Cheshire County vs Strafford County

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

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

Strafford County has the higher population (131,743 vs 76,945 in Cheshire County). Strafford County has the higher median household income ($86,564 vs $81,001 in Cheshire County). Strafford County has the higher median home value ($332,400 vs $257,200 in Cheshire County).

Population, income & housing

	Cheshire County	Strafford County
Population	76,945	131,743
Median age	43.5 yrs	37.9 yrs
Median household income	$81,001	$86,564
Median home value	$257,200	$332,400
Median gross rent	$1,220	$1,413
Housing units	35,777	56,162
Homeownership rate	70.3%	67.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	35.3%	38.5%
Unemployment rate	3.3%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cheshire County	Strafford County
Population	76,042 → 76,945 (+1.2%)	129,124 → 131,743 (+2.0%)
Median household income	$64,751 → $81,001 (+25.1%)	$72,960 → $86,564 (+18.6%)
Median home value	$195,300 → $257,200 (+31.7%)	$235,900 → $332,400 (+40.9%)
Median gross rent	$949 → $1,220 (+28.6%)	$1,091 → $1,413 (+29.5%)

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

Strafford County

Population

129,124131,743

Median household income

$72,960$86,564

Median home value

$235,900$332,400

Median gross rent

$1,091$1,413

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cheshire County	Strafford County
Under 5	4.5%	4.5%
5 to 17	13.5%	13.5%
18 to 24	10.3%	14.5%
25 to 34	11.8%	13.7%
35 to 44	11.4%	11.9%
45 to 54	11.6%	11.8%
55 to 64	15.3%	13.7%
65 to 74	13.3%	10.0%
75 and over	8.3%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cheshire County	Strafford County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.9%	88.1%
Black or African American	0.7%	1.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.7%	2.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.9%	4.5%
Hispanic or Latino	2.5%	3.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cheshire County	Strafford County
No high school diploma	6.0%	5.3%
High school graduate	31.4%	26.1%
Some college or associate's	27.3%	30.0%
Bachelor's degree	21.5%	24.3%
Graduate or professional degree	13.8%	14.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cheshire County	Strafford County
Drove alone	77.2%	72.4%
Carpooled	7.5%	6.0%
Public transit	0.1%	1.5%
Walked	2.7%	3.3%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.2%
Worked from home	11.3%	15.4%
Other means	0.7%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cheshire County	Strafford County
1-unit, detached	69.5%	56.0%
1-unit, attached	2.3%	4.0%
2 to 4 units	10.2%	13.3%
5 to 19 units	7.4%	9.4%
20 or more units	5.0%	9.0%
Mobile home & other	5.6%	8.4%

Poverty & households

	Cheshire County	Strafford County
Poverty rate	8.9%	8.8%
Average household size	2.39	2.39
Mean commute (minutes)	24	26
Median year structure built	1972	1978