New Hampshire Rent Calculator

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New Hampshire Rent Calculator

New Hampshire levies no tax on wages (the Interest and Dividends Tax was repealed effective January 1, 2025), so your take-home pay is reduced only by federal tax and FICA, while RSA 540-A:6 caps the security deposit at one month’s rent with a 30-day return. This calculator sizes the rent that income supports against both the 30 percent standard and the income ratio your landlord publishes, prices the cash you need at signing under the one-month deposit cap, and benchmarks your rent against the HUD Fair Market Rent for your county.

What Do You Want To Calculate?

The second and third modes require a target monthly rent. The third solves for annual salary.

Location and Unit

Select the county where you will rent.
Selects the HUD FY 2025 Fair Market Rent for your county.
Select a county to load its HUD Fair Market Rent schedule and the income a published screening ratio would require at that benchmark.

Household Income

Wages before tax from every household earner. New Hampshire imposes no tax on wages, so only federal tax and FICA apply. Enter your annual gross household salary.
Child support, pension, Social Security or a side income. Interest and dividends are no longer taxed in New Hampshire for 2025. Enter 0 or more.
401(k), 403(b), 457 or traditional IRA. Reduces federal taxable income but not FICA wages. Enter 0 or more.
Sets the federal standard deduction used in the take-home estimate.
Drives the $2,000 federal child tax credit for the first three dependents. Enter 0 to 10.
Base rent of the listing, before utilities and fees. Enter a target monthly rent greater than 0.
New Hampshire sets no statutory income ratio, so the figure in the landlord’s written screening criteria governs.

Monthly Money Commitments

Minimum credit card payments, auto loans, student loans and support obligations. Counted in the debt-to-income ratio. Enter 0 or more.
Enter 0 or more.
Groceries, fuel, insurance, phone, internet, childcare and health costs. Leaving this at zero overstates the rent you can carry. Enter 0 or more.

Housing Add-Ons

HUD publishes Fair Market Rent as a gross rent, so this figure is added back for that comparison. New Hampshire heating makes this line large in winter. Enter 0 or more.
Enter 0 or more.
Enter 0 or more.
Enter 0 or more.

Cash Required At Signing

RSA 540-A:6 caps the deposit at one month’s rent or $100, whichever is greater; larger requests are clamped below.
Prepaid rent is collected in addition to the deposit in New Hampshire.
New Hampshire sets no statutory cap on application fees; confirm the amount and request a receipt. Enter 0 or more.
Movers or truck, deposits to activate utilities, locks and basic supplies. Enter 0 or more.

Lease Term and Renewal

Rent cannot be raised during a fixed term. RSA 540:2 requires written notice of the amount and effective date at least 30 days before a rent increase takes effect.
New Hampshire has no rent control and no cap on the increase size, only the 30-day notice rule. Enter 0 to 50.
New Hampshire rules this calculator enforces: RSA 540-A:6 caps the security deposit at one month’s rent or $100, whichever is greater, and RSA 540-A:7 requires return of the deposit (plus any interest due) within 30 days from termination of the tenancy with an itemized statement of deductions. RSA 540:2 requires written notice of the amount and effective date of a rent increase at least 30 days before it takes effect, and rent cannot be raised during a fixed term. RSA 48-A prohibits local rent control; there is no statewide cap on the increase size, no statutory cap on application fees, and no statewide just cause requirement for declining to renew a market-rate periodic tenancy.

