Manchester, New Hampshire, Ranks Top 10 in US as a Music Underdog in 2025

Just when I thought Portland, Maine, served as one of the biggest underdog cities in the world, New Hampshire has to go ahead and step their game up in 2025.

A new travel study by vio.com just ranked Manchester, New Hampshire, the 10th most underrated city for live music this year.

Are you surprised?

How do you formulate which city in the U.S. has the best live music scene?

That's a hard one because now it's personal opinion vs. facts right? Well, according to the latest music & culture study done by the team at Vio, "We analyzed live music offerings, Yelp ratings for music venues, and the prevalence of music stores, applying a weighted ranking system to determine the best cities for live music."

The website said they also looked at music fans’ locations, behaviors and preferences.

I will say, I've been to New Hampshire more times in the last year than ever, and it's either to go to a concert at the SNHU Arena or just for fun so this doesn't surprise me in the least.

Portsmouth is always a go-to destination of mine, but this study surveyed over 1,000 other music fans who deemed Manchester as a hot spot for their favorite concert venues across the U.S.

Pretty cool, New England rocks.