Cheshire County vs Merrimack County

A side-by-side comparison of Cheshire County and Merrimack County: population, income, housing, and more.

Cheshire County and Merrimack County are counties in New Hampshire. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Merrimack County has the higher population (155,018 vs 76,945 in Cheshire County). Merrimack County has the higher median household income ($93,944 vs $81,001 in Cheshire County). Merrimack County has the higher median home value ($330,600 vs $257,200 in Cheshire County).

Population, income & housing

	Cheshire County	Merrimack County
Population	76,945	155,018
Median age	43.5 yrs	42.6 yrs
Median household income	$81,001	$93,944
Median home value	$257,200	$330,600
Median gross rent	$1,220	$1,293
Housing units	35,777	66,080
Homeownership rate	70.3%	73.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	35.3%	38.1%
Unemployment rate	3.3%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cheshire County	Merrimack County
Population	76,042 → 76,945 (+1.2%)	149,917 → 155,018 (+3.4%)
Median household income	$64,751 → $81,001 (+25.1%)	$75,737 → $93,944 (+24.0%)
Median home value	$195,300 → $257,200 (+31.7%)	$237,600 → $330,600 (+39.1%)
Median gross rent	$949 → $1,220 (+28.6%)	$1,042 → $1,293 (+24.1%)

Cheshire County

Population

76,04276,945

Median household income

$64,751$81,001

Median home value

$195,300$257,200

Median gross rent

$949$1,220

Merrimack County

Population

149,917155,018

Median household income

$75,737$93,944

Median home value

$237,600$330,600

Median gross rent

$1,042$1,293

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cheshire County	Merrimack County
Under 5	4.5%	4.5%
5 to 17	13.5%	14.1%
18 to 24	10.3%	9.1%
25 to 34	11.8%	12.7%
35 to 44	11.4%	12.5%
45 to 54	11.6%	12.6%
55 to 64	15.3%	15.1%
65 to 74	13.3%	11.9%
75 and over	8.3%	7.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cheshire County	Merrimack County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.9%	90.6%
Black or African American	0.7%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.7%	1.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.9%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	2.5%	2.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cheshire County	Merrimack County
No high school diploma	6.0%	6.3%
High school graduate	31.4%	28.2%
Some college or associate's	27.3%	27.4%
Bachelor's degree	21.5%	22.2%
Graduate or professional degree	13.8%	15.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cheshire County	Merrimack County
Drove alone	77.2%	75.0%
Carpooled	7.5%	7.7%
Public transit	0.1%	0.3%
Walked	2.7%	2.7%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.3%
Worked from home	11.3%	13.1%
Other means	0.7%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cheshire County	Merrimack County
1-unit, detached	69.5%	63.2%
1-unit, attached	2.3%	4.4%
2 to 4 units	10.2%	11.5%
5 to 19 units	7.4%	7.2%
20 or more units	5.0%	7.1%
Mobile home & other	5.6%	6.6%

Poverty & households

	Cheshire County	Merrimack County
Poverty rate	8.9%	7.1%
Average household size	2.39	2.46
Mean commute (minutes)	24	27
Median year structure built	1972	1977