County Employment and Wages in New Hampshire — Fourth Quarter 2025

Employment declined in the three largest counties in New Hampshire from December 2024 to December 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Mark J. Maggi noted that Merrimack County (-1.6 percent) had the largest over-the-year decrease in employment. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

Horizontal bar chart of over-the-year percent changes in covered employment among the largest counties in New Hampshire, December 2025. Accessible version is available in View Chart Data link below the chart.

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Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in covered employment among the largest counties in New Hampshire, December 2025
County	Percent change, December 2025
Merrimack	-1.6
Rockingham	-0.7
Hillsborough	-0.6

Hillsborough County (200,600) had the highest employment level in New Hampshire in December 2025. Together, the three largest counties accounted for 63.0 percent of total covered employment within the state. Nationwide, the 372 largest counties comprise 73.4 percent of total covered employment in the United States. (Large counties and county equivalents are those with annual average employment levels of 75,000 or more in 2024.)

Large county average weekly wages in the fourth quarter 2025

All three large New Hampshire counties reported average weekly wage gains over the year. (See chart 2.) Hillsborough had the largest gain (+6.1 percent), followed by Rockingham (+4.6 percent) and Merrimack (+3.9 percent).

Horizontal bar chart of over-the-year percent changes in covered average weekly wages among the largest counties in New Hampshire, fourth quarter 2025. Accessible version is available in View Chart Data link below the chart.

View Chart Data

Chart 2. Over-the-year percent change in covered average weekly wages among the largest counties in New Hampshire, fourth quarter 2025
County	Percent change, fourth quarter 2025
Hillsborough	6.1
Rockingham	4.6
Merrimack	3.9

Weekly wages in 2 of the 3 largest counties in New Hampshire were above the national average of $1,569: Hillsborough ($1,719) and Rockingham ($1,572). The average weekly wage in Merrimack was $1,492.

Smaller county average weekly wages in the fourth quarter of 2025

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the seven smaller counties in New Hampshire, defined as having employment below 75,000 in 2024. (See table 2.) Wage levels in 6 of the 7 smaller counties were below the national average. Grafton reported the highest average weekly wage ($1,585). Coos reported the lowest average weekly wage ($1,125) in the state.

Among all 10 New Hampshire counties, 3 reported average weekly wages of less than $1,250, 3 had wages from $1,250 to $1,399, 1 had wages from $1,400 to $1,549, and 3 had average weekly wages of $1,550 or higher. (See map 1 and table 2.)

Map 1. Average weekly wages by county in New Hampshire, fourth quarter 2025

(U.S. average = $1,569)

Additional statistics and other information

QCEW data for states have been included in this release in table 3.

Nationwide coverage of the largest counties is published in the County Employment and Wages news release. Additional information about quarterly employment and wages data is available in the news release Technical Note and from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages website.

If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

The County Employment and Wages release for the first quarter 2026 is scheduled to be released on Friday, August 28, 2026.

Table 1. Covered establishments, employment, and wages in the United States and the three largest counties in New Hampshire, fourth quarter 2025
Area	Establishments, fourth quarter (thousands)	Employment			Average weekly wage (1)
Area	Establishments, fourth quarter (thousands)	December 2025 (thousands)	Percent change, December 2024–25 (2)	National ranking by percent change (3)	Fourth quarter 2025 ($)	National ranking by level (3)	Percent change, fourth quarter 2024–25 (2)	National ranking by percent change (3)
United States (4)	12,428.4	156,700.2	0.2	--	1,569	--	4.2	--
New Hampshire	67.9	688.8	-0.6	--	1,652	9	4.8	12
Hillsborough	12.6	200.6	-0.6	254	1,719	50	6.1	30
Merrimack	5.5	76.6	-1.6	350	1,492	123	3.9	208
Rockingham	11.9	156.6	-0.7	275	1,572	88	4.6	120
Footnotes: (1) Average weekly wages were calculated using unrounded data. (2) Percent changes were computed from employment and pay data adjusted for noneconomic county reclassifications. (3) Ranking does not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands. (4) Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.
Note: Data are preliminary. Dashes indicate data not applicable or available. Covered employment and wages include workers covered by Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) programs.

Table 2. Covered establishments, employment, and wages in the United States and all counties in New Hampshire, fourth quarter 2025
Area	Establishments	Employment December 2025	Average weekly wage ($) (1)
United States (2)	12,428,415	156,700,218	1,569
New Hampshire	67,879	688,827	1,652
Belknap	2,222	25,458	1,221
Carroll	2,108	19,710	1,149
Cheshire	2,241	30,717	1,274
Coos	1,055	11,708	1,125
Grafton	3,369	54,804	1,585
Hillsborough	12,583	200,630	1,719
Merrimack	5,472	76,630	1,492
Rockingham	11,853	156,550	1,572
Strafford	3,178	46,359	1,379
Sullivan	1,202	13,797	1,268
Footnotes: (1) Average weekly wages were calculated using unrounded data. (2) Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.
Note: Data are preliminary. Dashes indicate data not applicable or available. Covered employment and wages include workers covered by Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) programs.

