financial anxieties will be far from your mind.

More on Berlin: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Movers

Review Of Berlin by HomeSnacks User

This town is absolutely gorgeous. Great scenery, biking trails, hiking trails, lakes, and many other sightings. Although there are many people unemployed and doing drugs in town and many drug bust happening all the time. The PD absolutely s***s and works on the most useless things that they can and take forever to get where they need to be. The school system is horrible and has barely any funding to the point where 6-8th grade needs so come into our high school and teachers need to move from classroom to classroom by week with a rolling cart as there aren’t enough rooms. Berlin has alot of potential but there’s not enough job opportunities and too many people using welfare and foodstamps.

A few of my favorite places are the four wheeling trails, the lakes, our “outdated” restaurants that add some class and a vintage feel that I love. It has it flaws but it’s really not as bad as it’s cracked up to be.

We’re going to take a very short drive west from Somersworth to arrive at our second most affordable city in New Hampshire, Rochester. If you decide to move to Rochester, you’ll have no trouble getting friends to visit thanks to all the concerts and shows put on at the Rochester Opera House. Homes in Rochester go for about $398,491, the fifth lowest price in New Hampshire. Additionally, Rochester’s residents pay the sixth smallest portion of their income on homes statewide. That’s all the good news; the bad news is that Rochester was also named the most dangerous city and overall worst place to live in New Hampshire.

More on Rochester: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Movers

Franklin ranks as the third least expensive place to call home in the Granite State thanks to strong affordability numbers across the board. Franklin’s got some of the cheapest homes for sale you’ll find in New Hampshire, with a median price tag of $376,959. If you’re not ready to settle down here just yet, renting in Franklin costs about $1,110/month. Renting or buying, Franklin has excellent housing to income ratios. Not to mention that it’s one of the best cities for singles in New Hampshire thanks to great date spots like Tarbin Gardens. Looking for love has never been so affordable!

Franklin is about a half hour north of Concord.

More on Franklin: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Movers

Next up on our list of super inexpensive spots in New Hampshire is Laconia. Don’t let the city’s affordability fool you into thinking Laconia’s boring though; whether you’re just kicking it at Weirs Beach or zipping from tree to tree at Monkey Trunks Park, there’s something for every speed here. Laconia has the fourth cheapest homes in New Hampshire, with a median price of $434,892. Folks buying a home in Laconia enjoy the 18th best home price to income ratio, while those renting get the seventh best deal in New Hampshire.

More on Laconia: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Movers

Located between Manchester and Concord, Suncook ranks as the fifth least expensive place in New Hampshire. Suncook owes its high position on this list to its incredibly affordable rent. You can get rent a spot in Suncook for just $1,091/month, less than half the average rent in New Hampshire. And with a median income of $79,836, Suncook enjoys the third best rent to income ratio in the state. If you’re looking to reward yourself for your smart financial planning, head on down to Oddball Brewing Co. for a Suncook Lager.

More on Suncook: Movers

Keene, located in New Hampshire, is a great place to live for those looking to save money. With a median home value of $341,419 and a median rent of $1,342, Keene is one of the most affordable places to live in New Hampshire. In fact, the home price to income ratio is only 4.0th in the state, making it much easier for residents to afford housing compared to other areas.

Keene has a population of 22,939 and offers a high quality of life with plenty of amenities. With an overall cost of living rating of 108, residents can enjoy a comfortable, low-cost lifestyle.

More on Keene: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Movers

Review Of Keene by HomeSnacks User

Plenty of schools for education, parks, bike paths. Events live music in summer

Panhandlers, no public restroom. Broken sidewalks and curbs. Potholes galore.

Concord, NH, ranks as one of the most affordable places to live in New Hampshire. With a median home value of $445,978 and median rent of only $1,441, it is easy to see why this city is a great option for those looking for affordable housing. In fact, the home price to income ratio in Concord is quite low at only 5.25, making it an ideal location for those who want to keep their housing costs low.

As the capital city of New Hampshire, Concord has a bustling downtown area with plenty of shops and restaurants. It also boasts a low unemployment rate of only 4.08%, making it a great place to find work.

More on Concord: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Movers

Review Of Concord by HomeSnacks User

Low crime, great schools, plenty of things to do year-round, great sense of community, good restaurants, theater and close to many recreational activities.

