Methodology and sources
Tax by Town covers New Hampshire's 234 incorporated towns and cities for the 2025 tax year, with 2024 for comparison. Every figure is copied from a named source, checked on October 20, 2026.
Sources
| Data | Source | Used for | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 tax rates (src/_data/nh.json) | NH Department of Revenue Administration, 2025 Municipal Tax Rates (completed as of January 23, 2026); read from the same report as posted by the Town of Acworth | Rates, rate-setting dates, valuations and commitments for every town page | 2026-10-20 |
| 2024 tax rates (src/_data/nh.json) | NH Department of Revenue Administration, 2024 Municipal Tax Rates (completed as of June 9, 2025); read from the same report as posted by the Town of Acworth | Rates, rate-setting dates, valuations and commitments for every town page | 2026-10-20 |
| County, city/town, 2020 population | Wikipedia, List of municipalities in New Hampshire (county, type, 2020 census population, year incorporated) | County grouping and per-resident figures | 2026-10-20 |
| Appeal procedure | RSA 76:16, Abatement of Taxes by Selectmen or Assessors | Deadlines, fee, Board practice | 2026-10-20 |
| Appeal procedure | RSA 76:16-a, Appeal From Selectmen to Board of Tax and Land Appeals | Deadlines, fee, Board practice | 2026-10-20 |
| Appeal procedure | RSA 76:17, Petition to Superior Court | Deadlines, fee, Board practice | 2026-10-20 |
| Appeal procedure | BTLA, Property Tax appeals | Deadlines, fee, Board practice | 2026-10-20 |
| Appeal procedure | BTLA, Commonly Asked Questions (property tax) | Deadlines, fee, Board practice | 2026-10-20 |
| RSA 76:2 | RSA 76:2, Property Tax Year | The property tax year runs from April 1 to March 31, and taxes are assessed on the inventory taken in April. | 2026-10-20 |
| RSA 75:8-a | RSA 75:8-a, Assessment | Assessors must reappraise all real estate "at full and true value at least as often as every fifth year." | 2026-10-20 |
| RSA 76:1-a | RSA 76:1-a, Notice of Tax | The date of notice of tax is the mailing date of the final tax bill: for semiannual billing, the date the... | 2026-10-20 |
| RSA 76:15-a | RSA 76:15-a, Semi-Annual Collection of Taxes | Under semiannual billing the first bill is the "prior year's assessed valuation times 1/2 of the previous... | 2026-10-20 |
| RSA 76:3 | RSA 76:3, Statewide Education Property Tax | The statewide education tax is assessed on "all persons and property taxable pursuant to RSA 76:8, except... | 2026-10-20 |
| N.H. Admin. Rules Rev 2801.03, Rev 2803.03 | N.H. Code of Admin. Rules, Chapter Rev 2800 (Equalization) | The DRA runs a sales-assessment ratio study each year and calculates a weighted mean ratio to one-tenth of one... | 2026-10-20 |
| RSA 72:33 | RSA 72:33 | Applications for exemptions and credits are filed with the town "by April 15 preceding the setting of the tax... | 2026-10-20 |
| RSA 72:28, I | RSA 72:28 | Standard veterans' tax credit | 2026-10-20 |
| RSA 72:35 | RSA 72:35 | Credit for service-connected total disability | 2026-10-20 |
| RSA 72:39-a, 72:39-b | RSA 72:39-a and 72:39-b | Elderly exemption | 2026-10-20 |
| RSA 29:11 | RSA 29:11, county tax apportionment | County rate wording | 2026-10-20 |
| Cross-check: Jackson | Town of Jackson, 2025 property tax rate information | Test of the bill and rate arithmetic | 2026-10-20 |
| Cross-check: Lyme | NH DRA, Lyme 2025 tax rate calculation (posted by the Town of Lyme) | Test of the bill and rate arithmetic | 2026-10-20 |
| Cross-check: Somersworth | City of Somersworth, Property Tax Rate Set for Tax Year 2025 | Test of the bill and rate arithmetic | 2026-10-20 |
| Cross-check: Nottingham | Town of Nottingham, 2025 Tax Rate Set | Test of the bill and rate arithmetic | 2026-10-20 |
| Cross-check: Keene | City of Keene, Tax Rate Information | Test of the bill and rate arithmetic | 2026-10-20 |
How the rate file was read and checked
The Department of Revenue Administration's servers refused automated downloads during this build, so the rate reports were read from the identical PDF that the Town of Acworth posts. Each of the 260 lines was transcribed, then checked two ways: the municipal, county, state education and local education rates must add up to the printed total for every line in both years, and a second, independent read of the 2025 totals and valuations had to match the first for all 234 municipalities. It did. Five towns' own published figures (Jackson, Lyme, Somersworth, Nottingham and Keene) match the file and are pinned in the site's unit tests.
Formulas
- Bill = assessed value ÷ 1,000 × total rate, rounded to the cent. Tested against Jackson's published $500,000 example ($4,305.00).
- Rate parts: each part's bill is the assessed value ÷ 1,000 × that part's rate.
- Tax effort = (total − state education rate) × valuation including utilities ÷ 1,000 + state education rate × valuation without utilities ÷ 1,000 (RSA 76:3). For Lyme this gives $11,744,060, the DRA's figure; less $35,500 of veterans' credits it is the $11,708,560 commitment.
- Equalized assessment = assessment ÷ equalization ratio (Board of Tax and Land Appeals). The Board's example: $120,000 ÷ 1.2 = $100,000.
- July first bill = prior year's assessed value × half the prior year's rate (RSA 76:15-a).
- Rank: 1 = highest total rate; ties share a rank. Median: of the 234 municipalities' rates; part medians are taken separately.
- Example values (200000, 300000, 400000, 500000, 750000 dollars) are illustrative assessed values, not data.
What is left out, and gaps
- Equalization ratios. The DRA's ratio lists could not be downloaded in this build, so the site does not print a ratio for each town. The appeal check asks for the ratio, which towns publish and many bills print. Adding the DRA ratio file is the first item for the next refresh.
- Unincorporated places (25 lines in the DRA file, such as grants and purchases administered by the state) are not ranked: most have no residents and some have no rate.
- Penacook, a separate DRA line for part of Concord with its own local school rate, is shown on the Concord page instead of being ranked.
- Village district and precinct taxes (water, fire, sewer precincts) are billed on top of the town rate in some towns and are not included.
- Other New England states are not covered yet: only New Hampshire's official town rate file could be read and verified in this build.
- Neighbouring-town comparisons use county membership and closest rates, because no official adjacency list was available.
Corrections: hello@taxbytown.com. Nothing on this site is tax or legal advice.