The 10 Poorest Cities In New Hampshire For 2024


The poorest places in New Hampshire are Claremont and Berlin for 2024 based on Saturday Night Science.

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.


Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table


The 10 Poorest Places In New Hampshire For 2024:

  1. Claremont
  2. Berlin
  3. Newport
  4. Keene
  5. Suncook
  6. Laconia
  7. Manchester
  8. Rochester
  9. Durham
  10. Franklin

Poorest Places In New Hampshire Map

What’s the poorest city in New Hampshire? According to the facts, Claremont is the poorest place in New Hampshire for 2024.

This isn’t a commentary on the people that live there or the vibrant culture and traditions of these places. Instead, it’s just a look at the facts.

For more New Hampshire reading, check out:

The 10 Poorest Cities In New Hampshire For 2024

1. Claremont

Claremont, NH

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 13,018
Rank Last Year: 1 (No Change)
Median Income: $53,697 (2nd lowest)
Poverty Rate: 15.8% (2nd highest)
People In Poverty: 2,063
More on Claremont: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Claremont, unfortunately, ranks as the poorest place in New Hampshire thanks to combination of low pay and and a lack of jobs.

The city of 13,018 people averages the 2nd lowest median household income in New Hampshire and the 2nd 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.

2. Berlin

Berlin, NH

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 9,485
Rank Last Year: 2 (No Change)
Median Income: $41,638 (lowest)
Poverty Rate: 14.6% (4th highest)
People In Poverty: 1,385
More on Berlin: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

The second poorest city in New Hampshire is Berlin.

The city ranks as having the 4th highest incidence of poverty and lowest median household income. However, the unemployment rate ‘only’ ranks as the 3rd highest in the Granite State.

3. Newport

Newport, NH

Source: Wikipedia User User:Magicpiano | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 5,228
Rank Last Year: 3 (No Change)
Median Income: $67,500 (4th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 15.1% (3rd highest)
People In Poverty: 790
More on Newport: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Placing as the third poorest city, Newport’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 15.12% 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.

4. Keene

Keene, NH

Source: Wikipedia User Jon Platek | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 22,907
Rank Last Year: 4 (No Change)
Median Income: $69,381 (6th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 11.2% (7th highest)
People In Poverty: 2,554
More on Keene: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Keene ranks as the fourth poorest place in New Hampshire.

The town ranks as having the 6th lowest median household income and the 7th 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.

5. Suncook

Suncook, NH

Source: Wikipedia User Ken Gallager at en.wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 5,235
Rank Last Year: 8 (Up 3)
Median Income: $72,375 (8th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 14.0% (5th highest)
People In Poverty: 732
More on Suncook:

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 5th highest in New Hampshire.

Still not the best news for Suncook.

6. Laconia

Laconia, NH

Source: Wikipedia User FlickreviewR | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 16,898
Rank Last Year: 7 (Up 1)
Median Income: $67,856 (5th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 10.2% (9th highest)
People In Poverty: 1,723
More on Laconia: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Laconia ranks as the sixth poorest place in the Granite State.

It ranks as having the 9th highest incidence of poverty and the 16th highest unemployment rate.

7. Manchester

Manchester, NH

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 115,037
Rank Last Year: 6 (Down 1)
Median Income: $74,040 (9th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 11.6% (6th highest)
People In Poverty: 13,298
More on Manchester: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Manchester places as the seventh poorest city in New Hampshire.

The city of over 115,037 ranks as having the 6th highest incidence of poverty in the state. However, it has a very low cost of living which helps to pay the bills each month.

8. Rochester

Rochester, NH

Source: Wikipedia User Jon Platek | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 32,573
Rank Last Year: 10 (Up 2)
Median Income: $74,882 (10th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 9.8% (11th highest)
People In Poverty: 3,195
More on Rochester: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Rochester 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.

9. Durham

Durham, NH

Source: Wikipedia User Olivier Aumage | CC BY-SA 2.0 fr
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 10,789
Rank Last Year: 5 (Down 4)
Median Income: $93,542 (22nd lowest)
Poverty Rate: 16.6% (highest)
People In Poverty: 1,788
More on Durham: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Durham couldn’t stay out of the top ten poorest places in New Hampshire; it ranks number 9.

While the median income is the 22nd lowest, there are a substantial number of people that live below the poverty line. Overall, Durham ranks as having the most people living in poverty of all the places we analyzed in New Hampshire.

10. Franklin

Franklin, NH

Source: Wikipedia User User:Magicpiano | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 8,746
Rank Last Year: 11 (Up 1)
Median Income: $66,942 (3rd lowest)
Poverty Rate: 6.3% (20th highest)
People In Poverty: 547
More on Franklin: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

And rounding out the top ten poorest cities in New Hampshire is Franklin.

The city of 8,746 people ranks in the bottom 20% for both median income and poverty rate in the Granite State.

Methodology: How We Determined The Poorest Places In New Hampshire for 2024

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 2018-2022 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, Claremont, crowned the “Poorest Place In New Hampshire For 2024”.

This report has been updated for 2024, which is our tenth time ranking the poorest places in New Hampshire.

Summary: The Poorest Cities In New Hampshire For 2024

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.

If you’re curious enough, here are the richest cities in New Hampshire, according to data:

    Richest: Londonderry
    2nd Richest: South Hooksett
    3rd Richest: Portsmouth

For more New Hampshire reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Poorest Places To Live In New Hampshire

Rank City Population Poverty Rate Median Income People In Poverty
1 Claremont 13,018 15.8% $53,697 2,063
2 Berlin 9,485 14.6% $41,638 1,385
3 Newport 5,228 15.1% $67,500 790
4 Keene 22,907 11.2% $69,381 2,554
5 Suncook 5,235 14.0% $72,375 732
6 Laconia 16,898 10.2% $67,856 1,723
7 Manchester 115,037 11.6% $74,040 13,298
8 Rochester 32,573 9.8% $74,882 3,195
9 Durham 10,789 16.6% $93,542 1,788
10 Franklin 8,746 6.3% $66,942 547
11 Somersworth 11,994 8.7% $75,841 1,039
12 Concord 44,049 9.6% $77,874 4,228
13 Milford 8,530 7.6% $71,065 646
14 Derry 23,027 9.8% $83,750 2,268
15 Exeter 9,918 7.4% $79,813 729
16 Hanover 8,234 10.5% $111,958 861
17 Dover 32,849 7.6% $90,844 2,499
18 Nashua 90,943 7.6% $88,766 6,902
19 Hooksett 5,268 6.4% $83,456 337
20 Lebanon 14,515 8.4% $90,911 1,225
21 Newmarket 5,829 6.1% $88,295 354
22 Hudson 7,003 3.6% $80,901 251
23 Hampton 10,050 3.8% $92,907 383
24 Portsmouth 22,138 6.0% $100,169 1,321
25 South Hooksett 5,808 3.0% $113,024 174
26 Londonderry 12,143 2.0% $113,557 242
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

One thought on “The 10 Poorest Cities In New Hampshire For 2024

  1. Two of the towns, Durham and Keene, host large state universities, with lots of students living off-campus.

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