Jackson Falls is a run of cascades on the Wildcat River at the top of Jackson village, New Hampshire. It's free to swim and picnic there, but the roadside parking on Carter Notch Road is limited to two hours. Jackson itself is a Carroll County town of 1,028 people (2020 census) with the ZIP code 03846. It sits at the foot of Pinkham Notch, about eight miles north of North Conway on Route 16. Within a few miles of the village you'll find a covered bridge, two downhill ski areas, one of the largest cross-country ski networks in the East, and the trailheads for Mount Washington. That's why Jackson property costs more than most of the Mount Washington Valley, and why so much of the town runs on inns and short stays.
This guide covers the town the way a buyer needs to see it: the landmarks, the lodging economy, what you'll pay in property tax, the town's short-term rental rules, schools and drive times. For everything currently on the market, see Jackson NH homes for sale. It updates live from the MLS.
Jackson at a glance
| County | Carroll County |
| ZIP code | 03846 |
| Population | 1,028 (2020 census) |
| Land area | About 66.8 square miles, much of it White Mountain National Forest |
| 2025 property tax rate | $8.61 per $1,000 of assessed value ($10.70 inside the water precinct) |
| Schools | Jackson Grammar School (K–6); high school students are tuitioned out |
| Main roads | NH Route 16, plus the NH 16A and 16B village loops |
| Nearest services | North Conway, about 15 minutes south |
Sources: Wikipedia for population, area and ZIP; Town of Jackson for the tax rate.
Where Jackson is: a quick map of the town
Jackson is in northern Carroll County, wrapped on the west, north and east by the White Mountain National Forest. Route 16 runs through the town from south to north. Heading north it passes the village turnoff, Wildcat Mountain and the AMC visitor center in Pinkham Notch, then drops down to Gorham. Heading south, North Conway is about 8 miles away.
The village itself sits on two short state-numbered loops that make sense once you've driven them:
- NH 16A is a 1-mile loop that leaves Route 16, crosses the Ellis River on the Honeymoon Bridge, and runs through the village center past the town buildings and inns.
- NH 16B is a 5.4-mile, nearly complete loop that starts and ends at 16A. It follows Carter Notch Road (past Jackson Falls), Moody Farm Road and Black Mountain Road. Locals still call it the Five Mile Circuit.
A Jackson NH map makes the property geography obvious. The village center and the 16A/16B loops hold most of the older inns, village homes and the land closest to the ski trails. The Route 16 corridor has the condominium resorts and roadside lodging. The upper roads, such as Thorn Hill, Carter Notch and the Black Mountain side, are where you'll find the larger lots and the views.
Jackson Falls on the Wildcat River
Jackson Falls is the short, roadside stretch of the Wildcat River above the village, along Carter Notch Road (NH 16B). From 16A in the village, turn up Carter Notch Road and the falls are on the right. The river drops over a series of granite ledges and shallow pools, and in summer people sit in the pools, wade and picnic on the rocks. The Wildcat is a federally designated Wild and Scenic River, designated on October 28, 1988 for 14.5 miles. The federal river listing calls the river and Jackson Falls "a centerpiece for the historic resort town."
Parking. In 2021, after a summer of crowding, the town set a two-hour limit on the roadside spaces along the falls. Three of the spaces are reserved for residents and two are accessible spaces. Police enforce the limit, and the fine rose to $50 (Conway Daily Sun). The lots belonging to the Eagle Mountain House and The Wentworth are for their guests, not for the falls. Check the posted signs when you arrive, because the rules can change.
Safety. The rock is smooth and slippery, wet or dry, and the river rises quickly after rain or snowmelt. Stay out of the water when it's high or fast, keep off the ledges at the top of drops, and don't jump into pools you can't see the bottom of. There are no lifeguards. The same caution goes for every waterfall in the White Mountains.
For owners: the falls are open to the public, so homes on Carter Notch Road and in the Jackson Falls area see summer traffic and parked cars at the busiest times. Some buyers want to be a short walk from the falls and some would rather not be. Drive the road on a July Saturday before you make an offer.
The Honeymoon Bridge
The red covered bridge you drive through on the way into the village is the Honeymoon Bridge, built in 1876 by Charles Austin Broughton and his son Frank. It carries Village Street (NH 16A) 121 feet across the Ellis River on a wooden Paddleford truss. It's one of the most photographed covered bridges in New Hampshire, and the name comes from the local custom of couples kissing as they pass underneath. Because it's the main way into the village from Route 16, every listing in the village center is effectively "over the bridge," and that view appears in a lot of Jackson marketing.
