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Merrimack
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Merrimack is south of Manchester in Hillsborough County, on the way to Nashua. About 29,400 people on 33 square miles. You will need a car.
Merrimack’s 2025 certified total tax rate is $22.11 per $1,000 of assessed value. That is the bill-style number: town, county, local school, and state education added together. On a $500,000 house, figure about $11,055 a year. What you actually pay still follows how the town assesses your lot.
A typical house is worth about $459,000. If you rent, figure about $1,930. Household income is around $127,000. Broadband is common. The town has zoning rules, so call the town office before you assume you can put a shop or a second house on the lot.
In 2024 they voted 8,890 to 8,492 for the Democrat for president.
This week in New Hampshire
Politics
The race for governor is close. A University of New Hampshire poll released September 28 has Republican Kelly Ayotte at 47 percent and Democrat Cinde Warmington at 43, with Libertarian Stephen Villee at 2 percent, the Eagle Tribune reports. The winner signs the state budget and can veto a tax bill, so this is the office that decides how hard Concord pushes on your town.
The state’s highest court has been without a chief justice since Gordon MacDonald resigned September 15, after he admitted he was not impartial when he helped a court administrator collect a $50,000 payout. On October 1 the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate asked the Judicial Conduct Committee to say whether three sitting justices are under investigation, InDepthNH reports. The governor nominates the next chief justice, and the Executive Council has to confirm that person.
At a special Executive Council meeting on October 2, Democratic Councilor Karen Liot Hill tried to ask Attorney General John Formella whether he is comfortable arguing cases in front of that court. Governor Ayotte cut the questions off and said they were not on the agenda. The item that was on the agenda passed: a one-year extension of the Anthem contract for 11,000 state retirees, an extra $57.8 million, with retirees paying $18 more a month, InDepthNH reports.
Things to do
Columbus Day weekend is full of farm days and pumpkin festivals, and these are within about an hour of Merrimack.
Joppa Hill Educational Farm in Bedford holds its Fall Fair on Saturday, October 10, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Kids can meet the animals, take a tractor ride, and pick out a pumpkin.
The Milford Pumpkin Festival runs Friday, October 9, through Sunday, October 11, on the Milford Oval. Kids can paint pumpkins, stuff a scarecrow, and launch pumpkins from a catapult into Railroad Pond.
Charmingfare Farm in Candia holds its Pumpkin Festival Saturday, October 10, through Monday, October 12. Kids get a hayride to the pumpkin patch, a petting zoo, and a corn maze built for little ones.
Applecrest Farm Orchards in Hampton Falls holds its fall festival weekend Saturday, October 10, through Monday, October 12. Admission, parking, and tractor rides are free, and there is a corn maze and barnyard animals.
Elected Officials
In Washington, the House seat is Chris Pappas (D), 1st District. Both U.S. senators, Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, are Democrats.
In Concord, the state senator is Tim McGough (R). Liberty Alliance graded him A- for 2026.
Merrimack’s own House seats are Hillsborough 12. Eight seats: Bill Boyd (R, C), Julie Miles (R, A), Maureen Mooney (R, B+), Jeanine Notter (R, A-), Adam Presa (R, C+), Nancy Murphy (D, CT), Rosemarie Rung (D, CT), and Wendy Thomas (D, CT). CT is Liberty Alliance’s mark for a constitutional threat.
What’s nearby
Grocery is about 7 minutes (Shaw’s). Merrimack High School is in town. The ER is St. Joseph Hospital, about 19 minutes, in Nashua. That is also the hospital that delivers babies.
If you need a city job, Manchester is about 25 minutes from the middle of town.
Those are map estimates with no traffic. Drive it yourself.
Worth knowing: apartments at the outlets
A developer wants up to 192 apartments in a parking lot at the Merrimack Premium Outlets. The land is zoned industrial, so that needs a variance, which is permission to build something the rules do not allow. The lot also sits in a wellhead protection area, the ground around a public water supply.
On April 29 the zoning board voted 4 to 0 to deny the variance. On June 24 it agreed to hear the case again. On July 29 it held that hearing until an outside engineer reviews the traffic study. The developer has to pay for the review.
April zoning minutes · July zoning minutes
If you are buying a house
Ask the seller for the paper New Hampshire makes them give you. It covers radon, arsenic, lead, PFAS, and flood. Then look the lot up on FEMA’s flood map. Regular home insurance usually will not pay if the Merrimack or the Souhegan comes up.
Crime in Merrimack
Merrimack has its own police. In 2024 the FBI counted no violent crimes and 103 property crimes. That’s 103 reports in a town of about 29,400.
New Hampshire’s violent-crime rate is about 110 per 100,000 people. Merrimack came in under that.
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