The population of Nashua is up 1.2% from what it was in April 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It’s a healthy rate as long as housing stock keeps pace. (File Photo)
The populations of Manchester and Nashua, New Hampshire’s largest cities, have rebounded from pandemic-era declines over the last few years, but slow housing growth may temper any economic gains, according to U.S. Census Bureau numbers released last week.
Manchester has an estimated population of 116,818 and Nashua of 92,435, for gains of 1% and 1.2%, respectively, since April 2020. Both lost residents in 2020 and 2021 before population picked back up, according to the Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 population estimates for cities and towns, released Friday.
Population growth of 0.5-1.5% is considered an ideal healthy rate for a city, allowing the economy to expand and tax bases to grow without overwhelming municipal services, infrastructure, or the environment, according to the Census bureau.
But that pace only works if housing stock, necessary to sustain population growth and healthy economy, keep up, the Census says.
The population growth in Manchester and Nashua follows a trend of mid-size cities holding steady or gaining population, while larger cities have had declining populations over the past five years, particularly in the Northeast.
Some of the greatest growth was in smaller cities that are right outside of big cities.
“Big-city growth slowed significantly between 2024 and 2025, with some major hubs even seeing small declines,” said Matt Erickson, a statistician in the Census Bureau’s Population Division. “In contrast, midsized cities found a ‘Goldilocks zone’ where domestic and international migration, paired with new housing, helped prevent the sluggish growth seen in small towns and larger metropolitan centers.”
In the fastest-growing areas, housing stock increases have kept up with population increases, the Census bureau said.
The missing piece for New Hampshire is that housing growth, which is below the national rate.
The nation’s housing stock — defined as the total number of housing units — increased 1% between 2024 and 2025, with 1.4 million units added, to 148.3 million, according to the Census Bureau’s population and housing growth numbers for 2020-2025, released earlier this month.
From April 2020, to July 2025, the nation’s housing stock increased by 5.5%, with 7.8 million units added.
New Hampshire from July 2024 to July 2025 increased its number of housing units by 0.7%, with 4,695 added, ranking it 41st in the U.S. for housing growth. It’s made a 3.7% gain since April 2025, adding 23,360 units, ranking the state 35th for housing growth percentage in the U.S.
The housing estimates include new residential construction, as well as estimated new manufactured housing (mobile homes), with housing units lost to fire, natural disasters and other issues subtracted.
With the state already in a housing crisis, the lack of housing stock will become more of an issue as the population grows. New Hampshire must increase its housing stock by about 90,000 units by 2040 to stabilize prices and accommodate population growth, according to industry experts and a 2023 housing needs assessment.
Census figures in March also showed that more than half of New Hampshire renters are cost-burdened – paying more for housing than what they can afford – as are a third of home-owners.
Manchester, Nashua and beyond
Manchester and Nashua are in Hillsborough County, which has nearly a third of the state’s population, 433,415 in 2025, an increase of 2.45% from 2020’s 422,944.
Manchester has the 11th greatest population of New England cities, and Nashua is 19th. In the U.S. they ranked 263rd and 377th.
Both cities lost population between April 2020 and July 2021, then gained it back to exceed April 2020 levels by July 2025.
Manchester, which had a population of 115,660 in April 2020, dropped 0.47% of its population, to 115,127 in July 2021, before gaining ground and growing 1.51% to 116,818 by July 2025.
Nashua lost population at a lower but slower rate, dripping from 91,335 to 91,085 by July 2023. But tween July 2023 and 2025, population increased 1.47%.
Hillsborough county’s – and the state’s – jackpot municipality was the town of Merrimack, which had a 10.88% increase in population between April 2020 and July 2025, to 29,699.
Two towns in western Rockingham County that are considered part of the greater Nashua-Manchester area also had big increases, with Londonderry up 6.63%, to 27,844 and Salem up 5.73% to 31,869.