Skiing: Black Mountain, Wildcat and Jackson XC
Few towns in New England have this much skiing inside their own borders, or this close to them. For the full regional picture, see our guide to the ski resorts in New Hampshire.
Black Mountain
Black Mountain Ski Area is in Jackson, a few minutes from the village center. The Civilian Conservation Corps cut its first trail in 1934, and it has marketed itself as "since 1935." It has 1,100 feet of vertical, about 45 trails, and two chairlifts plus surface lifts. It came close to closing before the 2023–24 season. Entabeni Systems and Indy Ski Pass took over in October 2024, and a cooperative was set up that November to move it toward community ownership. Black Mountain was the first New Hampshire ski area to open for the 2025–26 season. Homes and cabins on the Black Mountain side of town are a small, steady part of the Jackson market. People searching for a "Black Mountain cabin in Jackson NH" usually mean the wooded lots off Black Mountain Road and the roads around it.
Wildcat Mountain
Wildcat is up Route 16 in Pinkham Notch, facing Mount Washington across the notch. It has 2,112 feet of vertical, the second-most in New Hampshire, a 4,062-foot summit, and Polecat, at 2.75 miles the longest ski trail in the state. Wildcat put in North America's first ski-area gondola in 1958, and Vail Resorts has owned it since 2019 along with Attitash in Bartlett, so Epic Pass holders get both. From the village it's a short drive north.
Jackson XC: the Nordic trail network
The Jackson Ski Touring Foundation, known as Jackson XC, is a nonprofit that runs a cross-country network of roughly 100 kilometers, with about 85 km groomed (Indy Pass). The trails run through the village, the golf course, farm fields and the national forest. They exist through a special-use permit on the White Mountain National Forest and the cooperation of the town and dozens of private landowners. Many trail sections on private land are closed outside ski season.
This matters if you're buying. A lot of Jackson homes have a Nordic trail crossing the property or running along its edge, under a long-standing agreement with the owner. Ask the seller whether there's a trail on the land, whether there's a written agreement, and what it allows. Your attorney should also check the title for any recorded easement. For many buyers, being able to ski from the back door is the reason they're in Jackson.
Mount Washington and Pinkham Notch
North of the village, Route 16 climbs to Pinkham Notch (2,032 feet), between the Presidential Range on the west and the Wildcat Range on the east. The Appalachian Mountain Club's Pinkham Notch Visitor Center is the main trailhead for Mount Washington (6,288 feet) by the Tuckerman Ravine and Huntington Ravine trails. Glen Ellis Falls and the Mount Washington Auto Road are on the same stretch of road. These are the Jackson NH attractions that bring most visitors up Route 16, and for Jackson owners they're the backyard: spring skiing in Tuckerman Ravine, summer hikes and fall foliage drives all start about 15 minutes from the village.
Mount Washington weather is a serious matter. Conditions above treeline can be dangerous in any month, so check the Mount Washington Observatory's higher-summits forecast before a hike, and turn back early.
Inns, The Wentworth and the lodging economy
Jackson has been a resort town since the mid-1800s. Artists began arriving in 1847, and Joshua Trickey opened the Jackson Falls House in 1858. In 1869 he built the Thorn Mountain House, which became Wentworth Hall. By the 1920s, according to the town's history, 40 trains a day were bringing visitors. Several of the old inns still operate. The town's historic buildings page traces the Eagle Mountain House (the current building dates from after a 1915 fire) and the Christmas Farm Inn, whose oldest section is a Pinkham family house from around 1778. The Wentworth in Jackson, NH still runs as an inn in the village.
Lodging is Jackson's main industry, and that shapes the housing market in three ways:
- Inns and small lodging properties do change hands. These are commercial deals. They're priced on income, licenses, septic capacity and the condition of old buildings, and they need a lender and an attorney who handle hospitality properties.
- Condo resorts give buyers a lower-cost way in. Nordic Village Resort, a 165-acre condominium resort on Route 16 in Jackson, is the best-known example: privately owned units with resort amenities, often run as rentals when the owners aren't using them. (It's a different property from the Nordic Inn in Lincoln, which our Lincoln condos guide covers.) Before you buy any resort condo, read the association documents for rental rules, management requirements and fees.
- Short-term rental demand is real, but so is the regulation. See the next section.
