Derry vs Portsmouth

A side-by-side comparison of Derry and Portsmouth: population, income, housing, and more.

Derry and Portsmouth are places in New Hampshire. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Portsmouth has the higher population (22,332 vs 21,668 in Derry). Portsmouth has the higher median household income ($105,756 vs $88,901 in Derry). Portsmouth has the higher median home value ($640,600 vs $356,700 in Derry).

Population, income & housing

	Derry	Portsmouth
Population	21,668	22,332
Median age	39.7 yrs	42.4 yrs
Median household income	$88,901	$105,756
Median home value	$356,700	$640,600
Median gross rent	$1,473	$1,778
Housing units	9,652	11,094
Homeownership rate	59.0%	52.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	34.0%	63.4%
Unemployment rate	5.4%	2.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Derry	Portsmouth
Population	21,817 → 21,668 (-0.7%)	21,775 → 22,332 (+2.6%)
Median household income	$67,073 → $88,901 (+32.5%)	$83,923 → $105,756 (+26.0%)
Median home value	$225,600 → $356,700 (+58.1%)	$425,600 → $640,600 (+50.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,175 → $1,473 (+25.4%)	$1,305 → $1,778 (+36.2%)

Derry

Population

21,81721,668

Median household income

$67,073$88,901

Median home value

$225,600$356,700

Median gross rent

$1,175$1,473

Portsmouth

Population

21,77522,332

Median household income

$83,923$105,756

Median home value

$425,600$640,600

Median gross rent

$1,305$1,778

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Derry	Portsmouth
Under 5	5.9%	4.1%
5 to 17	14.3%	10.8%
18 to 24	8.7%	7.5%
25 to 34	15.0%	16.9%
35 to 44	13.2%	13.4%
45 to 54	12.6%	11.2%
55 to 64	16.7%	15.2%
65 to 74	8.2%	10.3%
75 and over	5.4%	10.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Derry	Portsmouth
White (non-Hispanic)	90.2%	86.7%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	1.9%	3.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	1.6%
Two or more races	2.5%	3.4%
Hispanic or Latino	5.2%	3.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Derry	Portsmouth
No high school diploma	7.7%	2.4%
High school graduate	30.0%	16.8%
Some college or associate's	28.3%	17.4%
Bachelor's degree	23.6%	41.7%
Graduate or professional degree	10.4%	21.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Derry	Portsmouth
Drove alone	68.7%	67.0%
Carpooled	12.4%	4.3%
Public transit	0.6%	1.2%
Walked	1.9%	5.0%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.5%
Worked from home	14.7%	20.7%
Other means	1.6%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Derry	Portsmouth
1-unit, detached	39.8%	39.7%
1-unit, attached	13.7%	9.0%
2 to 4 units	8.2%	16.5%
5 to 19 units	13.6%	19.3%
20 or more units	23.4%	13.6%
Mobile home & other	1.2%	2.0%

Poverty & households

	Derry	Portsmouth
Poverty rate	5.1%	5.5%
Average household size	2.42	2.07
Mean commute (minutes)	31	22
Median year structure built	1981	1958