Understanding Rent Affordability in New Hampshire

New Hampshire levies no tax on wages at all (the Interest and Dividends Tax was repealed effective January 1, 2025), so take-home pay is high relative to gross, but seacoast and Manchester rents are among the highest in New England, so the screening ratio and after-tax budget still bind.
  • New Hampshire imposes no tax on wages, interest or dividends for 2025 (the Interest and Dividends Tax was repealed effective January 1, 2025), and no municipal income tax; the only payroll deductions are federal income tax and FICA.
  • The 30 percent affordability standard requires annual income equal to 40 times the monthly rent, while the 3 times monthly ratio most New Hampshire landlords publish requires only 36 times. Test case 3 shows a household that falls short of the 3x screen at the Merrimack County Fair Market Rent.
  • RSA 540-A:6 caps the security deposit at one month’s rent or $100, whichever is greater, and RSA 540-A:7 requires return (plus any interest due) within 30 days from termination with an itemized statement of deductions.
  • RSA 540:2 requires written notice of the amount and effective date of a rent increase at least 30 days before it takes effect, and rent cannot be raised during a fixed term. RSA 48-A prohibits local rent control and there is no cap on the increase size.
  • New Hampshire has no statewide just cause requirement for declining to renew a market-rate periodic tenancy, and sets no statutory cap on application fees.
  • New Hampshire’s FY 2025 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent ranges from $1,072 in Coos County to $2,711 in the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy MA-NH area, with Portsmouth-Rochester at $1,961, Manchester at $1,948 and Merrimack at $1,614, against a $1,738 statewide average.

Sources, Methodology and Verification

Data Years

  • HUD Fair Market Rents: federal fiscal year 2025, New Hampshire HUD metro FMR areas and non-metropolitan counties.
  • Federal tax figures: tax year 2025. New Hampshire imposes no tax on wages (Interest and Dividends Tax repealed for 2025).
  • Housing statutes: New Hampshire Revised Statutes Title LV, Chapters 540 and 540-A, and RSA 48-A, as current through 2026.

Primary Sources

  • RSA 540-A:6 (security deposit capped at one month’s rent or $100, whichever is greater) and RSA 540-A:7 (30-day return of deposit plus interest with itemized statement).
  • RSA 540:2 (written notice of the amount and effective date of a rent increase at least 30 days before it takes effect; 30 days’ notice sufficient to terminate a residential tenancy).
  • RSA 48-A (local rent control prohibited).
  • New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration (Interest and Dividends Tax repealed effective for taxable periods beginning after December 31, 2024; no tax on wages).
  • U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, FY 2025 Fair Market Rents for New Hampshire, huduser.gov.
  • Internal Revenue Service Publication 15 and Publication 15-T for 2025.

Methodology Notes

  • Recommended maximum rent is the lowest of the 30 percent gross rule, the after-tax budget rule and the debt-to-income rule. The screening ratio ceiling is reported separately as an approval test.
  • The take-home engine applies federal income tax on wages minus pre-tax retirement contributions minus the federal standard deduction, less $2,000 per dependent for the first three, then FICA. New Hampshire adds no state income tax (Interest and Dividends Tax repealed for 2025) and no municipal wage tax.
  • Deposit clamping reduces any request above one month’s rent (or $100 if greater) to one month under RSA 540-A:6.
  • Required-income mode uses a guarded bisection solver with 60 bound expansions and 90 iterations, rounded up to the next whole dollar, evaluated against the recommended affordability figure rather than a fixed multiple.
  • Fair Market Rent comparisons add tenant-paid utilities to base rent because HUD publishes FMR as a gross rent.
  • Not modeled: New Hampshire local property-tax-driven costs and the state education tax, which do not apply to wages, and seacoast resort-area rent premiums not captured by county FMR.

