Like all states, New Hampshire has certain places that are going on hard times. These New Hampshire places have an above-average percentage of people living in poverty, out of work, or not making as much as they should be.
Even as the economy continues to improve, it’s worthwhile to look at the places in each state struggling to make ends meet. So we set our sites on locating the poorest places in New Hampshire.
To do so, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the newest Census data from the American Community Survey for the 26 cities in New Hampshire with more than 5,000 people.
$45,180 median income · 15.3% poverty · #1 lowest income in New Hampshire
Located in
Coos County, New Hampshire
Berlin, unfortunately, ranks as the poorest place in New Hampshire thanks to combination of low pay and and a lack of jobs.
The city of 9,383 people averages the lowest median household income in New Hampshire and the highest poverty rate. At the very least, the cost of living ranks in the bottom 15% of place in the state, so things like housing are relatively affordable.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$59,096 median income · 13.5% poverty · #2 lowest income in New Hampshire
Located in
Sullivan County, New Hampshire
The second poorest city in New Hampshire is Claremont.
The city ranks as having the 2nd highest incidence of poverty and 2nd lowest median household income. However, the unemployment rate ‘only’ ranks as the 8th highest in the Granite State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$73,218 median income · 12.6% poverty · #4 lowest income in New Hampshire
Located in
Belknap County, New Hampshire
Placing as the third poorest city, Laconia’s median income ranks as the 4th lowest.
And that’s a sign that there’s a relatively substantial jump in the quality of the economy from second to third place on our list. The poverty rate is 12.6% and ranks near the bottom of places in the state.
But what makes up for the relatively low incomes of the city is its low cost of living. The income you do make here goes further than in most parts of the Granite State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$74,504 median income · 11.2% poverty · #5 lowest income in New Hampshire
Located in
Strafford County, New Hampshire
Somersworth ranks as the fourth poorest place in New Hampshire.
The town ranks as having the 5th lowest median household income and the 6th highest incidence of poverty in the state.
That being said, there’s still a ton of cultural diversity in the city as it hosts many events throughout the year.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$79,836 median income · 12.9% poverty · #8 lowest income in New Hampshire
The fifth poorest city in New Hampshire is Suncook.
The city ranks as having the 8th lowest median income in the state. However, an extremely low cost of living prevents a good number of folks from living in poverty as the poverty rate only ranks as the 3rd highest in New Hampshire.
Still not the best news for Suncook.
Data | Movers
$78,445 median income · 10.1% poverty · #6 lowest income in New Hampshire
Located in
Cheshire County, New Hampshire
Keene ranks as the sixth poorest place in the Granite State.
It ranks as having the 8th highest incidence of poverty and the 2highest unemployment rate.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$81,007 median income · 11.2% poverty · #10 lowest income in New Hampshire
Located in
Hillsborough County, New Hampshire
Manchester places as the seventh poorest city in New Hampshire.
The city of over 115,643 ranks as having the 7th highest incidence of poverty in the state. However, it has a very low cost of living which helps to pay the bills each month.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$71,648 median income · 7.0% poverty · #3 lowest income in New Hampshire
Located in
Merrimack County, New Hampshire
Franklin ranks as the eighth poorest city in New Hampshire.
The big issue for the town is the unemployment rate which ranks as one of the highest in the state.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$84,902 median income · 8.9% poverty · #11 lowest income in New Hampshire
Located in
Merrimack County, New Hampshire
Concord couldn’t stay out of the top ten poorest places in New Hampshire; it ranks number 9.
While the median income is the 11th lowest, there are a substantial number of people that live below the poverty line. Overall, Concord ranks as having the 9th most people living in poverty of all the places we analyzed in New Hampshire.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$80,836 median income · 8.3% poverty · #9 lowest income in New Hampshire
Located in
Strafford County, New Hampshire
And rounding out the top ten poorest cities in New Hampshire is Rochester.
The city of 33,144 people ranks in the bottom 20% for both median income and poverty rate in the Granite State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is New Hampshire’s statewide median.
