U.S. Census Bureau population estimates released earlier this year indicate that, while New Hampshire’s population grew by about 36,590 people (2.7%) between 2020 and 2025, growth was not evenly distributed across municipalities. Several of the state’s smaller communities and larger economic hubs led municipal growth in the most recent data.

The Lakes Region and White Mountains also experienced population increases, likely driven by retirees and remote workers moving to the region, although growth has been slower as more years have elapsed since the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, population growth among the state’s three largest cities, including Manchester, Nashua, and Concord, has remained relatively static over the past five years, while some smaller suburban and rural communities have seen population declines.

This uneven population shift highlights broader challenges, including the rising cost of living and increased housing constraints, which may be deterring young families from settling in New Hampshire for the long term.

From 2020 to 2025, 31 New Hampshire communities experienced population declines, while 98 grew more slowly than the state overall. During this period, 105 municipalities saw growth rates that were similar to or faster than the state’s overall rate.

At the same time, 24 communities, comprised mostly of low-population townships in the northernmost part of the state, experienced no estimated population change during the five-year period.

Smaller southeastern communities and economic hubs

Between 2020 and 2025, Epping saw the fastest population increase among all of New Hampshire’s municipalities, adding about 820 residents (11.5%) over the five-year period. The town’s central proximity to economic hubs on the Seacoast and Merrimack Valley, including encompassing the intersection of two major state highways, could have contributed to population growth in this relatively small Rockingham County community.

In 2024, Epping issued the largest number of permits for single-family homes in the state, following similar trends seen during the previous year. While these data only reflect projects approved for construction rather than completed housing units added to the market, increasing availability may have provided more housing opportunities for Granite State families looking to settle in the area.

Several other smaller communities in central New Hampshire also saw some of the state’s largest percentage population gains from 2020 to 2025. These include Epping’s neighboring municipality, Brentwood, which added 431 residents (9.6%). Dunbarton(221 new residents, 7.3%), Boscawen (250, 6.2%), Salisbury (88, 6.2%), Chichester (164, 6.1%), and Auburn (364, 6.1%) also led population gains relative to their 2020 resident counts. Each of these communities, located around Manchester or Concord, saw population growth rates more than triple the statewide average.

Larger towns in the southeastern part of the state, including Merrimack (2,864 new residents, 10.7%) and Londonderry (1,740, 6.7%), also saw fast increases. Merrimack also had the largest net number of new residents added of any municipality in New Hampshire during this period, and Londonderry had the third-largest increase in the total number of people, following Dover’s increase of 1,833 residents (5.6% growth). 

Lebanon, an economic hub located in New Hampshire’s Upper Valley region, saw the fastest population increase among the state’s thirteen cities, adding 1,172 new residents (8.2%).

Annual data from 2024 to 2025 show similar trends among most of these smaller communities, with Brentwood (148 new residents, 3.1%), Londonderry (766, 2.8%), and Epping (190, 2.4%) experiencing leading percentage gains in these most recent numbers. 

Dover, located in Rockingham County on the Seacoast, saw a recent large population increase, gaining 720 new residents (2.1%) from 2024 to 2025. Litchfield, located in Hillsborough County near the state’s Massachusetts border, also saw increased growth from 2024 to 2025, adding 151 new residents (1.8%).

Recent growth among these areas may be due to declining prevalence of fully remote work, as more Granite Staters may be commuting to the metropolitan Boston area and other economic hubs in the southeastern part of the state.

Continued growth among lakes and mountains

Similar to earlier population trends, some of New Hampshire’s fastest growing communities from 2020 to 2025 included natural amenity-rich areas, although annual growth has slowed in some of these lakes and mountain towns post-pandemic. Several communities in Carroll County, comprising portions of both the Lakes Region and White Mountains, experienced population growth rates more than double that of the statewide rate from 2020 to 2025, with Brookfield (70 new residents, 9.3%), Tuftonboro (203, 8.2%), and Moultonborough (355, 7.2%) leading municipal population increases.

