Population by County
Two different worlds: New Hampshire’s children live in urban and rural environments
- 256,906 children lived in New Hampshire in 2023. 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.1 23,141 children live in Manchester, while 23,232 reside in Nashua.2 This means approximately 1 out of every 5 children in the state resides in these two cities alone. Children who grow up in urban areas tend to have better access to health care services, recreational facilities, public spaces, and cultural diversity, but may also be exposed to higher rates of crime or violence.
- Only four counties in New Hampshire - Merrimack, Hillsborough, Strafford, and Rockingham - are considered non-rural. Roughly 5,000 children live in Coos County, which is New Hampshire's most rural county.1 Children in rural locations still require access to quality child care, education, and health care, but the distance to these services increases. In rural areas, the average distance to the nearest hospital is 10.5 miles, compared to 4.4 miles for those in urban areas.3 Rural youth also have higher rates of anxiety, depression, and behavior problems, and less access to behavioral health providers.4
New Hampshire Trends
State Population Over Time
Population by
Age
The Population of children in New Hampshire is shrinking, despite overall statewide growth
- The population of children in New Hampshire has declined by six percent over the past 20 years.5 Despite the decline in child population, New Hampshire’s overall population has grown approximately 5.5 percent over the same 10-year period. This means as a whole, New Hampshire’s population is getting older.
- The median age in New Hampshire is 43.4 years old, making it tied with Vermont as the second-oldest state in the United States by median age, behind only Maine.6 Despite an aging population, New Hampshire still needs to prioritize investments in supports for children, such as access to high-quality child care, home visiting, mental and behavioral health resources, education, and nutrition assistance to ensure the state’s children grow up healthy.
- Of the 256,906 children in New Hampshire, 63,205 children - nearly 25% - are under 5 years old. Yet, there are only 44,644 available slots in licensed child care facilities in New Hampshire,7 meaning there is not a slot for every child who needs one.
Solving Problems Through Policy Change
NH Child Care Scholarship Program
In 2023, New Futures helped craft a new state policy that improved access to affordable child care for Granite State families by modernizing the New Hampshire Child Care Scholarship Program. Since the program was expanded, usage has increased 54.2 percent, with over 5,000 children and their families benefiting from access to affordable child care.
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).
References
- Child Population by Sex - New Hampshire | KIDS COUNT Data Center. (2025, January). Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://datacenter.aecf.org/data/tables/8764-child-population-by-sex?loc=31&loct=5#detailed/5/4430-4439/false/2545/4749,4750/17589,17590
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United States Census Bureau QuickFacts. (n.d.-a). U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Manchester city, New Hampshire; Nashua city, New Hampshire. Census Bureau QuickFacts. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/manchestercitynewhampshire,nashuacitynewhampshire/PST045224
- Geiger, A. (2024, April 14). How far Americans live from the closest hospital differs by community type. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/12/12/how-far-americans-live-from-the-closest-hospital-differs-by-community-type
- Weir, K. (2025, April 1). Unique challenges facing youth in rural communities. American Pyschological Association. Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://www.apa.org/monitor/2025/04-05/challenges-rural-youth
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Total population by child and adult populations - New Hampshire | KIDS COUNT Data Center. (2024, July). Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://datacenter.aecf.org/data/tables/99-total-population-by-child-and-adult-populations?loc=1&loct=1#detailed/2/31/false/2545,36,14/39,40,41/416,417
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New Hampshire Policy Points 2025: Population and Demographics. (2025, February 3). New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute. https://nhfpi.org/blog/new-hampshire-policy-points-2025-population-and-demographics/
- New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute. (2025a, February 28). The economic impact of the Granite State’s child care shortage - New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute.
https://nhfpi.org/resource/the-economic-impact-of-the-granite-states-child-care-shortage/
- Heller, N. (2025, April 30). 5 Things You Need to Know about the New Hampshire Early Childhood Care and Education System Right Now. New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute.
https://nhfpi.org/blog/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-new-hampshire-early-childhood-care-and-education-system-right-now
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Child population by race and ethnicity | KIDS COUNT Data Center. (n.d.). https://datacenter.aecf.org/data/tables/103-child-population-by-race-and-ethnicity?loc=1&loct=1#detailed/2/31/false/2545,37,36,35/72,66,67,8367,69,70,71,12/423,424
- U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). Explore Census data. https://data.census.gov/table?q=DP02+language+spoken+at+home&g=040XX00US33
