Derry, New Hampshire

Moving to Derry, New Hampshire

Derry is a town of roughly 34,000 residents in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, about 42 miles north of Boston and a short drive south of Manchester along I-93. You get an 86-bed acute-care hospital in town, a public P-8 school district that sends high schoolers to Pinkerton Academy, and a real mix of single-family houses, apartments, condos, and small multi-family buildings. The tradeoffs are real too: competitive housing costs, a high property-tax rate heading into a 2026 revaluation, near-total car dependence, and road construction touching parts of town into 2028.

Moving to Derry, New Hampshire is mostly a tradeoff calculation, so this guide is for renters, buyers, commuters, and remote workers comparing southern New Hampshire towns, Londonderry and Hudson included. You’ll get dated numbers, area-by-area housing notes, and a checklist to run before you sign. KT Rents is a broker-owned, full service property management company operating nationwide since 2009, and we would rather help you plan a good housing decision than watch you sign a lease you regret.

Derry, NH at a Glance

Derry covers about 35.5 square miles in southeastern New Hampshire, with a historic town center, quiet residential streets, and modern commercial strips along its main corridors. It is the birthplace of astronaut Alan Shepard, and the name traces back to Derry in Ireland. Here is the data.

Two definitions matter below. Paid rent is what current occupants pay, averaged over several years. Asking rent is what a landlord lists today, and it is almost always higher. Assessed value is the town’s valuation for tax purposes, not market value or your purchase price. If median age matters to your household, pull that figure straight from the Census Bureau profile rather than a secondhand blog.

Is Derry a Good Place to Live? Honest Pros and Cons

What works:

• Easy access to I-93 running north to Manchester and south toward Boston.
• Manchester Boston Regional Airport is roughly 13 miles out, straddling Manchester and Londonderry. Logan is about 44 miles.
• An 86-bed acute-care hospital right in town.
• Parks, rail trails, and lake recreation where you can spend time outdoors without leaving town.
• Housing variety: houses, apartments, condos, and two-to-four-unit buildings.
• Town services including its own police and fire departments for public safety, plus two public libraries.

What to weigh:

• A competitive market with high median housing prices.
• A high property-tax rate plus a 2026 revaluation that makes future bills hard to forecast.
• Most residents drive for nearly every errand.
• Winter driving, heating, and snow removal are ongoing costs.
• Exit 4A construction affecting some streets into roughly 2028, with a later phase set for 2029-2031.
• No dense urban transit or late-night scene.

Whether this is a good place to live depends on how you weight commute, schools, and cost. For households that want space, a real sense of community, and two job markets within reach, it usually lands well.

Derry and Londonderry: How the Neighbors Compare

Londonderry sits immediately west and north, and it matters more to Derry residents than most guides admit. Londonderry’s park-and-ride lots along I-93 serve Derry commuters, the two towns share the Exit 4A corridor, and Manchester Boston Regional Airport sits partly inside Londonderry’s borders. Woodmont Commons, the large planned mixed-use development on the Londonderry side, is the project to watch if long-term retail and housing growth near that corridor affects your plans. Londonderry is the lower-density of the two, spread across roughly 42 square miles, and it runs its own schools through grade twelve rather than tuitioning students out. Its apple orchards are a genuine fall tradition, and plenty of Derry families spend time picking fruit there each September. Comparing Derry and Londonderry comes down to lot size, school structure, tax rate, and distance to an on-ramp. Drive both before you decide.

What Does It Cost to Live in Derry, New Hampshire?

Renting

You will see two very different rent numbers. The Census median gross rent for Derry is $1,547 per month (2020-2024 ACS), reflecting what existing occupants pay, long-term residents included. New Hampshire Housing’s 2024 Residential Rental Cost Survey put Rockingham County’s median gross rent at $2,069 for a two-bedroom and $1,917 across all bedroom counts, countywide and closer to market. Neither is a current Derry asking rent, so price actual listings. Stock includes apartment buildings, two-to-four-unit houses, condo rentals, and single-family homes.

Buying

The Census median owner-occupied home value is $432,000, with median monthly owner costs for mortgaged households at $2,565 (2020-2024 ACS). These are multiyear estimates, not today’s sale prices.

Property taxes and the 2026 revaluation

Derry’s 2025 property-tax rate was $18.99 per $1,000 of assessed value, up from $18.69 in 2024. The town warns residents not to use the current rate to estimate post-revaluation bills, because values and the rate will both change. New Hampshire’s Interest and Dividends Tax was repealed for tax periods beginning January 1, 2025, and the state has no broad income or sales tax. That freedom from two common taxes is real money. It does not automatically make Derry cheap once property taxes, heating oil, and car expenses hit your budget. Our Rent Calculator, Rent vs. Buy Calculator, and Cost of Living Calculator are free to use.

Jobs, Commuting, and Getting Around

Derry’s employment base leans on healthcare, education, municipal services, retail, and manufacturing, with a layer of small business along Broadway. The town’s FY2025 financial report lists roughly 599 positions at the local hospital, 584 in the cooperative school district, 580 at the high school campus, and 265 in town government. Those describe employers located in Derry, not where residents work. The town reported 2.8% unemployment for June 2026, worth rechecking since it moves.