New Hampshire statewide median: $99,031
New Hampshire statewide median: 7.2%
New Hampshire statewide median: 3.3%
On the map
Where poverty hits hardest in New Hampshire
Saturday Night Science
How we determined the poorest places in New Hampshire for 2026
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the poorest places is to simply the poverty rate. That is, the number of people living below a federally established level of income for a household of a certain size.
However, we don’t think that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “poorest places”. So we used Saturday Night Science to look at this set of criteria from the newly released 2020-2024 American Community Survey:
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income
After we collected the data for all 26 places with more than 5,000 people in New Hampshire, we ranked each place from 1 to 26 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the poorest.
We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Poor Score” with the place having the lowest overall Poor Score, Berlin, crowned the “Poorest Place In New Hampshire For 2026”. The median New Hampshire home is 46 years old — old enough that it pays to compare home warranty plans before something expensive breaks.
The full plate
Detailed list of the poorest places to live in New Hampshire
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Poor Score | Population | Median income | Poverty | Unemployment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Berlin | 1.00 | 9,383 | $45,180 | 15.3% | 7.1% |
| 2 | Claremont | 2.00 | 13,078 | $59,096 | 13.5% | 4.2% |
| 3 | Laconia | 4.00 | 17,085 | $73,218 | 12.6% | 3.1% |
| 4 | Somersworth | 5.50 | 12,111 | $74,504 | 11.2% | 2.8% |
| 5 | Suncook | 5.50 | 5,432 | $79,836 | 12.9% | 0.4% |
| 6 | Keene | 7.00 | 22,939 | $78,445 | 10.1% | 2.0% |
| 7 | Manchester | 8.50 | 115,643 | $81,007 | 11.2% | 3.3% |
| 8 | Franklin | 8.50 | 8,799 | $71,648 | 7.0% | 2.8% |
| 9 | Concord | 10.00 | 44,375 | $84,902 | 8.9% | 4.1% |
| 10 | Rochester | 10.00 | 33,144 | $80,836 | 8.3% | 2.7% |
| 11 | Milford | 12.50 | 8,956 | $78,684 | 5.9% | 2.7% |
| 12 | Dover | 13.00 | 33,364 | $94,829 | 8.3% | 4.1% |
| 13 | Newmarket | 14.00 | 5,679 | $87,196 | 6.9% | 1.1% |
| 14 | Durham | 14.00 | 10,681 | $112,070 | 12.4% | 4.6% |
| 15 | Nashua | 15.50 | 91,294 | $96,326 | 7.8% | 4.2% |
| 16 | Exeter | 16.50 | 9,964 | $87,346 | 5.9% | 4.9% |
| 17 | Lebanon | 17.50 | 14,999 | $98,147 | 7.0% | 0.8% |
| 18 | Derry | 18.00 | 21,339 | $91,673 | 4.4% | 3.2% |
| 19 | Hudson | 18.50 | 7,469 | $95,842 | 5.1% | 3.1% |
| 20 | East Merrimack | 19.00 | 5,081 | $87,311 | 3.4% | 0.1% |
| 21 | Hanover | 19.00 | 8,479 | $153,281 | 8.0% | 8.2% |
| 22 | Portsmouth | 19.50 | 22,545 | $106,219 | 6.8% | 2.5% |
| 23 | Hampton | 21.00 | 10,101 | $97,163 | 4.0% | 2.8% |
| 24 | Hooksett | 22.50 | 5,876 | $101,053 | 4.0% | 4.6% |
| 25 | South Hooksett | 23.50 | 5,902 | $130,000 | 4.0% | 1.3% |
| 26 | Londonderry | 25.00 | 12,225 | $119,571 | 2.9% | 4.6% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 26 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
The poorest cities in New Hampshire for 2026
Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the poorest places in New Hampshire, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in New Hampshire.
When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very bottom of the income ladder for everyone that lives there. Not sold on New Hampshire? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
