Exeter vs Portsmouth

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

Exeter 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 10,138 in Exeter). Portsmouth has the higher median household income ($105,756 vs $83,862 in Exeter). Portsmouth has the higher median home value ($640,600 vs $349,300 in Exeter).

Population, income & housing

	Exeter	Portsmouth
Population	10,138	22,332
Median age	44.2 yrs	42.4 yrs
Median household income	$83,862	$105,756
Median home value	$349,300	$640,600
Median gross rent	$1,569	$1,778
Housing units	5,015	11,094
Homeownership rate	59.8%	52.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	52.1%	63.4%
Unemployment rate	2.8%	2.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Exeter	Portsmouth
Population	9,244 → 10,138 (+9.7%)	21,775 → 22,332 (+2.6%)
Median household income	$69,575 → $83,862 (+20.5%)	$83,923 → $105,756 (+26.0%)
Median home value	$236,100 → $349,300 (+47.9%)	$425,600 → $640,600 (+50.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,224 → $1,569 (+28.2%)	$1,305 → $1,778 (+36.2%)

Exeter

Population

9,24410,138

Median household income

$69,575$83,862

Median home value

$236,100$349,300

Median gross rent

$1,224$1,569

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)

	Exeter	Portsmouth
Under 5	3.9%	4.1%
5 to 17	11.2%	10.8%
18 to 24	10.0%	7.5%
25 to 34	13.1%	16.9%
35 to 44	13.1%	13.4%
45 to 54	13.4%	11.2%
55 to 64	15.5%	15.2%
65 to 74	10.6%	10.3%
75 and over	9.3%	10.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Exeter	Portsmouth
White (non-Hispanic)	87.0%	86.7%
Black or African American	1.1%	0.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	4.5%	3.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	1.6%
Two or more races	3.9%	3.4%
Hispanic or Latino	3.5%	3.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Exeter	Portsmouth
No high school diploma	1.5%	2.4%
High school graduate	20.5%	16.8%
Some college or associate's	25.9%	17.4%
Bachelor's degree	26.7%	41.7%
Graduate or professional degree	25.5%	21.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Exeter	Portsmouth
Drove alone	72.8%	67.0%
Carpooled	4.9%	4.3%
Public transit	0.0%	1.2%
Walked	3.3%	5.0%
Bicycle	1.3%	0.5%
Worked from home	17.5%	20.7%
Other means	0.3%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Exeter	Portsmouth
1-unit, detached	35.6%	39.7%
1-unit, attached	4.7%	9.0%
2 to 4 units	21.7%	16.5%
5 to 19 units	10.3%	19.3%
20 or more units	10.6%	13.6%
Mobile home & other	17.1%	2.0%

Poverty & households

	Exeter	Portsmouth
Poverty rate	6.9%	5.5%
Average household size	2.15	2.07
Mean commute (minutes)	24	22
Median year structure built	1968	1958