NH Towns With the Lowest Property Taxes (2026 Guide)

Quick answer: The NH towns with the lowest property taxes by rate are Hart's Location ($2.62 per $1,000), Moultonborough ($5.33), New Castle ($5.73), Bartlett ($6.02), Bridgewater ($6.35) and Tuftonboro ($6.40), per the 2025 rates set by the NH Department of Revenue Administration. In southern New Hampshire's commuter belt, the lowest rates are Atkinson ($12.82), Candia ($12.97), Auburn ($13.88), Windham ($14.15) and Londonderry ($14.47). A low rate is not the same as a low bill, though, and the second half of this guide shows why.

New Hampshire has no broad-based income tax and no sales tax, so the property tax carries almost everything, and the rate you pay depends entirely on which of the state's 234 towns and cities you buy in. The spread is enormous: from $2.62 per $1,000 of assessed value in Hart's Location to $36.54 in Charlestown. This guide ranks the NH towns with the lowest property taxes statewide, then narrows the list to the towns a commuter can actually live in, and finishes with the math that turns a rate into a real annual bill. Every rate below is the 2025 total rate (municipal, county, local school and state education combined) as certified by the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration. New 2026 rates will not be set until October and November.

Which NH towns have the lowest property tax rates in 2025?

Here are the 20 incorporated towns with the lowest 2025 total tax rates. We left out the four unincorporated places (Dixville, Millsfield, Success and Wentworth Location) because they have almost no residents and provide almost no services, so their rates are not comparable.

Notice the pattern. Every one of the twenty NH towns with the lowest property taxes is a lake town, a mountain town or a coastal town. That is not a coincidence, and it is the single most important thing to understand before you go house-hunting by tax rate.

Why do lake and coastal towns have such low tax rates?

A New Hampshire tax rate is simple division: the money the town needs to raise, divided by the total assessed value of every property in town. Moultonborough, Tuftonboro and Wolfeboro sit on Lake Winnipesaukee; Bridgewater and Hebron ring Newfound Lake; New Castle, Rye and Newington are on the ocean or Great Bay. Waterfront property is worth so much that the town can fund its schools and services with a tiny rate. Many of those waterfront owners are second-home buyers who pay the tax but send no children to the local school, which pushes the rate down further. Hart's Location, Bartlett and Jackson lean on ski-area and vacation-home value in the same way, and Newington has a large commercial and industrial base along Route 16.

The flip side shows up at the top of the list. Charlestown ($36.54), Keene ($34.37), Berlin ($33.60) and Claremont ($30.54) have modest property values and full-time populations with kids in school, so the same dollars have to come from a much higher rate. Even Concord, the state capital, carries a $29.11 rate. The rate tells you how expensive the town is relative to its property values, not how much you will pay.

Which southern NH towns have the lowest property taxes for commuters?

Most of our clients are not moving to a mountain pond. They are commuting to Manchester, Nashua, the Seacoast or over the line to Massachusetts, and they want the lowest rate within reach of a job. Here are the lowest 2025 rates in the southern New Hampshire commuter belt.

For comparison, the rest of the commuter belt runs higher: Derry is $18.99, Manchester $20.24, Goffstown $20.88, Merrimack $22.11, Amherst $23.98 and Milford $25.93. If a low rate is the priority and you need I-93, Windham and Londonderry are the two towns we point people to first; on the Route 101 side it is Bedford, with Candia and Auburn as the rural-lot alternatives.

On the Seacoast the rates are lower still: Portsmouth is $11.51, Seabrook $12.40, Hampton $12.61, Greenland $13.36, North Hampton $13.45 and Stratham $13.52, with Rye at $8.37 and New Castle at $5.73. If you are weighing that side of the state, see our guide to the best NH towns for commuting to Portsmouth.

What does a low tax rate actually cost on a typical home?

The bill is the rate multiplied by the assessed value, divided by 1,000. The table below applies each town's 2025 rate to that town's year-to-date median single-family sale price through August 2026 (New Hampshire REALTORS® Local Market Updates). Treat it as an illustration: a town's assessed values are set at its last revaluation and can sit well below current sale prices, so the real bill on a home you buy this fall may be lower until the town revalues.

