New Hampshire Population 2023

New Hampshire was one of the original thirteen states that made up the country and was the first settlement to establish both a constitution as well as an independent government that was separate from Great Britain in January of 1776. It does have one of the slowest growth rates in the country at just 0.16%, which ranks 45th in the country.

As with any state, the most recent set of figures in relation to the population of New Hampshire dates from the last nationwide census of 2010. That survey confirmed that there were 1,316,470 people, and that figure was up by 6.5% on the numbers declared at the 2000 Census.

New Hampshire Area and Population Density

Toward the northeastern edge of the United States, the land that makes up New Hampshire is one of the smallest in the country. What it lacks in size, however, this tiny state more than makes up for in terms of history. New Hampshire covers a very small area and a proportion of its territory is very mountainous, with some of the largest ski mountains on the East Coast. However, it is fairly densely populated in comparison to its size and it ranks 21st in the country in this respect.

With a land mass of 9,349 square miles, there are only four states that are smaller than New Hampshire but for every square mile of land there is an average of 147 people.

The largest city in New Hampshire is Manchester. It is the only city in the state with more than 100,000 residents (its exact population, as recorded by the 2010 census, is 109,565). Nashua (pop: 87,970) is the only other city in the state with a population of over 50,000.

The largest county in New Hampshire is Hillsborough with 409,697 individuals within the county.

The northern third of the state has just 5% of the state's total population and suffers from high poverty rates. It also steadily loses population as paper and logging industries decline, although it does remain popular as a tourist destination.

New Hampshire Gender and Religion Statistics

The median age in New Hampshire is approximately 42.4 years of age. The ratio of females to males in the state of New Hampshire is approximately 50.5% females and 49.5% males.

In terms of religious preferences across the state, New Hampshire comes in at 59% Christian based faiths, 5% non-Christian based faiths, and 36% are non-affiliated with any religion in particular.

New Hampshire Boundary, Census, and Statehood History

New Hampshire was one of the 13 original States. It has had essentially its present boundaries ever since 1790, although an area at the northern tip of the State was in dispute with Canada until 1842. Census coverage included virtually all of New Hampshire from 1790 on.

New Hampshire Population History

The first set of widely available New Hampshire population figures date back to 1790 when, little more than a decade after the Declaration of Independence, it was shown that 141,885 people were living in the state. Ten years later, the 1800 survey showed that those numbers had climbed to 183,858, a rise of 29.6% in just a decade.

Moving forward, the population of New Hampshire grew at a steady, albeit not particularly spectacular rate, with growth averaging at around 5% per decade, with the occasional small decrease in population (such as between 1870 and 1880, when the population dropped by 2.4%). By the beginning of the 20th century, New Hampshire’s population had increased to 411,588.

The same rates of growth continued through the first half of the 20th century but, in the second half of the century, New Hampshire experienced another population boom. Between 1960 and 2000, the state’s population more than doubled, largely because of the so-called Massachusetts Transplants -- people moving from a crowded urban area to a more relaxed rural area.

The growth rate has slowed slightly while entering the 21st century but remains on an upward trend.

New Hampshire Population Growth

New Hampshire has such a small amount of land, much of it rugged terrain, that growth can only be maintained for so long. New Hampshire's population has been growing quickly for decades, but researchers have found this growth rate is slowing down. A large reason for the growth has been families moving from elsewhere in the country, particularly Massachusetts, but this trend is changing.

The growth rate in New Hampshire is now the slowest it has been in 50 years, while the state's population is also aging rapidly as families are not moving in with children as they once did.

New Hampshire Population Projections

While this all sounds dire, New Hampshire is growing, just slowly. With its current growth rate, one of the lowest in the country, its population is expected to grow from the current 1.33 million in 2016 to 1.35 million in 2020, at which point its percentage of people over 65 will be disproportionately high compared to the U.S. as a whole.

New Hampshire is one of ten states that is over 90% white. While the percentage of whites has fallen slightly from over 98% in 1990 to 93.9% white in 2015, it has the third largest population of whites in the US, falling just behind Maine and Vermont. In terms of its African American population, the state ranks 44th out of 50 states.

The largest ancestry groups in New Hampshire include French and French Canadian (23.3%), Irish (20.5%), English (16.1%), Italian (10.7%), German (8.3%) and American (5.2%). The large population of Irish and French-Canadian populations are mostly the descendents of mill workers, and many still reside in former mill towns. New Hampshire has the second largest percentage of French/French-Canadian/Acadian ancestry in the country, after Maine.

• New Hampshire was originally inhabited by the Abenaki and Pennacook Indians.
• Captain John Smith had settlers establish a small fishing community in 1623, near Rye and Dover.
• Portsmouth was founded in 1630, and Captain John Mason named New Hampshire after his hometown in England.
• Peterborough is the home to the first public and tax-supported free library in the US.
• New Castle is the smallest town in New Hampshire, measuring just 0.8 square miles.
• New Hampshire was the first state to declare independence from England.
• The state is made up of 10 counties, 13 municipalities, 22 unincorporated areas and 221 towns.
• New Hampshire's [first capital city](https://www.britannica.com/place/Exeter-New-Hampshire) was Exeter.