How Do Our Property Tax Rates Compare?

Seabrook Tax Rates Compared to Other NH Towns & Cities

As residents of New Hampshire, we enjoy having no income tax or sales tax. But our property taxes are among the highest in the country.  A RocketMortgage survey in January 2024 listed NH as the state with the third highest property tax rates. How does Seabrook compare to other NH cities and towns? The New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration (NHDRA) reports on tax rates for the 236 cities and towns in the state. 

Out of 236 NH towns & cities:

• TOTAL TAX RATE: Seabrook ranks # 176 (there are 175 communities with a higher total tax rate)

• TOWN TAX RATE: Seabrook ranks # 61 (there are 60 communities with a higher town tax rate)

• SCHOOL TAX RATE: Seabrook ranks # 199 (there are 198 communities with a higher school tax rate)

SCHOOL RATES COMPARED TO TOWN RATES:  The relationship between Town and School rates is interesting to compare.  In Seabrook, the School Rate (Local plus State School Rate) of $7.27 is slightly higher than the Town Rate of $7.05.  For the majority of NH cities and towns, the School Rates are much higher than the Town Rates; 223 of the 236 towns have School Tax Rates which are higher than Town Tax Rates.  On average, taxpayers in the 236 NH towns/cities pay over twice as much in School Tax as they do in Town Tax, whereas in Seabrook we pay approximately the same amount.

The full list of property tax rates for the 236 cities and towns can be found on the NH Department of Revenue Administration site at:  https://www.revenue.nh.gov/mun-prop/municipal/documents/2023-municipal-tax-rates.pdf. 

A partial list of towns/cities which may be of interest to Seabrook residents:

Seabrook’s 2023 rate, which applies to the final tax bill for 2023 and the first tax bill for 2024, is $15.09 per thousand. (Since the first half bill must go out before the tax rate is set each year, the prior year’s tax rate is carried forward for the first bill.)  Every residential and commercial property owner in town pays the same rate, multiplied by the assessed value of their property, divided by 1,000. We pay that amount in two installments, the first which was due in January and the second which is due in June. 

Seabrook NH 2023 Tax Rate:

(1)    The state of NH provides an “Adequacy Education Grant” to each town and city, most of which is paid by local property taxpayers (see State School Rate).  The base amount of this grant = $4,100 per student for 2024, with additional amounts based on the numbers of students who qualify for free/reduced lunch and special education in each town/city.

(2)    Because the “State School Rate”, or Statewide Education Property Tax (SWEPT) – is applied as an offset to the Seabrook school and Winnacunnet budgets, we can think of the total of the Local and State School rates (7.27) as representing the budgets of Seabrook Elementary and Middle Schools and Seabrook’s share of Winnacunnet High School, partially offset by the additional amount which the state provides as the “Adequacy Education Grant”, along with other federal and state sources of revenue.