Skip to main content

PantryPath Research · Rural & Persistent Poverty Atlas

Rural poverty in New Hampshire

0 persistent-poverty counties

New Hampshire has 7 nonmetro counties and no counties flagged by USDA ERS for persistent poverty. The state's all-ages poverty rate is 7.2% and child poverty is 7.8%.

0

Persistent-poverty counties

7

Nonmetro counties (RUCC 4–9)

0

Residents in PPCs

10

Total counties

New Hampshire by county

← Back to national atlas

Toggle between the rural hunger risk score, all-ages poverty, child poverty, the Rural-Urban Continuum Code, and the binary persistent-poverty flag. Hover a county for its ERS typology and ACS poverty rate.

Loading county map…

Lower
Higher

New Hampshire at a glance

Poverty rate

7.2%

All ages, ACS S1701

Child poverty

7.8%

Under 18

PPC share

0.0%

Of counties in state

Nonmetro share

70.0%

RUCC 4–9

Pantries / 100K

2.74

PantryPath verified

Risk score (mean)

0.15

Composite 0–1

"Pantries / 100K" divides New Hampshire's 38 verified PantryPath pantries by the state population — a minimum-density indicator, not a saturated census. See methodology.

County-level hotspots

Top five counties across 10 in New Hampshire.

Highest rural hunger risk

Composite 0–1 score

  1. 1 Coos 0.28
  2. 2 Sullivan 0.27
  3. 3 Carroll 0.22
  4. 4 Grafton 0.19
  5. 5 Cheshire 0.15

Highest poverty rate

ACS all-ages

  1. 1 Coos 12.9%
  2. 2 Sullivan 10.8%
  3. 3 Grafton 10.1%
  4. 4 Cheshire 8.9%
  5. 5 Belknap 8.8%

Persistent-poverty counties

PPCs ranked by current poverty

New Hampshire has no persistent-poverty counties in the 2025 ERS typology.

Every county in New Hampshire

All 10 counties with RUCC, typology flags, and ACS poverty data.

County RUCC PPC Flags Poverty Child poverty Population Risk
Belknap 4 — Housing 8.8% 11.5% 64,300 0.15
Carroll 6 — Housing, Retire. 7.5% 7.3% 51,259 0.22
Cheshire 4 — Housing 8.9% 10.2% 76,945 0.15
Coos 7 — Pop. loss 12.9% 16.8% 31,386 0.28
Grafton 5 — Housing 10.1% 10.4% 91,759 0.19
Hillsborough 2 — Housing 6.5% 8.1% 424,732 0.06
Merrimack 4 — — 7.1% 6.9% 155,018 0.14
Rockingham 1 — — 4.8% 5.1% 317,163 0.02
Strafford 1 — Housing 8.8% 6.4% 131,743 0.04
Sullivan 7 — Housing 10.8% 12.3% 43,529 0.27

Find a food pantry in New Hampshire

Search New Hampshire's 38 verified pantries, food banks, and meal programs — filtered by city, open-now status, and service type.

New Hampshire pantry directory

New Hampshire SNAP

Income limits, application steps, and EBT card details for residents of persistent-poverty counties and beyond.

New Hampshire SNAP guide

Emergency food help

National hotlines, 211 referrals, and same-day food options — critical in rural counties where the nearest pantry may be 30+ miles away.

Emergency food

Food deserts atlas

Rural poverty and low food access often overlap. Compare persistent-poverty counties to USDA's low-income / low-access food desert designations.

New Hampshire food deserts

Methodology

How we combined USDA ERS typology codes, the Rural-Urban Continuum, ACS poverty data, and PantryPath's own pantry directory — plus the risk-score formula.

Full methodology