This is the part that surprises people. Rye has one of the lowest rates in the state and one of the highest bills, because its median home is $1.55 million. Manchester's rate is more than double Rye's, yet the tax on a median Manchester home is about $3,400 less. Rochester, with a middle-of-the-pack rate and a $465,000 median, produces the lowest bill on the whole table. Meanwhile Concord's high rate on a modest median still adds up to one of the biggest bills. If your goal is a lower monthly payment, you have to run rate and price together; the rate alone will steer you wrong.

We keep a simple rule for clients touring several towns: ask us for the current assessed value on any specific house and multiply by the town's rate. That takes two minutes and beats every rate ranking, including this one. A home in Londonderry assessed at $600,000 pays about $8,680 a year; the same assessed value in Milford pays about $15,560. Over a ten-year hold that difference is close to $69,000, which is real money to weigh against school preference, lot size and commute.

Three more things low-tax-rate shoppers should know

Rates change every fall. The DRA certifies new rates for each town between October and December, and a revaluation year can move a town's rate sharply in either direction even when bills barely change. Always ask for the current rate and the last revaluation date.

The equalization ratio matters when comparing towns. A town that last revalued in 2021 may be assessing homes at 60 percent of today's market value, which makes its rate look high and its bills look normal. The DRA publishes each town's ratio annually; we use it to put two towns on the same footing before we compare them.

Exemptions can beat a low rate. New Hampshire towns offer elderly, disabled and veterans' exemptions and credits with locally set amounts. For a retiree, a $100,000 elderly exemption in a $20 town is worth $2,000 a year, which can matter more than shaving a few dollars off the rate. We cover the mechanics in our New Hampshire property taxes by town guide, and the bigger picture of what the missing income tax is worth in our post on where New Hampshire's no-income-tax advantage saves the most.

Related reading

If the tax rate is one input among several, these guides fill in the rest: our ranking of the most affordable towns in New Hampshire for buyers focused on price, the best NH towns near the Massachusetts border for cross-border commuters, and the best lake towns in New Hampshire if the low-rate Lakes Region towns above caught your eye.

Frequently asked questions

Which town in NH has the lowest property taxes?

By rate, Hart's Location has the lowest property taxes in New Hampshire at $2.62 per $1,000 of assessed value in 2025, followed by Moultonborough ($5.33) and New Castle ($5.73). Hart's Location has only a few dozen residents, so for most buyers Moultonborough on Lake Winnipesaukee is the practical answer.

What is the lowest property tax town in southern New Hampshire?

Among the NH towns with the lowest property taxes that are still commutable, Atkinson has the lowest 2025 rate at $12.82, followed by Candia ($12.97), Auburn ($13.88), Windham ($14.15) and Londonderry ($14.47). Nashua, at $16.83, is the lowest-rate city in southern New Hampshire, and Bedford sits just below it at $16.49.

Why are property taxes in New Hampshire so high?

New Hampshire has no broad-based income tax and no sales tax, so local property taxes fund schools, police, fire, roads and county services almost entirely. The local school portion is usually the largest piece of the rate, which is why towns with fewer students per dollar of property value, like lake and coastal towns, end up with the lowest rates.

Does a low tax rate mean a low tax bill?

No. The bill is the rate multiplied by assessed value. Rye's $8.37 rate on a $1.55 million median home produces a larger bill than Manchester's $20.24 rate on a $475,000 median home. Compare towns by the estimated bill on a house at your budget, not by the rate.

When are New Hampshire property tax rates set?

The NH Department of Revenue Administration certifies each town's rate in October, November or December, after town and school budgets are finalized. The spring bill is half of the prior year's total; the fall bill applies the new rate and settles the difference.

How do I check a town's current tax rate?

The DRA posts every town's certified rate each year, and each town's assessing office lists the rate and the last revaluation date. When you are comparing specific homes, ask your agent for the assessed value on the property card and multiply by the rate.

Want the real number on a specific town or house?

Tax rate is one of the four or five inputs we run for every relocating buyer, alongside commute, schools, inventory and price per square foot. If you are choosing between towns, book a free town-matching call with The Phinney Team and we will send you the rate, the assessed-value math and the current inventory for each town on your list. Ready to look at homes? Start with a buyer consultation and we will build the shortlist around your monthly payment, not just the sticker price. Learn more about our team at teamphinney.com.