Living in Lancaster, NH
Coos County
Lancaster is a real, genuinely small Coos County seat and North Country commercial hub in northern New Hampshire, with a town-wide population of 3,218 at the 2020 Census -- the county's 2nd-largest after Berlin. Lancaster's housing runs meaningfully more affordable than New Hampshire's statewide figures: a median home price of approximately $280,000 (Ownwell average sale price, with Redfin's most recent reviewed month showing an even higher $310,000 median sale price, up 19.7% year-over-year), against a 1.92% effective property tax rate producing a $3,700 median annual tax bill. Lancaster functions as Coos County's government and services hub -- the Coos County Superior Court sits in Lancaster, and Weeks Medical Center, a 25-bed critical access hospital, serves the town, though Weeks underwent a real, documented period of financial strain from 2023 to 2025. Coos County carries a real, official 'distressed place-based economy' designation and was the ONLY one of New Hampshire's 10 counties to lose population between 2020 and 2024 -- real, disclosed challenges this record does not soften. New Hampshire's real, no-income-tax/no-sales-tax structure and full statewide hazard/insurance profile (detailed in new-hampshire.js) apply here as they do statewide.
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Learn moreHousing
Taxes
Not independently sourced at the Coos County level this session. New Hampshire carries no income tax statewide. See the New Hampshire hub page for the statewide property tax context -- do not treat that figure as Lancaster-specific.
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Get local guidanceThe tradeoffs
Pros
A meaningfully affordable, appreciating housing market relative to New Hampshire's statewide figures ($280,000-$310,000 median price range); a below-Coos-County-average 1.92% effective property tax rate; New Hampshire's real no-income-tax, no-sales-tax structure; a real, structural county-government and regional-commercial-hub role; a genuine North Country mountain setting.
Cons
Coos County's real, official 'distressed place-based economy' designation, with a per capita income well below the state average and a poverty rate nearly double the state figure; Coos County's real, documented status as the only NH county to lose population 2020-2024; Weeks Medical Center's real, disclosed 2023-2025 financial strain; a confidently sourced current town-wide population estimate was not found this pass; and New Hampshire's genuine statewide winter-storm and river-valley flood exposure applies.
Who this fits
Best for: Best fits budget-conscious movers prioritizing a meaningfully affordable North Country housing market and New Hampshire's no-income-tax structure, comfortable with a small, car-dependent county-seat town and Coos County's real, documented economic-distress designation.
Maybe not for you if: Probably not the right fit for movers who need a diversified local job market, robust nearby hospital capacity, or a growing county-level population base -- Coos County's own distressed-economy designation, Weeks Medical Center's disclosed financial strain, and the county's real 2020-2024 population decline are all genuine, documented headwinds.
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