Durham, New Hampshire

Area Profile

10,681 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Durham, in Strafford County.

Area Score unavailable

Missing required signal: growth. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 2% of 3,904 cities measured86
Housing affordabilityTop 45% of 4,223 cities measured84
Climate3681st of 4,223 cities measured59
Physical resilienceTop 45% of 4,182 cities measured63
Access3180th of 4,226 cities measured82
Economic stability3924th of 4,226 cities measured30
The quick read

Durham ranks in the top 2% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 2.3% and median household income of $112,070.

Rent takes 14% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 4.4 times that income.

A typical July reaches 81°F and a typical January falls to 15°F, on thirty-year normals.

At a glance

Population
10,681
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$112,070
Top 13% nationally
Density
3,531/sq mi
3.0 sq mi of land
Median age
20.1
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Strafford County
New Hampshire
Metro area
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
Nearest major airport
MHT
30 mi · Manchester Boston Rgnl
Median home value
$498,000
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 2.3% is lower than 99% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment held steady over the past year, at 76,079 employed residents.

75% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 98% of measured US cities.

Household income is higher than at least 87% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$24,987$112,070Top 13%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,575$25,585Bottom 22%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate12.4%Top 45%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute18.5 minBottom 13%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher75.4%Top 2%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment76,079Top 43%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)1.4%Top 28%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.0%Top 31%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force77,870Top 43%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation52.2%Bottom 26%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$89,620Top 10%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$66,620Top 10%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.5%Bottom 17%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate2.3%Bottom 1%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024112k71k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $112,070 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides72,420$40,910
General and Operations Managers70,950$133,800
Registered Nurses64,240$106,180
Retail Salespersons64,150$36,850
Fast Food and Counter Workers60,130$36,290
Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners43,160$46,550

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Strafford County, NH, which contains this city.

There are 11.3 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
3
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
11.3
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Oyster River High SchoolOyster River Coop School District82512.3
Oyster River Middle SchoolOyster River Coop School District5859.942%67%
Oyster River Preschool Education ProgramOyster River Coop School District3015.0

8.7% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against New Hampshire’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,302 takes 14% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.4 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
13.9%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.4×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,302
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$498,000
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income4.44Top 21%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate53.6%Bottom 12%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2652,284Top 21%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$211$1,302Top 28%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$44,630$498,000Top 12%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income13.9%Bottom 18%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate29.4%Top 13%of 32,0012024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →

No building-permit activity is published for this location by the Census Building Permits Survey.

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 81°F and January a low of 15°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 47.8 inches.

0°20°40°60°80°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station DURHAM 2 N, 2.0 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.8"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation47.8"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low15°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high81°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing46°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

63 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, earthquake and hurricane.

Ice stormElevated
EarthquakeElevated
HurricaneModerate
Inland floodingModerate
LightningModerate
DroughtModerate
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: landslide, winter weather, coastal flooding, strong wind, tornado, cold wave, wildfire, hail.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Strafford County records 1.8 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 15.0 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 22.5 per 100,000 residents in Strafford County.

Homicide
1.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
15.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
22.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
21.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Strafford County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Durham rather than Durham itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 30 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Manchester Boston RgnlMHT30 mi9,250 ft
General Edward Lawrence Logan IntlBOS54 mi10,083 ft
Rhode Island TF Green IntlPVD101 mi8,700 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Other cities in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
BostonSuffolk County666,44264vs Durham
CambridgeMiddlesex County118,79670vs Durham
LowellMiddlesex County118,36862vs Durham
BrocktonPlymouth County105,38654vs Durham
QuincyNorfolk County102,11470vs Durham
LynnEssex County101,70955vs Durham
NewtonMiddlesex County89,04475vs Durham
LawrenceEssex County88,73647vs Durham
SomervilleMiddlesex County81,03667vs Durham
FraminghamMiddlesex County72,39966vs Durham
HaverhillEssex County67,69858vs Durham
MaldenMiddlesex County65,90665vs Durham

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Durham

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
0382415,080$124,056