Census-designated place · Coos County, New Hampshire

Gorham, New Hampshire

Gorham is a census-designated place in Coos County, New Hampshire. It has 2,092 residents. Gorham, New Hampshire has a quality-of-life score of 67 out of 100 (high), ranking #5,133 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within New Hampshire it ranks #59 of 66 cities and towns. It ranks best on students per teacher (low), public libraries (high) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) (low). It ranks worst on comfortable days (low), injury deaths (high) and child care cost burden (high).

67High

Quality-of-life score: #5,133 of 15,651 cities and towns
New Hampshire: #59 of 66 in NH
Population: 2,092 (2020-2024)
Land area: 2 mi²
Density: 1,242.8 /mi²
FIPS code: 3330180

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 75 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety66#5,342/15,637
Economy56#6,908/15,631
Housing64#5,365/14,977
Health36#10,017/15,609
Healthcare53#7,392/15,650
Environment68#4,983/15,453
Education51#7,716/15,649
Infrastructure48#8,096/15,650
Community76#3,726/15,651
Leisure & amenities89#1,775/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Gorham, New Hampshire ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Coos County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Students per teacher · low9.3×
99/100New Hampshire 11.4×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsCoos County value
Public libraries · high5.1 /10k
99/100New Hampshire 1.6 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesCoos County value
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · low4.3 µg/m³
99/100New Hampshire 5.4 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyCoos County value
Hot days · low0 days
99/100New Hampshire 4 daysUnited States 42 days2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationCoos County value
Unemployment rate · low0.0%
98/100New Hampshire 3.2%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025
Time spent in the emergency room · low102 min
95/100New Hampshire 131 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesCoos County value

Weaknesses

Comfortable days · low19.7%
0/100New Hampshire 22.2%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationCoos County value
Injury deaths · high166 /100k
2/100New Hampshire 89 /100kUnited States 87 /100k2019-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCoos County value
Child care cost burden · high45.8%
2/100New Hampshire 34.6%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCoos County value
Drug overdose deaths · high41.4 /100k
3/100New Hampshire 16.2 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataCoos County value
Effective property tax rate · high2.29%
3/100New Hampshire 1.50%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
Job growth · low-3.9%
4/100New Hampshire -1.2%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataCoos County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationRising
1,489 (2015-2019) → 2,092 (2020-2024)
+40%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
18.3% (2015-2019) → 38.0% (2020-2024)
+20 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Bachelor's degree or higherWorsening
29.7% (2015-2019) → 21.1% (2020-2024)
−8.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Child poverty rateWorsening
3.7% (2015-2019) → 11.1% (2020-2024)
+7.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Uninsured residents (under 65)Worsening
3.2% (2015-2019) → 10.0% (2020-2024)
+6.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%
Unemployment rateImproving
4.4% (2015-2019) → 0.0% (2020-2024)
−4.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Gorham, New Hampshire improved on 1 of 11 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 10 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved1

Unemployment−4.4 points4.4% → 0.0%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 11 measures

Change of every measure of Gorham, New Hampshire between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	20.3 min2015-2019	21.9 min2020-2024	+1.6 min	Within the margin of error	30%
Bachelor's degree or higher	29.7%2015-2019	21.1%2020-2024	−8.7 points	Within the margin of error	3%
Broadband subscriptions	86.2%2015-2019	88.4%2020-2024	+2.2 points	Within the margin of error	16%
Effective property tax rate	2.50%2015-2019	2.29%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	60%
High school diploma or higher	94.9%2015-2019	98.2%2020-2024	+3.3 points	Within the margin of error	71%
Home price to income ratio	2.4×2015-2019	2.3×2020-2024	−0.0×	Within the margin of error	80%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4142015-2019	0.3812020-2024	−0.033	Within the margin of error	76%
Median household income	$58,7892015-2019	$62,6792020-2024	+6.6%	Within the margin of error	13%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	23.9%2015-2019	27.4%2020-2024	+3.5 points	Within the margin of error	30%
Unemployment rate	4.4%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	−4.4 points	Improved	94%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Gorham, New Hampshire five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Gorham, New Hampshire in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Gorham, New Hampshire itself moved −6.6 points in standing on average over the same 9 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

2,092 residents (±214)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

1,077 households (±122)

Gorham, New Hampshire
New Hampshire share

Under $25k16%†168
$25k–50k24%†257
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

1,077 households (±122)

Gorham, New Hampshire
New Hampshire share

Own68%729
Rent32%†348

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

965 workers (±158)

Gorham, New Hampshire
New Hampshire share

Drive alone82%796
Carpool11%†106
Public transit0.0%0

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Coos County, the county holding most of Gorham's residents.

Coos County has 809 employer establishments, 259 for every 10,000 residents (1.04× the US rate of 248; 0.92× New Hampshire's), with 8,380 paid employees at an average annual pay of $48,296. The Census Bureau also counts 2,454 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 809; 2,454 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 259; US 248 · New Hampshire 280
Paid employees: 8,380
Average annual pay: $48,296; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Coos County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Restaurants and other eating places	58	18.6	1.01×About typical	622	$24,010	11
Specialty trade contractors	54	17.3	1.12×About typical	129	$83,132	346
Full-service restaurants	36	11.5	1.50×More than typical	384	$25,229	5
Ambulatory health care services	34	10.9	0.52×Fewer than typical	444	$72,655	108
Traveler accommodation	34	10.9	6.03×More than typical	1,036	$32,734	27
Services to buildings and dwellings	28	9	1.33×More than typical	50	$57,980	153
Automotive repair and maintenance	27	8.6	1.72×More than typical	88	$47,000	50
Lessors of real estate	25	8	0.65×Fewer than typical	84	$49,512	240
Gasoline stations	22	7	2.17×More than typical	192	$28,068	5
Other specialty trade contractors	22	7	2.81×More than typical	37	$65,865	101
Building equipment contractors	21	6.7	1.12×About typical	61	$65,623	72
Individual and family services	21	6.7	2.40×More than typical	357	$36,697	19

Rank places for an industry Open Coos County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 31,247 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $748 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Gorham, New Hampshire: $0.36 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $748; +3.3% vs FY2025
Per resident: $0.36; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 42%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Forest Service$748100%

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

582.6FY2017
825.3FY2018
461.8FY2019
935.5FY2020
3.3KFY2021
1.4KFY2022
485.6FY2023
2.5KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Services to buildings and dwellings · 5617$748100%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Gorham, New Hampshire, so they do not add up across cities.

Gorham, New Hampshire's figures are part of those of Coos County, NH ($6M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Gorham is mostly in Coos County.

See federal money in Coos County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Gorham, New Hampshire is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Maggie GoodlanderD-NH-2 · 100% of residentsWith party 91%Missed 0.0%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Coos County65100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Coos County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/3330180

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends