Loading
Assembling your view…
Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
Retirement planning isn't just about lowest rent — it's about protecting a fixed income from healthcare costs and state taxes. We scored 1 cities in New Hampshire on what hits retirees hardest: cost of living, healthcare, and tax burden. Manchester leads with index 111 — we had to double-check this …
115,474 residents · New Hampshire
Here's Manchester by the numbers — and there's a lot to like (and a little to watch). Cost index: 111. Rent: $1,976/month — for better or worse — . Income: $77,415/year. Home price: $427,321. Population: 115,474. The strongest category is Utilities at 102; the most expensive is Housing at 128. Translate that rent to annual numbers, and residents are costing renters $972 more per year vs. the national median. In a market where everything is going up, this stands still — in a good way.
#1 Ranked: Manchester — cost index 111, rent $1,976/mo, income $77,415
Retiree-weighted scoring: healthcare index 114, no state income tax, cost index 111 — protecting fixed retirement income
Data sourced from Census Bureau, Zillow, BLS, and Tax Foundation — current as of 2026
| Rank | City | Cost Index | Median Rent | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester | 111 | $1,976 | Details |
Retirement planning isn't just about lowest rent — it's about protecting a fixed income from healthcare costs and state taxes. We scored 1 cities in New Hampshire on what hits retirees hardest: cost of living, healthcare, and tax burden. Manchester leads with index 111 — we had to double-check this one — , no state income tax, and a healthcare index of 114.
A closer look at Manchester: the cost index of 111 — a detail that tends to get overlooked — breaks down to a Utilities index of 102 (strongest category) and a Housing index of 128 (weakest). Median rent is $1,976/month — 4% above the national median — while household income sits at $77,415, meaning locals spend about 31% of income on rent. That exceeds the recommended 30% threshold — affordability here depends on earning above the median.
Retirement affordability is about protecting fixed income. And on balance, our model weights healthcare costs at 25 points (medical bills are the #1 financial risk in retirement), cost index at 25 points, and state tax burden at 15 points (taxes directly reduce pension and Social Security income). Manchester leads with manageable medical expenses, no state income tax, and a cost index of 111.
No sugarcoating: None of this exists in a vacuum, though. The 1 cities we track in New Hampshire paint a surprisingly balanced picture. Average cost index: 111. Median rent: $1,976/month. Household income: $77,415. New Hampshire is known for no income tax in a traditionally expensive region — and the data backs that reputation convincingly.
What to do with this data: use the ranking as a shortlist, then dig into the city profiles for trend lines and category breakdowns. The difference between #1 and #5 is often smaller than the difference between "good on paper" and "actually fits my life." Compare your top picks with our calculator to see real take-home numbers (we double-checked this one).
Manchester ranks #1 in New Hampshire for this analysis with a cost index of 111 and median income of $77,415.
Manchester scores highest for retirees due to its strong income potential, median rent of $1,976/mo, and competitive median income of $77,415.
Our cost of living index uses real Zillow rent data as the foundation, indexed to 100 (national median). Sub-categories (housing, food, transport, utilities, healthcare) are derived from the overall index with regional adjustments. Data is updated monthly.
City data is refreshed monthly from Census Bureau population estimates, Zillow rent and home price indices, BLS salary data, and Tax Foundation tax rates. Last updated: 2026.
The median 1-bedroom rent in Manchester is $1,976/month as of 2026, based on Zillow's Observed Rent Index. This is $81 above the national median of $1,895/month.
The median home price in Manchester is $427,321, which is 5.5× the local median income. Most median-income households would stretch to buy at this ratio. The national median home price is $467,370.
New Hampshire has a 0% state income tax rate — one of the states with no income tax. Combined state and local sales tax averages 0%, and the effective property tax rate is 1.57%.
This ranking was generated using data current as of early 2026. Population and income data comes from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (5-year estimates). Rent and home price data is from Zillow's monthly releases. Tax rates are from the Tax Foundation's 2025 edition. Rankings are refreshed monthly.