Property Tax in Strafford County, New Hampshire

What the Strafford County numbers mean

The median is the midpoint of the county's actual bills: half of Strafford County homeowners pay more than $6,582 a year and half pay less. The exact bill for any one home depends on its assessed value, exemptions, and which school, municipal and special districts cover it.

Set against the median home value of $332,400, the median bill works out to a derived effective rate of 1.98%. That rate is an estimate computed from the two medians — no county publishes a rate calculated this way — but it adjusts for home prices, which makes comparisons between counties more meaningful.

Strafford County by the numbers

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

Strafford County at a glance

• Median tax rank in New Hampshire: #4 of 10 counties
• Median home value rank in New Hampshire: #5 of 10
• Population rank in New Hampshire: #4 of 10 (131,743 residents)
• Population density rank: #3 of 10 (359 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in New Hampshire: #10 of 10 (367 sq mi, 4.1% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $548; per $1,000 of home value: $1.98

How Strafford County compares

Set against its state, Strafford County's median bill of $6,582 is about the same as the New Hampshire median ($6,505). Against the country as a whole it is about 122% higher than the US median ($2,969). That places the county #4 of 10 New Hampshire counties ranked by median taxes paid.

Remember what drives the ranking: bills follow home values as much as rates. Strafford County's median home, at $332,400, ranks #5 by value in New Hampshire, while its derived rate of 1.98% compares with a derived US figure of 0.98%.

Some extra context for Strafford County: the median bill works out to about $548 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $1,980 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 131,743 people — the #4 most populous county in New Hampshire, spread over 367 square miles, a density of about 359 people per square mile. Its median home value, $332,400, ranks #5 among the state's 10 counties with data.

Zooming out: of 3133 counties nationwide with published Census figures, only 58 record a higher median tax bill than Strafford County — it sits in the top 2% nationally. The county holds roughly 9.5% of New Hampshire's people. Its homes are worth less than the state norm (median $332,400 versus $367,200), and a decade at the derived rate of 1.98% adds up to about 19.80% of the median home's value in tax. The cheapest county in the state, Coos County, medians $3,511 — $3,071 less than Strafford County per year.

Counties nearest Strafford County in the New Hampshire ranking

Strafford County and its population peers

Population is a useful lens on these figures, so the table below sets Strafford County beside the counties closest to it in population anywhere in the country — communities of a similar scale operating under different state and local tax systems. Ranked by median tax paid within this peer group of 9, Strafford County's $6,582 bill is the highest.

The closest population match is Wood County, Ohio (131,795 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $2,911 on a median home value of $214,400 — $3,671 more than Strafford County pays.

Staying within New Hampshire, the counties nearest Strafford County by population are Rockingham County (317,163 residents, median tax $7,512 on a median value of $461,400); Merrimack County (155,018 residents, median tax $6,617 on a median value of $330,600); Grafton County (91,759 residents, median tax $5,624 on a median value of $298,500); Cheshire County (76,945 residents, median tax $5,968 on a median value of $257,200). The spread in their median bills — all under the same state framework — shows how much of the property tax burden is decided county by county and district by district.

How the tax is worked out

The bill is built in stages. First the assessor puts a market value on the property. Exemptions — a homestead exemption above all — then reduce the taxable amount. Finally the combined local rate is applied. To see the scale: at the county's derived rate of 1.98%, each $100,000 of value corresponds to about $1,980 of tax a year, and a $400,000 home to roughly $7,920. Real bills use the official assessment and district rates, not this derived figure, so treat the example as a sense of scale only.

Illustrative bills in Strafford County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 1.98% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Strafford 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 Strafford 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 Strafford 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

• Merrimack County, NH — $6,617
• Grafton County, NH — $5,624
• Cheshire County, NH — $5,968
• Belknap County, NH — $4,897
• Carroll County, NH — $3,685
• Sullivan County, NH — $5,616

Frequently asked questions