Grafton County vs Merrimack County

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

Grafton 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 91,759 in Grafton County). Merrimack County has the higher median household income ($93,944 vs $84,021 in Grafton County). Merrimack County has the higher median home value ($330,600 vs $298,500 in Grafton County).

Population, income & housing

	Grafton County	Merrimack County
Population	91,759	155,018
Median age	44.0 yrs	42.6 yrs
Median household income	$84,021	$93,944
Median home value	$298,500	$330,600
Median gross rent	$1,292	$1,293
Housing units	51,478	66,080
Homeownership rate	71.0%	73.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	44.8%	38.1%
Unemployment rate	2.9%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Grafton County	Merrimack County
Population	89,777 → 91,759 (+2.2%)	149,917 → 155,018 (+3.4%)
Median household income	$63,389 → $84,021 (+32.5%)	$75,737 → $93,944 (+24.0%)
Median home value	$220,300 → $298,500 (+35.5%)	$237,600 → $330,600 (+39.1%)
Median gross rent	$953 → $1,292 (+35.6%)	$1,042 → $1,293 (+24.1%)

Grafton County

Population

89,77791,759

Median household income

$63,389$84,021

Median home value

$220,300$298,500

Median gross rent

$953$1,292

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)

	Grafton County	Merrimack County
Under 5	3.8%	4.5%
5 to 17	12.0%	14.1%
18 to 24	12.3%	9.1%
25 to 34	12.1%	12.7%
35 to 44	10.9%	12.5%
45 to 54	11.1%	12.6%
55 to 64	15.3%	15.1%
65 to 74	13.4%	11.9%
75 and over	9.1%	7.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Grafton County	Merrimack County
White (non-Hispanic)	88.1%	90.6%
Black or African American	1.2%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	3.5%	1.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.8%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	2.8%	2.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Grafton County	Merrimack County
No high school diploma	6.1%	6.3%
High school graduate	25.8%	28.2%
Some college or associate's	23.2%	27.4%
Bachelor's degree	21.7%	22.2%
Graduate or professional degree	23.2%	15.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Grafton County	Merrimack County
Drove alone	68.2%	75.0%
Carpooled	9.4%	7.7%
Public transit	0.6%	0.3%
Walked	4.9%	2.7%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.3%
Worked from home	15.0%	13.1%
Other means	1.4%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Grafton County	Merrimack County
1-unit, detached	61.0%	63.2%
1-unit, attached	7.7%	4.4%
2 to 4 units	8.8%	11.5%
5 to 19 units	9.7%	7.2%
20 or more units	5.9%	7.1%
Mobile home & other	6.9%	6.6%

Poverty & households

	Grafton County	Merrimack County
Poverty rate	10.1%	7.1%
Average household size	2.35	2.46
Mean commute (minutes)	23	27
Median year structure built	1980	1977