Verification Test Cases

TC1 – Hillsborough County (Manchester), 1 bedroom, single, $65,000 with $4,000 pre-tax, $350 debts, $400 savings, $1,200 other living, $150 utilities, $18 insurance, $40 screening fee, one-month deposit, $600 moving, 3x ratio, affordability modeFederal tax $4,801.50, Social Security $4,030.00, Medicare $942.50, no New Hampshire income tax, net annual $53,808.50 and net monthly $4,484.04. Rules: 30 percent $1,625.00, 3x ceiling $1,805.56, DTI $1,979.17, budget $2,854.04. Recommended $1,625.00 with the 30 percent rule binding. Total housing $1,793.00 is 33.10 percent of gross and 40.00 percent of net, cost-burdened. Cash at signing $4,350.00. Manchester 1 bedroom FMR $1,485.00, exceeded by $290.00.
TC2 – Rockingham County (Portsmouth-Rochester), 2 bedroom, married filing jointly, $110,000 with 2 dependents and $6,000 pre-tax, target rent $1,961 equal to the area Fair Market Rent, two adults at $40 eachFederal tax $4,994.00 after the $4,000 child tax credit, Social Security $6,820.00, Medicare $1,595.00, no New Hampshire income tax, net annual $82,566.00 and net monthly $6,880.50. The target passes the 3x ceiling of $3,055.56, the 30 percent test at 23.38 percent of gross, DTI at 28.83 percent and the budget test with $4,663.50 discretionary. Cash at signing $4,792.00.
TC3 – Merrimack County (Concord), 2 bedroom, single, $55,000 with $2,500 pre-tax, target rent $1,614 equal to the area Fair Market RentThe target requires $58,104.00 under the 3x screen against $55,000.00 of income, so it fails the screen; it also consumes 38.62 percent of gross and 51.44 percent of net pay and pushes DTI to 45.16 percent. Verdict LIKELY FAILS THE 3x SCREEN. Cash at signing $3,814.00.
TC4 – Belknap County, 1 bedroom, single, target rent $1,182 equal to the area Fair Market Rent, 3x ratio, $200 debts, $250 savings, $900 other living, $130 utilities, $15 insurance, income modeSolved required annual salary $47,280.00, which makes the 30 percent rule bind at exactly $1,182.00. At that salary federal tax is $3,635.10, Social Security $2,931.36, Medicare $685.56 and no New Hampshire income tax, net monthly $3,453.70. Total housing is $1,327.00 or 33.68 percent of gross, DTI is 38.76 percent and cash at signing is $2,869.00.
TC5 – Hillsborough County (Manchester), studio, head of household, $80,000 with 1 dependent and $4,000 pre-tax, target rent $1,336 equal to the area studio Fair Market Rent, landlord requesting a 1.5-month depositBecause RSA 540-A:6 caps the deposit at one month’s rent (or $100 if greater), the 1.5-month request of $2,004.00 is clamped to $1,336.00, bringing cash at signing to $3,927.00. Federal tax $4,181.50 after the $2,000 child tax credit, Social Security $4,960.00, Medicare $1,160.00, no New Hampshire income tax, net annual $73,608.50 and net monthly $6,134.04. The target is affordable at 22.56 percent of gross and 24.52 percent of net, DTI 28.56 percent, with $3,580.04 discretionary.
Estimates only. Based on HUD fiscal year 2025 Fair Market Rents, tax year 2025 federal rates, and the New Hampshire Revised Statutes as current through 2026. Not legal, tax, or financial advice.

What Is the New Hampshire Rent Calculator?

The New Hampshire Rent Calculator is a rental affordability and budgeting tool for renters across the New Hampshire counties included in its code. It supports three calculations: maximum rent supported by income, affordability and screening for a specific rent, and annual salary required to support a target rent.

The New Hampshire rent calculator finds a recommended base rent by comparing a 30 percent gross-income limit, an after-tax budget limit, and a debt-to-income limit. It also shows a separate landlord screening ceiling, estimated take-home pay, total housing cost, move-in cash, Fair Market Rent comparisons, and a three-year renewal projection.

The tool is useful for renters who want to look beyond a simple rent-to-income multiple. Its outputs are estimates based on the values entered and the tax, housing, and legal assumptions stored in the calculator code.

How the New Hampshire Rent Calculator Formula Works

The calculator first combines annual salary with annualized other monthly household income. It divides that total by 12 to get gross monthly household income. It then calculates three possible base-rent limits and uses the lowest one as the recommendation.

R=max⁡(0,min⁡(0.30G, N−D−S−L−A, cG−D−A))R=\max\left(0,\min\left(0.30G,\ N-D-S-L-A,\ cG-D-A\right)\right)
  • R is the recommended maximum monthly base rent.
  • G is gross monthly household income, including other monthly household income.
  • N is estimated monthly take-home pay calculated from annual salary.
  • D is monthly debt payments.
  • S is the monthly savings target.
  • L is other monthly living expenses.
  • A is tenant-paid utilities, renters insurance, pet rent, and parking or storage.
  • c is the selected debt-to-income ceiling: 36 percent, 43 percent, or 50 percent.

