Manchester, NH
Manchester-Nashua, NH Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Manchester-Nashua, NH Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Manchester ranks 16th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 14th for income. A household earns $106,013 a year while median rent runs $1,714/mo, making it comfortably affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 6% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is health (7th of 300), while cost of living is the soft spot (277th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 252nd and home prices 256th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Manchester, your take-home is worth about $58,031 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it less than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 14th of 300↑26.8%$106,013
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 277th of 300106 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $100,337
- Per-capita income
- $53,139
- Full-time pay
- $56,116
Housing
- Median rent
- 252nd of 300↑35.8%$1,714/mo
- Home value
- 256th of 300↑62.3%$476,000
- Property tax
- $7,162/yr · 1.5%
- Sales tax
- 0.00%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 12th of 3002.4%
- Bachelor's+
- 53rd of 30042.6%
- Avg commute
- 262nd of 30028.5 min
People
- Population
- 430,462
- Population change
- +3.2%
- Median age
- 41.2 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 9.7%
- Broadband
- 95.7%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 29th of 30037
- Natural-hazard loss
- 147th of 300$12/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 7th of 30013.9%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 7.7%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Affordability
- + Household income
- + Job market
- + Education
- + Air quality
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Commute
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — manchester ap.
What jobs pay in Manchester
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $256,770
- IT managers
- $175,530
- Software developers
- $162,090
- Pharmacists
- $143,000
- Financial managers
- $139,230
- Lawyers
- $125,190
- General & operations managers
- $124,990
- Civil engineers
- $98,710
- Registered nurses
- $98,600
- Web developers
- $84,170
- Accountants & auditors
- $83,660
- Secondary school teachers
- $77,180
- Police officers
- $73,960
- Elementary school teachers
- $73,380
- Plumbers
- $67,690
- Electricians
- $64,080
- Carpenters
- $61,300
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $58,900
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $53,510
- Customer service reps
- $49,630
- Construction laborers
- $47,520
- Waiters & waitresses
- $38,430
- Janitors
- $37,860
- Retail salespersons
- $35,350
- Cashiers
- $31,700
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Manchester metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in New Hampshire are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Massachusetts7,940
- Florida789
- New York682
- North Carolina617
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Manchester
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Manchester metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Manchester metro?
- Median gross rent across the Manchester-Nashua, NH Metro Area is $1,714 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Manchester.
- What is the median household income in the Manchester metro?
- A typical household in the Manchester-Nashua, NH Metro Area earns $106,013 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Manchester expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Manchester-Nashua, NH Metro Area runs about 6% above the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are higher than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Manchester metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $100,337 (versus its face value of $106,013). CityLedger rates the Manchester-Nashua, NH Metro Area comfortably affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Manchester metro?
- The median home value across the Manchester-Nashua, NH Metro Area is $476,000 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Manchester metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Manchester-Nashua, NH Metro Area is 2.4% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).