The two remaining Hillsborough County towns with populations of more than 20,000 were up as well – Bedford had a 2.46% rise, to 23,973, and Hudson was up 2.40%, to 26,001.
The only 20,000-plus municipality in the Nashua-Manchester area that had a population loss over the five-year period was the Rockingham County town of Derry, which was down 2.76%, to 33,990.
Seacoast rising
New Hampshire’s population increased 2.71% between April 2020 and July 2025, to 1,415,342 from 1,377,573, with all 10 counties showing gains.
Aside from southern Hillsborough/western Rockingham County, some of the biggest gains in the state between 2020 and 2025,were in the southeastern corner of the state.
In Strafford County, along the southern Maine border, Dover had 5.7% population increase, to 34,623 and Rochester had a 3.8% population increase, to 33,117.
Portsmouth, in Rockingham County, had a 4.9% increase, growing to 23,028 residents.
Rockingham County had an overall increase of 3.10% and Strafford County’s population increased 3.12%.
Of the two remaining cities with populations higher than 20,000, Concord, with a population of 44,587, was up 1.4%. Keene, in southwestern New Hampshire, with a population of 23,072, was up 0.56%.
Carroll County had the biggest county population increase, 5.21%. All 10 of the state’s counties had increases. The county population 5-year percentage increases and what their population was in 2025:
- Carroll, 5.21%, 52,784
- Strafford, 3.12%, 135,043
- Rockingham, 3.10%, 324,077
- Merrimack, 2.74%, 158,078
- Hillsborough: 2.45%, 433,415
- Grafton: 2.28%, 93,225
- Cheshire: 2.23%, 78,269
- Belknap: 2.22%, 65,147
- Sullivan: 2.06%, 43,961
- Coos: 0.236%, 31,343
New England rising
Most of northern New England’s mid-sized and smaller cities increased in population, though Boston, New England’s largest city at 672,273, lost 0.8% in the five-year period.
Portland, Maine, often compared to Manchester, but actually much smaller in size, gained 2.2% in population for a July 2025 total of 69,911. Westbrook, which borders Portland to the west, shared the biggest increase in Maine – 5.7% – with Auburn, about an hour northwest of Portland. Westbrook’s 2026 population was 21,565 and Auburn’s was 25,441.
Lewiston, across the Androscoggin River from Auburn and often paired with it as one metro area, was up 4.7% to 38,866. Bangor, Maine’s third-largest city, had a 2.4% population increase, to 32,518.
South Portland, across the Fore River from Portland, was up 1.9%, to 27,001.
Worcester, Massachusetts, New England’s second-largest city, was up 3.6%, to 213,862.
Lowell, Massachusetts, across the border from Nashua, had a 3.8% increase, to 119,971 over the five-year period. Lawrence, Massachusetts, northeast of Lowell and across the border from the Salem, New Hampshire, area, gained 0.2%, for a population of 89,320.
National population growth
The top five fastest-growing 20,000-plus population cities in the nation, according to the Census Bureau, were in Texas, with four of them clustered near the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro area and the fifth outside Houston. Celina, Texas, near Dallas, was the fastest-growing city in the nation, with a 24.6% increase in population from the year before.
Forney, Texas, also part of the Dallas suburbs, had a 78.9% population increase over the five-year period.
The South dominates the lists of fastest-growing and highest-gaining cities, according to the Census figures, with 10 of the 15 fastest-growing cities as well as 11 of the 12 largest numeric gains.
Austin, Texas, has joined the ranks of 12 U.S. cities with at least 1 million residents with its 2024-2025 increase.
Raleigh, North Carolina, gained enough population between 2025 and 2025 to join 38 other cities that have more than 500,000 residents.
Big-city growth slowdowns “were most pronounced in the Northeast, where regional trends such as a drop-off in population gains from net international migration and domestic migration patterns favoring warm-weather destinations trickled down into these major population centers,” the Census Bureau said.
These articles are being co-produced by Nashua Ink Link and Granite State News Collaborative and shared with partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.