Property Tax in Grafton County, New Hampshire

What the Grafton County numbers mean

A median is the middle household: half of owner-occupied households in Grafton County pay more than $5,624, and half pay less. Your own bill is set by your home's assessed value, the exemptions you qualify for, and the local taxing districts your property sits in — so individual bills vary widely around the median.

Dividing the median tax by the median home value gives a derived effective rate of 1.88% for Grafton County. It is an estimate built from two survey medians, not the county's official rate, but it is a fair way to compare the local tax burden with other counties where home values are very different.

Grafton County by the numbers

*Estimate derived from Census medians (tax ÷ value), not an official rate.

Grafton County at a glance

• Median tax rank in New Hampshire: #6 of 10 counties
• Median home value rank in New Hampshire: #7 of 10
• Population rank in New Hampshire: #5 of 10 (91,759 residents)
• Population density rank: #9 of 10 (54 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in New Hampshire: #2 of 10 (1,708 sq mi, 19.1% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $469; per $1,000 of home value: $1.88

How Grafton County compares

The median tax bill in Grafton County is about 14% lower than the state median ($6,505 for New Hampshire) and about 89% higher than the US median ($2,969 nationally). By median taxes paid, the county ranks #6 out of 10 New Hampshire counties with published Census data — 5 counties in the state have a higher median bill.

Comparisons cut both ways: a county can have a modest rate but high bills because homes are expensive, or a high rate but modest bills because homes are cheaper. Grafton County's derived rate of 1.88% sits above the derived US figure of 0.98%.

Some extra context for Grafton County: the median bill works out to about $469 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $1,884 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 91,759 people — the #5 most populous county in New Hampshire, spread over 1,708 square miles, a density of about 54 people per square mile. Its median home value, $298,500, ranks #7 among the state's 10 counties with data.

Nationally, Grafton County's median bill of $5,624 ranks #91 of 3133 counties with published data — inside the top 3% of counties by tax paid. The county accounts for about 6.6% of New Hampshire's population, its median home value is about 19% below the state median, and at the derived rate the median home would hand over roughly 18.84% of its value in tax across a decade. Within the state, the distance from Grafton County to the most expensive county, Rockingham County ($7,512), is $1,888 a year.

Counties nearest Grafton County in the New Hampshire ranking

Grafton County and its population peers

For a like-for-like sense of scale, compare Grafton County with its national population peers: the counties nearest to its 91,759 residents, listed in the table below with their own Census medians. Of the 9 counties in that group, Grafton County's median bill of $5,624 is the highest.

The closest population match is Rockingham County, North Carolina (91,585 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $1,230 on a median home value of $156,000 — $4,394 more than Grafton County pays.

Inside New Hampshire itself, the counties closest to Grafton County in population are Merrimack County (155,018 residents, median tax $6,617 on a median value of $330,600); Strafford County (131,743 residents, median tax $6,582 on a median value of $332,400); Cheshire County (76,945 residents, median tax $5,968 on a median value of $257,200); Belknap County (64,300 residents, median tax $4,897 on a median value of $340,000). Same state, same broad tax framework — yet the median bills still differ, because assessed values and the mix of county, municipal and school-district rates are set locally.

How the tax is worked out

As an illustration of the arithmetic: at Grafton County's derived rate of 1.88%, a home valued at $400,000 would carry a tax bill of roughly $7,536 a year. That is only an illustration using the derived rate — a real bill is computed from the property's assessed value, its exemptions, and the combined rates of its specific taxing districts, so it can be higher or lower.

The usual sequence is: the local assessor values the property; exemptions are applied; the taxable value is multiplied by the combined local rates; and the county bills and collects the tax, distributing it to the schools, municipalities and districts that levied it.

Illustrative bills in Grafton County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 1.88% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Grafton County — and a quick way to compare with the state derived rate of 1.77% and the US figure of 0.98%:

Illustration only: real bills are computed from the assessed value, exemptions, and the combined rates of the property's actual taxing districts.

Checking your assessment in Grafton County

If your bill looks wrong, work through these steps:

1. Get your property record card from the assessor and check the basics — living area, lot size, bedrooms, condition, and any exemptions you should have.
2. Compare your assessed value with recent sale prices of similar homes in Grafton County.
3. Talk to the assessor's office informally first; clear errors are often fixed without a hearing.
4. If needed, file a formal appeal with the local review board before the deadline on your assessment notice, with your evidence attached.
5. Keep paying the bill as issued while the appeal runs, unless your notice says otherwise — unpaid taxes accrue penalties regardless of an appeal.

More New Hampshire counties

• Cheshire County, NH — $5,968
• Belknap County, NH — $4,897
• Strafford County, NH — $6,582
• Carroll County, NH — $3,685
• Sullivan County, NH — $5,616
• Coos County, NH — $3,511

Frequently asked questions