City · Hillsborough County, New Hampshire

Manchester, New Hampshire

Manchester is a city in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, part of the Manchester-Nashua, NH metro area. It has 115,643 residents. Manchester, New Hampshire has a quality-of-life score of 82 out of 100 (very high), ranking #2,823 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within New Hampshire it ranks #44 of 66 cities and towns. It ranks best on fine particulate matter (PM2.5) (low), gyms and fitness centers (high) and mental health care shortage (low). It ranks worst on comfortable days (low), time spent in the emergency room (high) and job growth (low).

82Very high

Quality-of-life score: #2,823 of 15,651 cities and towns
New Hampshire: #44 of 66 in NH
Population: 115,643 (2020-2024)
Land area: 33 mi²
Density: 3,500.6 /mi²
FIPS code: 3345140

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 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.

Safety83#2,691/15,637
Economy59#6,369/15,631
Housing39#9,152/14,977
Health60#6,179/15,609
Healthcare79#3,357/15,650
Environment72#4,384/15,453
Education72#4,340/15,649
Infrastructure70#4,664/15,650
Community81#2,980/15,651
Leisure & amenities75#3,944/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Manchester, New Hampshire ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Hillsborough 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

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · low5.5 µg/m³
94/100New Hampshire 5.4 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyHillsborough County value
Gyms and fitness centers · high2.1 /10k
93/100New Hampshire 2.0 /10kUnited States 1.3 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsHillsborough County value
Mental health care shortage · low0.0
91/100New Hampshire 1.3United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationHillsborough County value
Average weekly wage · high$1,609
89/100New Hampshire $1,556United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsHillsborough County value
Mammography screening · high54.0%
88/100New Hampshire 52.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteHillsborough County value
Distance to an airport · low11 mi
88/100New Hampshire 27 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauHillsborough County value

Weaknesses

Comfortable days · low23.6%
14/100New Hampshire 22.2%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationHillsborough County value
Time spent in the emergency room · high214 min
15/100New Hampshire 131 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesHillsborough County value
Job growth · low-1.5%
19/100New Hampshire -1.2%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataHillsborough County value
Effective property tax rate · high1.52%
21/100New Hampshire 1.50%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
Hospital quality rating · low2.8
24/100New Hampshire 3.2United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesHillsborough County value
Home price to income ratio · high4.5×
26/100New Hampshire 4.1×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077

Trends

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

New homes permittedImproving
1.2 /1k (2021) → 1.8 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+58%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Median household incomeImproving
$60,711 (2015-2019) → $81,007 (2020-2024)
+33%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
87.0% (2015-2019) → 91.6% (2020-2024)
+4.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
3.7× (2015-2019) → 4.5× (2020-2024)
+20%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
30.1% (2015-2019) → 34.0% (2020-2024)
+3.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Poverty rateImproving
14.1% (2015-2019) → 11.2% (2020-2024)
−2.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%

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, Manchester, New Hampshire improved on 7 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 7 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.

Improved7

Property tax−0.6 points2.09% → 1.52%
Unemployment−1.6 points4.9% → 3.3%
Uninsured−2.7 points11.3% → 8.6%
Poverty−2.9 points14.1% → 11.2%
Household income+33%$60,711 → $81,007

Declined1

Price / income+0.8×3.7× → 4.5×

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Manchester, New Hampshire between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	23.8 min2015-2019	23.9 min2020-2024	+0.1 min	Within the margin of error	46%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.1%2015-2019	34.0%2020-2024	+3.9 points	Improved	59%
Broadband subscriptions	87.0%2015-2019	91.6%2020-2024	+4.6 points	Improved	29%
Child poverty rate	19.8%2015-2019	18.9%2020-2024	−0.9 points	Within the margin of error	50%
Effective property tax rate	2.09%2015-2019	1.52%2020-2024	−0.6 points	Improved	93%
High school diploma or higher	87.3%2015-2019	89.5%2020-2024	+2.2 points	Within the margin of error	61%
Home price to income ratio	3.7×2015-2019	4.5×2020-2024	+0.8×	Declined	33%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4252015-2019	0.4192020-2024	−0.006	Within the margin of error	56%
Median household income	$60,7112015-2019	$81,0072020-2024	+33%	Improved	62%
Poverty rate	14.1%2015-2019	11.2%2020-2024	−2.9 points	Improved	69%
Public transit commuters	0.9%2015-2019	0.6%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Within the margin of error	22%
Rent as share of income	29.2%2015-2019	30.0%2020-2024	+0.8 points	Within the margin of error	48%
Rent-burdened households	48.0%2015-2019	50.0%2020-2024	+2.1 points	Within the margin of error	48%
Unemployment rate	4.9%2015-2019	3.3%2020-2024	−1.6 points	Improved	78%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	11.3%2015-2019	8.6%2020-2024	−2.7 points	Improved	74%

“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 Manchester, New Hampshire five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Manchester, 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, Manchester, New Hampshire itself moved −0.2 points in standing on average over the same 10 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

115,643 residents (±48)

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

49,162 households (±881)

Manchester, New Hampshire
New Hampshire share

Under $25k13%6,313
$25k–50k16%7,663
$50k–75k18%8,971

Homes

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

Owners and renters

49,162 households (±881)

Manchester, New Hampshire
New Hampshire share

Own49%23,929
Rent51%25,233

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+4.7 points).