The landlord screening ratio is calculated separately. It does not determine the recommended maximum rent.

Rscreen=GqR_{screen}=\frac{G}{q}

Here, q is the selected screening ratio of 2.5, 3, 3.5, or 4 times monthly rent. The calculator also reports annual income needed for that screen and annual income equal to 40 times base rent for the 30 percent rule.

Worked Example

Assume a single renter earns $65,000, contributes $4,000 pre-tax, has no other monthly income, pays $350 toward debts, saves $400, and spends $1,200 on other living costs. Add $150 of tenant-paid utilities and $18 of renters insurance. Use the default 43 percent DTI ceiling.

The code produces $46,000 of federal taxable income. Federal income tax is $5,281.50. Social Security is $4,030, and Medicare is $942.50. Estimated annual take-home pay is $50,746, or $4,228.83 per month.

The 30 percent rule allows $1,625.00 of base rent. The DTI rule allows about $1,811.17. The after-tax budget rule allows about $2,110.83. The lowest amount is $1,625.00, so that becomes the recommended base rent. Adding $168 of housing add-ons produces a total monthly housing cost of $1,793.00.

How to Use the New Hampshire Rent Calculator: Step by Step

  1. Choose your calculator mode. Select maximum supported rent, affordability and approval for a specific rent, or income required for a target rent.
  2. Select your New Hampshire county and bedroom size. The calculator includes studio through four-bedroom Fair Market Rent values.
  3. Enter annual gross household salary. The current calculator requires a salary entry in all three modes, including required-income mode.
  4. Add other monthly household income, pre-tax retirement contributions, filing status, and dependents. Dependents are limited to 0 through 10.
  5. If using qualification or required-income mode, enter a target monthly base rent greater than zero. Then select the landlord's published income ratio.
  6. Enter monthly debt payments, savings, other living expenses, and your selected DTI ceiling.
  7. Enter utilities, renters insurance, pet rent, and parking or storage. Check the utilities-included box if you do not pay the entered utility amount separately.
  8. Choose the requested deposit, prepaid rent, lease type, and renewal increase. Add the application fee and moving costs.
  9. Check the acknowledgment box and calculate. Review the main result together with the affordability, tax, budget, move-in, market, and renewal sections.

Maximum-rent mode returns a recommended base rent. Qualification mode evaluates the rent you entered. Required-income mode uses a numerical bisection process with repeated salary tests and rounds the solved annual salary up to the next whole dollar.

How to Read Your New Hampshire Rent Calculator Result

Affordability and Landlord Screening Are Different

The recommended maximum is the lowest of three affordability tests. The landlord income ratio is only a separate screening test. A renter can therefore satisfy a 3x income requirement while another affordability test produces a lower recommended rent.

ResultWhat the Calculator Uses
30 percent rule30 percent of gross monthly household income
After-tax budget limitTake-home pay minus debts, savings, living costs, and housing add-ons
DTI rent limitGross monthly income times the selected DTI ceiling, minus debts and housing add-ons
Screening ceilingGross monthly income divided by the selected 2.5x, 3x, 3.5x, or 4x ratio
Total housing costBase rent plus tenant-paid utilities, insurance, pet rent, and parking

How Housing Burden Is Classified

The code compares total housing cost with gross monthly income. A share below 30 percent is labeled affordable. A share from 30 percent through 50 percent is labeled cost-burdened. A share above 50 percent is labeled severely cost-burdened. These labels use total housing cost, not base rent alone.

How the Take-Home Estimate Works

The tax engine uses tax year 2025 settings stored in the code. Pre-tax retirement contributions reduce federal taxable wages but do not reduce the salary used for Social Security or Medicare. The code uses standard deductions of $15,000 for single, $30,000 for married filing jointly, and $22,500 for head of household.

