Poverty rates were highest in northern and western parts of New Hampshire in the 2018-2022 period, as distance from the economic activity generated by the Boston metropolitan area to New Hampshire’s southeast increased. Sullivan (11.7 percent) and Coos (11.6 percent) counties had relatively high estimated poverty rates, although neighboring Grafton County (9.9 percent) was statistically similar to both. Rockingham County (4.8 percent) had the lowest poverty rate in the state. However, an estimated 15,100 Granite Staters were in poverty in Rockingham County, the second-highest number following the state’s most populus county, Hillsborough County (6.9 percent), which had about 28,500 residents in poverty. 

For more information and analysis regarding poverty and living costs in New Hampshire, see NHFPI’s Issue Brief Poverty and Food Insecurity in New Hampshire During and Following the COVID-19 Crisis.