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

66,536 workers (±1,489)

Manchester, New Hampshire
New Hampshire share

Drive alone72%47,769
Carpool9.0%6,008
Public transit0.6%†417

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Manchester-Nashua, NH

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 Hillsborough County, the county holding most of Manchester's residents.

Hillsborough County has 11,028 employer establishments, 258 for every 10,000 residents (1.04× the US rate of 248; 0.92× New Hampshire's), with 186,868 paid employees at an average annual pay of $71,919. The Census Bureau also counts 33,988 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 11,028; 33,988 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 258; US 248 · New Hampshire 280
Paid employees: 186,868
Average annual pay: $71,919; US $68,342

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

Specialty trade contractors	972	22.7	1.47×More than typical	7,690	$82,309	2,869
Restaurants and other eating places	810	18.9	1.03×About typical	15,151	$26,485	124
Ambulatory health care services	791	18.5	0.89×About typical	11,521	$89,461	1,403
Building equipment contractors	398	9.3	1.55×More than typical	3,694	$81,873	535
Services to buildings and dwellings	396	9.3	1.37×More than typical	2,361	$50,583	1,626
Lessors of real estate	392	9.2	0.74×Fewer than typical	2,262	$62,034	3,986
Construction of buildings	368	8.6	1.14×About typical	1,770	$91,984	1,194
Full-service restaurants	365	8.5	1.11×About typical	8,223	$29,079	50
Limited-service restaurants	305	7.1	0.89×About typical	4,771	$25,057	53
Automotive repair and maintenance	303	7.1	1.41×More than typical	1,480	$58,194	365
Computer systems design and related services	261	6.1	1.41×More than typical	3,963	$136,977	549
Building finishing contractors	256	6	1.58×More than typical	2,211	$82,726	1,223

Rank places for an industry Open Hillsborough County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 427,475 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 $111.4M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Manchester, New Hampshire: $963 per resident (US $1,995).

Obligations: $111.4M; −2.9% vs FY2025
Per resident: $963; US $1,995
Sole-source: 2.6%; US 30%
Single offer: 5.7%; 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

Department of the Navy$66.1M59%
Department of Veterans Affairs$14.8M13%
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management$9.8M8.8%
National Institutes of Health$9.6M8.6%
Defense Logistics Agency$3.2M2.8%
U.S. Special Operations Command$3M2.7%
Public Buildings Service$2.4M2.1%
Food and Drug Administration$690.7K0.6%

Top recipients

ENVISION TECHNOLOGY, LLC$69M62%
ADVANCED REGENERATIVE MANUFACTURING INSTITUTE INC$10.3M9.2%
ADAMS AND ASSOCIATES INC$9.8M8.8%
BRICAN, INC.$2.6M2.3%
GENTEX CORP$1.7M1.6%

Spending by fiscal year

58.1MFY2017
38.8MFY2018
46.4MFY2019
63.8MFY2020
42.1MFY2021
63.1MFY2022
68.3MFY2023
49.9M

Top industries (NAICS)

Commercial and service industry machinery manufacturing · 3333$65.8M59%
Technical and trade schools · 6115$9.8M8.8%
Other professional, scientific, and technical services · 5419$9.6M8.6%
Nonresidential building construction · 2362$6.5M5.9%
Scientific research and development services · 5417$2.5M2.3%
Medical equipment and supplies manufacturing · 3391

Largest awards whose ZIP code lies mostly in Manchester, New Hampshire

SQUAD AIMING LASER$67.5M
ENVISION TECHNOLOGY, LLC· Hillsborough County, NH· Other equipment & supplies· Dec 18, 2025 – Dec 18, 2025· M6785426F1020
OPERATIONS OF THE NEW HAMPSHIRE JOB CORPS CENTER WITH OA AND CTS.$62.1M
ADAMS AND ASSOCIATES INC· Hillsborough County, NH· Education & social services· May 15, 2020 – Aug 25, 2026· 1605JE20C0004
SQUAD AIMING LASER$50.5M
ENVISION TECHNOLOGY, LLC· Hillsborough County, NH· Other equipment & supplies· Feb 24, 2025 – May 1, 2026· M6785425F1015
CONSTRUCT SPECIALTY CARE BUILDING, MANCHESTER, NH

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 7, 2026, loaded Oct 7, 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 Manchester, New Hampshire, so they do not add up across cities.

Manchester, New Hampshire's figures are part of those of Hillsborough County, NH ($1B in FY2026), never added to them: 11% of that total.

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

See federal money in Hillsborough 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.

Manchester, New Hampshire is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

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

Hillsborough County93100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Manchester-Nashua, NH95

Other cities and towns in Hillsborough 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
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
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/3345140

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends