Manchester crime is high by New Hampshire standards, but very low by national standards. The Kalivas Union, Corey Square, and Piscataquog neighborhoods are where most of the crime is, with other neighborhoods ranging from somewhat safe to extremely safe.

The North End is a quiet affluent neighborhood that is beautiful but expensive. Most houses are north of $450,000. Keep in mind that realtors will sometimes call everything north of Bridge St the North End, however, the actual neighborhood is north of Hooksett Rd and Webster St (with a small section between Beech, Salmon and Elm).

The housing market is on fire here and extremely competitive. I have been looking since January and virtually everything under $400k that isn't a complete dump goes under contract within 10 days. There were two houses that I bid on that allegedly had over 10 offers. In both cases, I lost to buyers who waived inspections and bid 10-15% over the asking price.

What is your budget if you don't mind me asking? The market is far less competitive once you get above $400,000, but still far from a buyer's market.

Simply put, there's insane demand and low supply. Manchester has a rental vacancy rate of around 0.5%, meaning that at any given time approximately 99.5% of apartments are occupied or being transitioned to a tenant. A healthy and balanced rental market is around 5% vacancy and we are significantly outside of that. Another factor is many people who were receiving hotel room assistance are about to lose it in a few days and they are frantically looking as well.

Most towns in the state have made it very challenging over the last few decades to build multi-family housing, leaving the few cities we have to bear the burden of housing everyone else. There are ~1,400 apartments and condos under construction or permitted at the moment within Manchester, but the pain will be felt for at least the next few years as people continue to move to New Hampshire for the lack of income tax, quality of life, and other factors.

Skip it and head to Annapurna Curry & Sekuwa House

Good and safe complex and neighborhood. It's disconnected from the rest of the city grid, so you'll want to make sure you have a car. Luckily it's right next to a highway exit and a short drive to downtown Manchester so the location is convenient.

Water quality is pretty good in Manchester, especially at the big condo/apartment complexes. Some of the older triple deckers have older pipes so it can be variable depending on how well maintained a particular building is. Are you moving here for work?

Nope. I've met a few people who come through Victoria street on the north side to access the river, but they generally keep to themselves. The one issue i've seen is SWAT coming every now and then due to a drugs and guns situation, but when this happens the police keep it contained and are gone within an hour or two. I don't even notice unless I head outside.

The residents are a mix of students, older people, working professionals, and immigrants/refugees.

I've lived at Colonial Village since April. It's a well-managed mid-tier complex. Units are older and there are a lot of cheaper fixtures in the apartments, but its functional and gets the job done at least. Maintenance is quick and they do a good job plowing the snow. Hallways are vacuumed and cleaned at least once a week and the neighborhood is relatively quiet and safe. The location is great as you're a quick bike ride or under a 5-minute drive to downtown. I think if you're looking to still be connected to the city grid without being in the dense center it's a good middle ground.

Keep in mind there is no smoking allowed within 100 feet of the building. People don't always follow it, but the leasing office posts memos on the entrance doors when they find people doing it. I've also had minor issues with the office regarding lease renewals where I clearly asked for a month-to-month in writing and they sent me a 12-month lease without any context. Took a few weeks to resolve and get the correct one sent over. Overall though I've lived in far worse places and it's a good place to live.

I'm curious, what would you have done differently to address housing, homeless, crime and bringing business to Manchester?

Craig is leaving office with nearly 1,400 market-rate and affordable housing units either permitted or under construction, the most in decades for the city.

She took a strong stance against homeless encampments and broke them up before they got too big. This is while surrounding towns' police departments were dumping their own homeless in Manchester because they figured it was our problem. She also worked with local non-profits to ensure resources were available to help combat the opioid epidemic that Gatsas completely ignored. Homelessness is a national issue and the city has limited options in the short term to address it. Proper fixes that address the root of the issue rather than the symptom require collaboration with the state and federal government and take time.