Routes 28 and 102 carry local traffic and I-93 handles the regional load south toward the Massachusetts line. The Census mean commute for all workers is 30.9 minutes, which is not a Boston-specific figure. The town promotes Boston as under 45 minutes; treat that as an off-peak travel time. Bus service toward Boston runs from the I-93 park-and-ride lots in Londonderry. Meanwhile, the Exit 4A interchange was physically completed in 2025 but will not open until connecting roads can carry the traffic, and Folsom Road and Route 28 work runs through roughly 2028. Remote work is practical here, with 94.4% of households subscribing to broadband and decent coverage across most of town, but verify speeds at the exact location.

Schools in Derry: The P-8 District and Pinkerton Academy

This catches people off guard. Derry Cooperative School District is a public P-8 district: a preschool program, four K-4 elementary schools, West Running Brook Intermediate for grades 5-6, and Gilbert H. Hood Middle School for grades 7-8. NH DOE reports total enrollment of 2,924 across those schools.

Derry has no district high school. High-school-age children attend Pinkerton Academy under a service agreement dating to 1948, with the town paying tuition per pupil. Pinkerton also serves students from several surrounding towns, making it one of the larger high schools in New England. It is a contractual arrangement rather than a conventional public high school, and it is worth understanding before you buy.

Confirm attendance boundaries and full day kindergarten details with the district before you sign, and read the NH Department of Education report cards rather than one commercial score. Private and parochial schools operate nearby, and the two public libraries add programming for children after the school day ends.

Healthcare and Hospitals

Parkland Medical Center sits in Derry and describes itself as an 86-bed regional acute-care hospital with a Level III Trauma Center, a 24/7 emergency department, intensive care, pediatric emergency care, and a Joint Commission-certified Primary Stroke Center. Check specialist availability, confirm your insurance network, and map drive time to larger regional centers if anyone in your household has specialized needs.

Areas of Derry to Consider

Derry has no formal bounded neighborhoods, so we describe areas by housing form, streets, utilities, and access.

• Downtown and the Broadway corridor: services, shopping, small business, older housing stock, apartments and smaller multi-family buildings, walkable to community events. Check parking rules and street construction notices.
• East Derry: historic village character, quiet low-density roads, more land per lot.
• Beaver Lake area: water access and recreation. Verify shoreline, flood, well, and septic specifics address by address.
• Western Derry and the I-93 corridor: fastest access toward Londonderry and Manchester north, Boston south, and the location most affected by current construction.
• Birch Street and the medical corridor: close proximity to the hospital and medical offices.
• Outlying low-density areas: space and more privacy, longer drives, more likely on private well and septic.

Things to Do in Derry

The 3.5-mile paved Derry Rail Trail is the backbone of everyday outdoor life, connecting to the longer Rockingham Recreation Trail. Beaver Lake draws kayakers and anglers, and Gallien’s Town Beach is the seasonal resident spot for swimming and paddleboard rentals. Hood Park has a playground, fishing, tennis courts, and trails. Alexander-Carr Park covers trails, winter sledding, and pickleball, plus a large dog park. MacGregor Park hosts concerts and community events through the warm months, which is where a lot of newcomers meet neighbors and make friends.

On the history side, the Robert Frost Farm keeps its grounds open dawn to dusk year-round with seasonal house tours, and the Derry Opera House has served the community since 1904. Dining runs from pubs to a local diner open since 1989 and a seasonal ice cream stand from 2004. Fall is the season here: foliage, apple orchards minutes away, and weekends worth clearing for visiting friends.

Before You Sign: Utilities, Winter, and a New-Resident Plan

• Municipal water or private well? Municipal sewer or septic? Derry runs municipal systems, but not every location is connected.
• Heating fuel type and prior annual usage, plus electricity history.
• Internet provider and verified speeds at that address.
• Trash, recycling, snow removal, and winter parking rules on your street.
• Flood, wetland, and shoreline maps near ponds and lakes.
• School assignment confirmation, pet rules, and parking.
• Property tax history if you are buying, plus nearby construction notices.
• Do not forget to drive your actual commute at your actual work hours before you settle on a street.

After the move, note that New Hampshire gives new residents who drive up to 60 days to obtain a license, and vehicles generally must be registered here within 60 days. Transfer utilities, register children for school, sign up for town alerts, and pick up resident recreation credentials. Budget for winter tires, an emergency kit, and heating, and check NOAA climate normals for snowfall rather than a blog average.

Frequently Asked Questions

Next Steps with KT Rents

Renting or buying? Run the numbers with our Rent Calculator, Rent vs. Buy Calculator, Mortgage Calculator, and Cost of Living Calculator, then browse rental listings and submit an application. Your Rental. Your Way.

Own property and tired of the headaches? KT Rents has been broker-owned and full service since 2009, with 683 units across 34 states and $187M in assets under management as of early 2025, and we report a 98% occupancy rate. We handle tenant placement, tenant screening, rent collection, property maintenance, rental permits, 1099s, city ordinance compliance, property inspections, and court evictions without the owner lifting a finger. Call (800) 716-4950, text (608) 207-0657, or email info@ktrents.com. We respond within 24 hours.