There were many lakes and public swimming pools nearby for summer activities, beautiful fall foliage and apple picking in the fall, lots of sledding, ice skating, and skiing in the winter

Coming in as the eighth cheapest place to live in New Hampshire is Somersworth, a small city a half hour north of Portsmouth. We gave Somersworth an 8/10 on our overall SnackAbility score, with an emphasis on solid schools, a strong market for jobs and housing, and being one of the most diverse cities in New Hampshire. Oh, and affordability of course. Somersworth has the eighth least expensive homes statewide, with a median price tag of $439,894. The median income in Somersworth is $74,504, giving the city the 17th best home price to income ratio in New Hampshire. Not to mention that if you go fishing at Willand Pond, you can cut down on your food and entertainment budget at the same time.

More on Somersworth: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Movers

Review Of Somersworth by HomeSnacks User

I have been a resident of Somersworth, NH for nearly three years now. I *chose* to live here, for 1,000 reasons that do not fit these narrow-minded metrics. However, I will not take issue with that. What I will dissect is the text written here about my chosen home.

According to the chatter weve read on forums, this ranking is valid. People complain about drug dealing, s*x clubs and other nefarious behavior. Fact is, Somersworth is the second most dangerous city you can live in New Hampshire.”||||-“Chatter we’ve read on forums.” Is this the scientific research that you speak of- Nice.

“Theres a lot of Section 8 housing here, and apparently, you have to stay away from certain areas of downtown.There was a murder in town in 2013, and you have a 1 in 25 chance of being the victim of a robbery, most likely a car or home break in. Yikes.”

I love the scientific correlation between Section 8 and rampant crime. Gosh, those Section 8 tenants should just be dropped off into the ocean and the world would be a better place. Oh shoot – that’s in Portsmouth. G*d forbid someone who was down on their luck wander a toe over into the precious mecca of everything awesome and beautiful. ||||”The fact remains there are far better options if you want to commute into Portsmouth.”

Speak of the devil! Well, you know life would have many far better options if the entire populous of Somersworth received a 500% pay grade increase. Perhaps instead of fleeing the treacherous wastelands described here, those shiny new tax dollars could go into making Somersworth shiny and beautiful.”

More on East Merrimack: Data | Movers

More on Hooksett: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Movers

Cheapest places to live in New Hampshire FAQs

{“@context”: “https://schema.org”,”@type”: “FAQPage”, “mainEntity”: [{“@type”: “Question”, “name”: “What county in New Hampshire has the lowest cost of living?”, “acceptedAnswer”: { “@type”: “Answer”, “text”: “

The county in New Hampshire with the lowest cost of living is Hillsborough County. The average living wage in Hillsborough County is $100,802 according to MIT data. Hillsborough County has the lowest cost of living because it has relatively less expensive childcare and housing costs compared to New Hampshire as a whole. Childcare costs $20,260 a year in Hillsborough County for two children compared to the New Hampshire average of $19,454. Housing costs, defined as a blend of the average rent and average mortgage payment, are $16,423 per year in Hillsborough County compared to $15,387 on average in New Hampshire.

“}}, {“@type”: “Question”, “name”: “What is the cost of living in New Hampshire?”, “acceptedAnswer”: { “@type”: “Answer”, “text”: “

The cost of living in New Hampshire is 10.0% higher than the US average. According to MIT, the required living wage for a family of four with two working parents in New Hampshire is $98,702 vs the national average for a family of four with two working parents of $89,744. The median income of a New Hampshire household is $77,923.

“}}, {“@type”: “Question”, “name”: “What is the cheapest housing market in New Hampshire?”, “acceptedAnswer”: { “@type”: “Answer”, “text”: “

The cheapest housing market in New Hampshire is Berlin. The average home value in Berlin is $85,100, the lowest in the state. The average home value in New Hampshire is $272,300, almost 3.2 times higher than Berlin.

“}}]}

Methodology: How we determined the most affordable places to live in the Granite State for 2026

Determining affordability for places in New Hampshire boils down to how much it costs to live here.

You need to understand your costs relative to what people in the rest of the state are paying.

With that logic in mind, we derived several cost of living statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2020-2024 for New Hampshire using Saturday Night Science. We indexed the cost of living statistics across the following categories:

• Housing
• Transportation
• Services
• Groceries
• Healthcare
• Utilities

These are then weighted together to produce an overall cost of living index where 100 is the United States average. Anything below 100 is relatively affordable. Anything over 100 is relatively expensive.

We applied the biggest weight to housing as it typically accounts for 25% or more of your budget. Additionally, housing costs are the highest variant cost across a state. We then compare these cost of living metrics for each place in New Hampshire to figure out which is the least expensive.

The “Cost of Living Index” allows you to rank all of the 25 places in New Hampshire that have more than 5,000 people from least expensive to most expensive. Any ties went to the larger city.

The place in New Hampshire with the lowest cost of living according to the data is Berlin.

We updated this article for 2026. This report reflects our eleventh time ranking the cheapest places to live in New Hampshire.