Short-term rentals in Jackson: the permit rules
Most Jackson NH rentals that show up on vacation-rental sites are short-term rentals, and the town regulates them closely through Section 4.4 of its zoning ordinance, adopted at town meeting on March 12, 2020. The town defines a short-term rental as transient lodging for pay for stays of 1 to 30 nights. Every short-term rental needs a conditional use permit, including ones that were already operating when the ordinance passed (Town of Jackson). According to the town's 2026 application form:
- The application fee is $150. The Planning Board reviews the application and the Select Board approves it.
- You need a current NH Meals and Rooms Tax license before the town will process the application.
- Owners sign an affidavit covering smoke and CO detectors, egress windows, no basement bedrooms without proper egress, and a fire extinguisher in every kitchen.
- Occupancy cap: you can advertise no more than two people per bedroom plus two more. The bedroom count is the lowest of the tax card, the building permit and the septic approval.
- All parking has to be on the property, and the owner is responsible for trash.
- Rural Residential District limit: short-term rentals there are capped at 30 rentals per dwelling unit per year, unless a full-time resident lives in that unit or another unit on the property. Rentals that existed when the ordinance was adopted and applied before March 10, 2026 are exempt from the cap. Residential-district owners must also file an annual rental list by January 31.
- You can permit either the main house or an accessory apartment for short-term rental, but not both.
- Enforcement steps up from a warning, to a $275 civil penalty, to revocation. A revoked permit can't be reapplied for until six months have passed.
The bottom line for buyers: zoning district matters a great deal. Two similar houses a mile apart can have very different rental potential, depending on whether one is in the Village District or the Rural Residential District. Don't take a listing's "great rental history" at face value. Ask for the property's permit, the conditions attached to it, and its rental records. Our short-term rental analysis can model the income, and our guide to selling a short-term rental in New Hampshire covers the paperwork that should come with one.
Jackson NH property taxes
The NH Department of Revenue Administration set Jackson's 2025 tax rate at $8.61 per $1,000 of assessed value, up from $6.75 in 2024 (Town of Jackson). Properties inside the water precinct pay another $2.09, for a total of $10.70.
| Portion of the rate | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Town | $2.89 | $3.25 |
| Local school | $2.08 | $3.54 |
| State education | $1.05 | $1.07 |
| County | $0.73 | $0.75 |
| Total | $6.75 | $8.61 |
| Water precinct (if applicable) | $1.94 | $2.09 |
On a home assessed at $500,000, the town's own example works out to $4,305 a year at the 2025 rate, or $5,350 inside the water precinct. That's low by New Hampshire standards. For comparison, the 2025 rate was $17.46 in Campton and $12.66 in Lincoln (see our White Mountains second-home guide). Jackson's total assessed valuation was $853,951,147 in 2025, which is a lot of value spread over a small year-round population. Keep two things in mind. First, rates are reset every fall, and Jackson's rose $1.86 in a single year. Second, the rate only means something next to the assessment, which you'll find on the property's tax card. Our guide to NH property taxes explains how equalization affects comparisons between towns.
What Jackson property costs
Jackson is one of the more expensive towns in the Mount Washington Valley, and there's never much for sale. On October 1, 2026, the MLS showed about 20 Jackson listings in total, active and under contract. Land was asking roughly $130,000 to $440,000. Most homes were asking between about $875,000 and $2.1 million, with only a few residential listings under $520,000. Those are asking prices, not sale prices, and with so few listings the mix changes from month to month. Treat them as a snapshot, not a median.
Jackson property usually falls into one of these groups:
- Village homes on 16A and the 16B loop, many of them older, within walking distance of the inns, the Nordic center and the falls.
- Upper-road homes and land with views of Mount Washington or the Wildcat Range, on larger and often steeper lots, where driveways and winter access matter.
- Condos and townhouses, mostly in resort associations along Route 16. If you're searching for Jackson condos for sale, these are where you'll find the lowest asking prices.
- Inns and lodging properties, sold as businesses.
The figures here are a starting point. For current Jackson MLS listings, including new ones, price changes and pending sales, use the Jackson NH homes for sale page. If you're open to nearby towns, Bartlett has the Attitash condo market and North Conway has the most year-round inventory and services.
Buying a house in Jackson: what to check
Jackson house sales often turn on things that rarely come up in a valley-floor town:
- Septic and well. Outside the village there's no town sewer. The septic approval sets the legal bedroom count, which also sets the short-term rental occupancy cap, so read it before you count bedrooms.
- Water precinct. Find out whether the property is in the water precinct. It adds $2.09 per $1,000 to the tax rate and means public water rather than a private well.