Although Carroll County remained the third-smallest county in population during 2025, it has continued to lead the states’ population growth so-far this decade. Carroll County has also experienced the fastest population percentage increase among New Hampshire’s ten counties from 1990 to 2020.

Several other natural amenity-rich communities saw large population increases from 2020 to 2025, including New Durham (191 new residents, 7.1%) and Thornton (188, 6.9%) in the Lakes Region, as well as Croydon (64, 7.9%) and Newbury (135, 6.2%) in the Lake Sunapee area. Growth in these municipalities and across Carroll County may be due to both retirees and working-age families moving into secondary homes, enabled in part by increased opportunities for remote work and early retirements during the COVID-19 pandemic. Beyond the pandemic-related increases, natural amenities continue to be a major draw for both long-time and new Granite State residents, according to survey data collected from the University of New Hampshire before the pandemic.

Smaller relative population changes among the largest communities

While economic hubs and natural amenity-rich areas led population growth from 2020 to 2025, several of the state’s larger cities and towns had stable or slightly declining populations. Plymouth (23 new residents, 0.3%) and Keene (23, 0.1%) saw relatively slow growth, while Durham (-218, -1.4%) and Derry (-90, -0.3%) experienced small declines. Declines in college enrollment are likely influencing population changes in Plymouth, Keene, and Durham, which house three of the state’s largest four-year public higher education institutions. The University of New Hampshire’s Durham campus recently saw an increase in the projected number of first-year students for the upcoming 2026 fall semester, following steady declines in enrollment since 2022.

Relatively low population growth rates occurred in the state’s two largest cities, Manchester (1,311 new residents, 1.1%) and Nashua (1,240, 1.4%), following declines during the COVID-19 pandemic. Increases in housing costs and low inventory, including in these more populated areas of the state, may be prompting people to seek housing opportunities in more affordable environments, even if that means being further away from their workplaces.

Overall population trends

Despite population shifts across the state, the list of New Hampshire’s ten most populous communities remained unchanged in 2025 from last year. These municipalities were Manchester (116,818 people), Nashua (92,435), Concord (44,597), Dover (34,623), Derry (33,990), Rochester (33,716), Salem (31,868), Merrimack (29,699), Londonderry (27,844), and Hudson (26,001). These communities are all located in the southeastern part of the state and demonstrate the significance of the region to New Hampshire’s overall population. Approximately 1.1 million people, or 74.2% of the state’s population, lived in the four southeastern counties (Hillsborough, Merrimack, Rockingham, and Strafford), and 757,492 (53.5% of the state’s population) lived in either Hillsborough or Rockingham Counties.

From 2020 to 2025, New Hampshire gained a net of approximately 48,550 new residents through interstate movement, both domestically (36,247 residents) and internationally (12,303). However, that growth varied significantly by county and region within the state. Rockingham (9,642), Merrimack (5,084), and Carroll (4,411) Counties saw the largest numbers of people relocating to New Hampshire from other states, while Hillsborough County gained the largest number of international movers (8,202). Hillsborough County also saw positive net domestic movement in 2025 for the first time since 2022, with higher costs of living in southern New England likely influencing some of these relocation trends. Hillsborough County’s population changes generally, including international migration, reflect that it is the state’s most populous county and includes substantial economic opportunity compared to many other parts of the state.

These numbers underscore the importance of interstate movement for growing the state’s population. From 2020 to 2025, Hillsborough County was the state’s only county to experience more births than deaths. While the number of deaths have outpaced the number of births statewide since 2017, this trend in Hillsborough County could be largely due to newcomers moving to the county from other states and having children locally.

New Hampshire’s uneven population growth suggests that while more people may be moving to economic hubs for employment opportunities and certain smaller towns for preferred amenities, broader affordability challenges and housing constraints may be slowing growth in some of the state’s larger communities. Epping’s addition of housing units and its association with population growth likely reflects the severe shortage of housing statewide and the opportunities communities have to grow by adding units. Policy approaches aimed at increasing the availability of housing, including regulatory changes and financial investments which could help spur housing development, could attract younger families and influence future population growth across New Hampshire.