Crime is down overall after peaking between 2017-2020. Assaults in 2021 hit their lowest number since 2013 and murders went from a peak of six in the late 2010s to one in 2021. Yes, crime is still an issue compared to previous decades, but considering the amount of addiction resources and slumlords we have in the city there's only so much that can be done.

She made some mistakes and wasn't the best mayor, but calling her disastrous is a huge stretch. The city is on the upswing again after some very tough years.

She did a good job considering the mess she inherited from Ted Gatsas and his disastrous administration. Manchester really needs to align its mayoral elections with state and national election years and extend the term to four years so the Mayor can focus less on campaigning every other year. As a result of separating it, we consistently have under 30% turnout since it's a separate election, and the majority of voters are older people who don't want to vote in change.

Livingston Park, Stark Park (including trails behind it), Weston Observatory, Rockingham Rail Trail, trails along Lake Massabesic, and Cedar Swamp Preserve (has trail with wood platform for stroller).

California Burrito is a bit further up South Willow but probably your best bet. It's a Sunday so most of the Independent places are closed.

El Rincon has pretty solid nachos. You can get them loaded with a choice of chicken, beef, steak, pastor, carnitas or chorizo.

Welcome OP! There are two great posts (here and here) from years past that dive down into some of the differences. We are named after your city and were supposed to be the "Manchester of America" based on your industrial past.

We're a much smaller city of around 115,000 people. Similar to your Manchester, our city was based around textile manufacturing for many decades. Our location was decided because of a significant drop in elevation in our river (Merrimack River) that allowed for a canal system to be constructed parallel to the river to move maritime boats up and down the river without going against the current. This significant current was later used to power textile mills. We were a company town run by the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in the early days, with most of the city's design planned before any major construction took place (our grid system of roads and architecture can be attributed to this as well). After the original company went bankrupt in the 1930s, Manchester switched to wartime production during World War 2. Most of the manufacturing in the city was gone by the 1980s and the Millyard as we call it started to make the switch from industrial to offices/apartments, where high-tech companies are now based such as DEKA Research (engineering firm that helped develop the Segway through a subsidiary), Dyn (software company acquired by Oracle) and ARMI (tissue regeneration).

Our city isn't well known outside of the northeast US, but it serves as an important regional city in New England and is the largest center of commerce and business in Northern New England. We generally say New Hampshire since we are a small state and no one town or city is well-known nationally that I can think of.

This question comes up a lot in the NH and Manchester subreddits. I usually recommend taking a look at this map. The tree street advice is a bit outdated at this point imo. Parts of Elm, Chestnut, Beech, Maple and Ash are in beautiful parts of the city with million-dollar homes.

Particular areas to avoid include the area where the grid diverts between Central High School (South St, Jane St, etc.), the Cumbies by Bronstein Park, and most of the Kalivas Union neighborhood. On the west side you'll want to avoid the Piscataquog and parts of the Notre Dame neighborhood south of Sullivan St. Most of these areas are just run down rather than dangerous. If you're not looking for trouble or selling drugs they're usually fine to drive through. Welcome to our fair city, let us know if you have any questions about particular streets.

Depends where on Hanover. The stretch from Elm to Chestnut is very nice and tree lined. The area around Bronstein Park and Bagel Cafe is run down but not dangerous. Once you get past the Hanover/Belmont St intersection it gets nice again. Colorado Springs has worse crime than Manchester on average so as long as you have city smarts you'll be fine. Lock your car doors, don't leave any bags or valuables visible in your car (including loose change), etc.

The r/newhampshire subreddit and online forums project a comically negative image of Manchester. It's laughable to see people comparing it to South Chicago whenever we have a murder. Most people who criticize the city don't even live here or visit very often. It would be naive to say this city doesn't have its issues (mostly related to drugs and the opioid crisis), but there is no better judge of safety than your own experience and we all come from different walks of life and have different expectations. By NH standards Manchester is terrible. I don't blame some people for thinking this way as many locals I've met here haven't even left New England (a testament to our high quality of life and opportunities). Please take the time to explore and enjoy our fair city. We are rich in history and things to do, plus the location in New England can't be beat for recreation.