Table 3. Covered establishments, employment, and wages by state, fourth quarter 2025
State	Establishments, fourth quarter (thousands)	Employment		Average weekly wage (1)
State	Establishments, fourth quarter (thousands)	December 2025 (thousands)	Percent change, December 2024–25	Fourth quarter 2025 ($)	National ranking by level	Percent change, fourth quarter 2024–25	National ranking by percent change
United States (2)	12,428.4	156,700.2	0.2	1,569	--	4.2	--
Alabama	167.4	2,135.3	0.5	1,301	36	3.7	37
Alaska	25.3	317.3	-0.3	1,497	16	4.7	14
Arizona	227.4	3,278.3	0.0	1,446	20	3.0	47
Arkansas	113.0	1,318.2	0.4	1,213	49	5.0	8
California	2,013.7	18,351.7	0.6	1,954	4	4.6	16
Colorado	258.5	2,896.4	-0.6	1,683	8	5.6	3
Connecticut	149.8	1,706.5	0.1	1,801	6	5.0	8
Delaware	47.3	481.0	0.1	1,502	15	4.7	14
District of Columbia	51.0	726.1	-4.5	2,587	1	4.1	24
Florida	886.2	10,013.2	0.3	1,471	17	4.8	12
Georgia	398.7	4,925.4	0.1	1,440	21	3.5	40
Hawaii	63.0	650.0	-0.2	1,411	25	5.0	8
Idaho	104.3	875.7	1.8	1,303	35	5.8	2
Illinois	387.7	6,089.5	-0.1	1,588	11	3.3	42
Indiana	195.6	3,211.2	0.1	1,276	40	4.5	17
Iowa	110.6	1,560.0	-0.2	1,282	39	3.7	37
Kansas	101.8	1,443.2	-0.1	1,268	44	4.1	24
Kentucky	161.3	2,008.7	-0.1	1,235	46	3.8	34
Louisiana	159.2	1,927.3	-0.5	1,267	45	3.2	44
Maine	67.6	644.7	-0.1	1,332	33	4.2	21
Maryland	199.5	2,754.6	-1.1	1,616	10	3.0	47
Massachusetts	298.5	3,625.5	-0.9	1,980	2	4.9	11
Michigan	316.9	4,412.7	0.0	1,427	23	4.2	21
Minnesota	215.2	2,948.0	0.0	1,505	14	3.7	37
Mississippi	92.2	1,180.9	0.3	1,075	51	5.1	7
Missouri	259.9	2,920.8	-0.1	1,324	34	4.4	18
Montana	62.3	512.3	-0.1	1,296	38	3.3	42
Nebraska	78.5	1,024.0	-0.2	1,275	42	4.0	31
Nevada	111.0	1,592.1	1.7	1,395	27	3.2	44
New Hampshire	67.9	688.8	-0.6	1,652	9	4.8	12
New Jersey	343.1	4,343.1	0.2	1,691	7	3.9	33
New Mexico	69.7	875.3	-0.3	1,275	42	4.1	24
New York	719.1	9,907.5	0.4	1,975	3	5.4	4
North Carolina	392.1	4,991.1	0.9	1,409	26	3.8	34
North Dakota	37.0	430.4	-0.2	1,350	31	2.7	49
Ohio	348.5	5,554.4	0.0	1,358	30	4.1	24
Oklahoma	129.3	1,717.1	0.1	1,217	48	4.1	24
Oregon	177.9	1,975.8	-1.0	1,468	19	3.2	44
Pennsylvania	398.1	6,094.8	0.2	1,470	18	4.0	31
Rhode Island	49.1	500.3	-0.1	1,429	22	6.0	1
South Carolina	192.4	2,344.7	1.5	1,276	40	4.3	20
South Dakota	41.2	458.9	-0.2	1,230	47	4.1	24
Tennessee	225.2	3,281.6	-0.3	1,424	24	3.8	34
Texas	860.8	14,255.2	0.8	1,549	13	4.2	21
Utah	144.6	1,761.6	1.4	1,389	28	4.1	24
Vermont	34.5	309.3	-0.9	1,378	29	5.3	5
Virginia	324.0	4,166.9	0.5	1,585	12	2.6	50
Washington	242.1	3,590.3	-0.3	1,948	5	2.4	51
West Virginia	62.8	698.3	-0.6	1,203	50	3.5	40
Wisconsin	213.9	2,946.2	-0.1	1,346	32	5.3	5
Wyoming	31.7	278.4	-0.8	1,297	37	4.4	18
Puerto Rico	53.5	974.7	-0.2	735	(3)	2.8	(3)
Virgin Islands	3.0	34.7	0.3	1,068	(3)	2.7	(3)
Footnotes: (1) Average weekly wages were calculated using unrounded data. (2) Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands. (3) Data not included in the national ranking.
Note: Data are preliminary. Dashes indicate data not applicable or available. Covered employment and wages include workers covered by Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) programs.

Last Modified Date: Friday, June 12, 2026

Northeast Information Office

County Employment and Wages in New Hampshire — Fourth Quarter 2025

(U.S. average = $1,569)