- Winter access. Grade, driveway length and plowing on the upper roads. Ask who plows any private road and how it's paid for.
- Trail agreements. Ask about any Jackson XC trail crossing and the terms that come with it.
- Zoning district. Village District or Rural Residential decides the short-term rental cap.
- Shoreland and floodplain. Lots on the Wildcat or Ellis rivers may fall under state shoreland rules and flood-zone disclosures.
A local agent who knows Jackson can save you weeks. For the full process, from pre-approval to closing, see our buyer's guide or get in touch with our team.
Schools in Jackson
Jackson runs its own small elementary school, Jackson Grammar School, on Black Mountain Road. It serves kindergarten through grade 6 and is part of SAU 9, which also includes the Conway-area schools. Jackson has no high school of its own. Students are tuitioned out, and in March 2026 Jackson voters approved tuition agreements with both Kennett High School in Conway and Fryeburg Academy in Fryeburg, Maine. Both agreements start July 1, 2027 (Conway Daily Sun). If you're comparing towns, confirm the current arrangements for middle and high school directly with SAU 9, because tuition contracts change.
Drive times from Jackson
All times are approximate, driving in light traffic. Winter weather and peak foliage weekends on Route 16 can add a lot.
| To | Distance | Typical drive |
|---|---|---|
| North Conway village | ~8 mi | 15 min |
| Pinkham Notch Visitor Center | ~9 mi | 15 min |
| Portland, ME | ~73 mi | 1 hr 45 min |
| Plymouth, NH | ~62 mi | 1 hr 30 min |
| Boston, MA | ~145 mi | about 3 hr |
Jackson is farther from Boston than the I-93 towns. The White Mountains towns on the interstate, such as Campton, Thornton and Lincoln, run closer to two hours. If you're buying for weekend use, that extra hour matters. Our White Mountains real estate page covers both sides of the mountains.
Working with a Jackson realtor
Jackson is a small market with only a handful of listings at a time and a lot of rules specific to the town: the short-term rental ordinance, the water precinct, trail agreements and the inn properties. A realtor who works Jackson regularly will know which zoning district a house is in, what its septic approval actually allows, and which "rentals" are actually permitted. Owl's Nest Real Estate works across the White Mountains and the Mount Washington Valley. If you're weighing Jackson against Bartlett, North Conway or the I-93 towns, talk to our team. If you already own in Jackson, start with a free home valuation.
Frequently asked questions
What county is Jackson, NH in?
Jackson is in Carroll County, New Hampshire, at the northern end of the county. For Jackson NH county records, deeds are recorded at the Carroll County Registry of Deeds in Ossipee, the county seat.
What is the ZIP code for Jackson, NH?
The Jackson, NH ZIP code is 03846. It covers the village and the rest of the town, including the Route 16 corridor up toward Pinkham Notch.
Can you swim at Jackson Falls?
Yes. Jackson Falls on the Wildcat River is open to the public, and people wade and sit in the pools in summer. The rocks are slippery, there are no lifeguards, and the river rises fast after rain, so stay out when the water is high. Parking along Carter Notch Road is limited to two hours, and the time limit is enforced.
Where do you park for Jackson Falls?
Use the roadside spaces along Carter Notch Road (NH 16B) beside the falls. Since 2021 they've been limited to two hours, with a few spaces reserved for residents and two accessible spaces. Don't park in the Eagle Mountain House or Wentworth lots, which are for their guests.
What is the property tax rate in Jackson, NH?
Jackson's 2025 tax rate is $8.61 per $1,000 of assessed value, or $10.70 inside the water precinct. On a $500,000 assessment that comes to about $4,305 a year. A new rate is set each fall.
Can I run an Airbnb in Jackson, NH?
Only with a conditional use permit from the town. Rentals of 1 to 30 nights need the permit ($150 application), a NH Meals and Rooms Tax license and on-site parking. Occupancy is capped at two guests per bedroom plus two. In the Rural Residential District, rentals are limited to 30 per unit per year unless a full-time resident lives on the property.
How far is Jackson, NH from North Conway?
About 8 miles, or roughly 15 minutes south on Route 16. North Conway has the groceries, hospital, outlets and most year-round services that Jackson residents use.
Is there skiing in Jackson, NH?
Yes, three kinds. Black Mountain is in town (1,100 feet of vertical, open since the 1930s). Wildcat is just up Route 16 in Pinkham Notch (2,112 feet). And the Jackson XC Nordic network has about 100 km of cross-country trails running through the village.