Former New Yorker here too. For bagels I recommend Bagel Alley in Nashua. For pizza Vintage Pizza is the closest to NY pizza you'll find in Manch. Alley Cat and Pizza by Rocco are also half decent but not as good. We're a bit lacking but have a few gems.

Agreed. Knocks Gyro Spot out of the water.

If you are coming from the NYC metro area, have a $2,000 rent budget, and want to be relatively close to Boston, Manchester/Concord are your main options (possibly Nashua if you can find a deal). This subreddit has a very strong bias against Manchester because it's unsafe by NH standards, but it has most of what you need, is centrally located, and is affordable. There are various apartments in Merrimack, Bedford, and Hooksett if you don't want to be in Manchester proper. Concord is smaller but still has most of what you need and a nice downtown. If you're not used to less urban living, live in one of the smaller cities/larger towns for a year and then decide if you want to move somewhere more rural would be my $0.02. Welcome to NH and best of luck with your search!

It's more residential. South Beech St which goes through that neighborhood is a main street but traffic is usually light throughout the day. Driving wise the only headache over there is the Queen City Ave/Willow St/Cilley Rd intersection, though it looks like the city plans to fix this in the future according to this.

The Tree streets rule is more applicable to the center of the city. The key areas you want to avoid are the box formed by Chestnut, Cilley, Belmont and Bridge Streets, as well as the Piscataquog neighborhood on the West Side and parts of Notre Dame. There are certainly exceptions to this but you'll have to visit on a block by block basis to get a better read.

Bakersville is a little run down north of Mitchell St and has some public housing. I wouldn't call it dangerous, but the Highlands is a little nicer. I personally don't like the south part of town because South Willow Street easily gets backed up by traffic and lacks character (it's a big retail hub for the region with the mall being there), but there are some good deals on housing over there if you don't mind it. Of course, if you are moving from Boston the traffic and crime here will likely be miniscule in comparison to what you're used to.

Feel free to ask about any specific streets. Manchester is a great little city but the neighborhoods vary widely in appeal.

Upstate New York (I'm thinking Capital region) isn't the best comparison. Even with the housing crisis prices are much lower there than in Southern New Hampshire. We also have a much lower vacancy rate in the rental market (under 1%) compared to the NY Capital region's 4.8%, and property taxes are very high but vary based on the town.

The state motto is just a motto. Yes New Hampshire ranks highly on civil liberties, lax gun laws, etc. but for many it does not directly impact our lives on a day to day basis. NH residents typically frown upon Free Staters and Mass residents who move here and want to change things to fit their view. Culturally Manchester/Nashua are seen as more of an extension of the Boston Metro area, and many commute to Mass at least a few days a week for work. Once you get north of Concord, NH the commuters start to die down and housing prices are more reasonable.

There's a labor shortage in the trades and you'd likely be able to find a job quickly, but you're going to struggle to find housing and employers know that. Best of luck in your search.

Unfortunately you will have a tough time with that budget. 2 bedroom apartments in decent neighborhoods around Manchester go for just under $2k/month to put it into perspective. Your best bet would be to scour Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace daily around 5 PM (this is when listings typically get put up). I think you would have better luck looking for a townhouse/duplex as those are more within that price range. Pinardville/Goffstown west of Manchester and some of the communities east of I-93 in Manchester are both decent options and not terribly pricey. Concord is around the same price nowadays compared to Manchester.

The increase in interest rates has put even more of a strain on vacancies statewide, and we already had short supply before the pandemic started. Even with the doubling of rates New Hampshire is still a red hot market for sellers. Best of luck in your search and welcome to the United States.