Population by County
Where New Hampshire's children live.
- One-third of New Hampshire kids under 18 live in Hillsborough county, which is home to the state's two largest cities - Manchester and Nashua.
- Over 5,000 children live in Coos County, which is considered to be New Hampshire's most rural county. Children in rural locations still require access to quality child care, education, and health care, but distance to these services increases.
- Carroll County has the lowest percentage of children. The under 18 population in Carroll equals 15% of the total county population.
New Hampshire Trends
State Population Over Time
Population by
Age
The children's population in New Hampshire is shrinking, despite overall statewide population growth.
- New Hampshire had the country's biggest child population percentage decrease from 2010 to 2020: 11 percent. The overall statewide population increased by 5.2 percent in this same period.
- New Hampshire’s overall population growth is due to migration, not births. The natural population change has been negative each year since 2017 – meaning that there have been more deaths than births each year.
- More than 62,000 children in New Hampshire are under five years old, yet only 32,900 available slots in licensed child care centers.
Solving Problems Through Policy Change
In 2023, New Futures helped craft new state policy that takes a two-pronged approach to improving access to child care for thousands of Granite State families by modernizing the New Hampshire Child Care Scholarship Program and investing in workforce recruitment and retention.
Population by Race
New Hampshire kids are becoming more diverse.
- While 85 percent of New Hampshire children are white, the population of children who are Hispanic or Latino, Asian, Black or two or more races is growing steadily.
- Since 2006, the percentage of Hispanic or Latino children in New Hampshire has nearly doubled, from 3.98 percent in 2006 to 7.3 percent in 2021.
- Seven percent of New Hampshire children ages five and over speak a language other than English at home. Of the New Hampshire residents who speak a language other than English at home, 70.1% of them speak English "very well" (American Community Survey, 2021).
