Salaries in Dover, NH

You might assume a small city like Dover is a cheap place to live. It’s not. The cost of living here runs 11.6% above the national average, which means your paycheck has to work harder than you’d expect for a New England town of 33,000 people.

That $92,748 median household income sounds solid, but after you factor in that 111.6 COL index, the real purchasing power feels different. A one-bedroom apartment runs about $1,506 a month. So, yes, you’re paying a premium. The trade-off is a tight job market—at just 2.5% unemployment, employers are competing for you. That leverage shows up in the paychecks for skilled roles, especially in tech and healthcare.

Dover’s economy is built on a few key pillars. You have a strong tech corridor feeding off the broader Seacoast region, plus a solid healthcare system anchored by Wentworth-Douglass Hospital. Education is a major employer, too, with the University of New Hampshire just down the road. The workforce is well-educated—nearly half have a bachelor’s degree or higher—which supports those higher-paying professional jobs.

Here’s my honest take: wages are holding up for now, but the cost creep is real. Teachers and electricians, for instance, see their COL-adjusted pay dip below $60,000. That’s tough when a mortgage on a starter home eats up a big chunk of change. It works best if you’re in a dual-income household or have a high-demand skill.

The numbers below break it all down, from the top-paying jobs to what you can actually expect to take home.