Federal tax is reduced by $2,000 per claimed dependent for the first three dependents, but not below zero. Social Security is 6.2 percent up to $176,100 of salary. Medicare is 1.45 percent, with another 0.9 percent above $200,000. New Hampshire state income tax is set to zero.

Important Code Assumptions and Limitations

Other monthly income increases gross household income used by the 30 percent, DTI, and screening calculations. However, it is not added to the take-home pay calculation. This can make the after-tax budget result more conservative for households with substantial non-salary income.

The application fee field is labeled per adult, but the current form has no adult-count input. The code therefore defaults the adult count to one. Move-in cash uses one entered application or screening fee.

The deposit calculation has another important implementation detail. It caps a requested deposit above one month's rent at one month, but it also forces the calculated deposit to at least $100. Because of that rule, selecting the form's “No deposit” option still produces a $100 deposit in the current calculation.

For Fair Market Rent comparison, the calculator adds tenant-paid utilities to base rent. Insurance, pet rent, and parking are not included in that comparison. The stored HUD data are for FY 2025 and cover all New Hampshire counties through the coded FMR areas.

The renewal projection starts with the subject rent. Year two applies the entered annual increase once, and year three compounds it again. The input accepts 0 through 50 percent. This is a planning assumption, not a prediction of a future rent increase.

The calculator also displays legal benchmarks encoded in the tool, including a one-month-or-$100 security deposit rule, a 30-day deposit-return period, and a 30-day rent-increase notice benchmark for month-to-month tenancy. These outputs are estimates and coded references only. Actual laws, lease terms, taxes, fees, and landlord policies can change, so the calculator is not legal, tax, or financial advice.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much rent can I afford in New Hampshire?

The calculator estimates affordable base rent as the lowest of three limits: 30 percent of gross monthly household income, the after-tax budget limit, and the selected debt-to-income limit. Utilities, renters insurance, pet rent, and parking reduce the budget and DTI limits and are added when total housing cost is calculated.

How much income do I need to rent an apartment in New Hampshire?

Use the required-income mode to estimate the annual salary needed for a target base rent. The calculator repeatedly tests salary values until its recommended affordability figure reaches the target. It then rounds the solved salary up to the next dollar and separately reports income required under the screening ratio and 30 percent rule.

Does the New Hampshire Rent Calculator use the 3x rent rule?

Yes. Three times monthly rent is the default landlord screening ratio, but the tool also offers 2.5x, 3.5x, and 4x. The selected ratio controls the screening ceiling and required screening income. It does not control the recommended maximum rent, which comes from the calculator's three affordability tests.

Does New Hampshire state income tax reduce the take-home estimate?

No. The calculator sets New Hampshire state income tax to zero. Its take-home estimate subtracts federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, Additional Medicare when applicable, and pre-tax retirement contributions. All federal tax calculations use the tax year 2025 brackets, deductions, wage base, rates, and thresholds stored in the calculator.

Does the calculator include utilities in rent affordability?

Yes. Tenant-paid utilities are included with renters insurance, pet rent, and parking as housing add-ons. They reduce the after-tax budget and DTI rent limits. If you check that utilities are included in rent, the code sets tenant-paid utilities to zero for affordability, total housing cost, and Fair Market Rent comparison purposes.

How does the New Hampshire security deposit calculation work?

The calculator first multiplies base rent by the selected deposit amount. Any request above one month's rent is reduced to one month. It then applies a $100 minimum deposit value. This means the current code shows at least $100 even if “No deposit” is selected. That amount is included in move-in cash.

What is included in cash required at signing?

Cash required at signing includes first month's base rent, the calculated security deposit, any selected prepaid rent, the application or screening fee, and entered moving costs. Although the fee field says “per adult,” the current form has no adult-count field, so the code calculates one application fee.

How accurate is the New Hampshire Rent Calculator?

The calculator follows the formulas, limits, tax settings, Fair Market Rent values, and assumptions programmed into its code, but the result remains an estimate. Actual payroll deductions, household cash flow, utility bills, landlord screening rules, application fees, rental prices, lease terms, taxes, and legal requirements may differ from the calculator's assumptions.

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