Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 8,415, settled in 1727.
Bow is one of the best-graded places in America: an A, 16th among New Hampshire's 125 graded towns. CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 98% of the country, crime is low: it reports less per resident than 91% of U.S. towns, and the median household earns $173K. The exception is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $624K, 6.4 years of the Concord area’s $97K median household income. Bow’s median household income is $173,000, above both New Hampshire’s towns ($103,000) and U.S. towns ($80,000). On the outdoors, just 10 of New Hampshire’s 187 towns do better. Nottingcook Forest, at 750 acres with 9.7 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
Where Bow beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Bow | NH |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 5.6% | 9.5% |
Census counts: 568 in 1790, a low of 568 in 1790, 8,229 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1900 and 4 maps from 1927 on.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Hampshire), ordered by how far Bow is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Bow, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 19, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Bow.
Bow trades workers with Concord and other neighbors and is safe by national standards but not by New Hampshire’s; it also has homes that cost more against local pay than most of New Hampshire.
80 miles of trail in 21 parks and preserves. Bow’s trail density is 2.8 miles per square mile.
| Bow | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 2.8 miles per square mile | 1.2 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 21% | 18% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Nottingcook Forest | 9.7 mi | 750 |
| 2. Knox Town Forest | 5.6 mi | 317 |
| 3. Walker Forest | 5.2 mi | 196 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Bow School District. Two of its 6 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Bow High School, with 622 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bow Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–4 | Grades PK–4 | 542 | A− |
| Bow High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 622 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NH on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with New Hampshire is food insecurity: 5.6% of its 6,234 adults worry about having enough food, against 9.5% statewide. Against the 1,598 U.S. towns with household incomes like Bow’s, it is healthier than 82%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
15% of adults get no exercise outside work in Bow. Among 126 New Hampshire towns, just 4 have a lower share of adults who smoke cigarettes than Bow. 31% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Bow.
| Bow | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 30% | 33% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 9.6% | 12% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 16% | 17% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 7.5% | 11% | 14% |
| What stands out | Bow | NH |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 5.6% | 9.5% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 4.4% | 6.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
At 5.1 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 72% of New Hampshire’s graded towns. Violent crime is rare: 2 reported in 2025, 0.2 per 1,000 residents.
The violent crime rate in Bow is 0.2 per 1,000 residents.
| Bow | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.2 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.1 per 1,000 residents | 4.5 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
At 6.4 years of the Concord area’s $97K median household income, the typical home (about $624K) costs more against local pay than in 85% of New Hampshire towns; that ratio is one input to its C− for cost of living.
Typical home values rose 6.9% in the year to September 2026. 88% of Bow households own their home.
| Bow | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 88% | 82% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,539 a month | $1,382 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Bow has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 13° and about 68 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Bow has about as many jobs (4,236) as working residents, but only 370 people both live and work here.
Most working residents leave Bow for work: only 9% work in town. Jobs based in Bow grew to 4,236 in 2023, 816 more than in 2013. The top destinations are Concord (24%), Manchester (17%) and Bedford (5%).
| Bow | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 23% | 16% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 2.7% | 6.8% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 62% of U.S. communities. Since 2006, 7 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Bow.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Bow. Close and well known come first.
34 mi LakeLake Winnipesaukee
34 mi MountainMount Monadnock
26 mi Ancient siteAmerica's Stonehenge
28 mi Theme parkCanobie Lake Park
11 mi Stadium & arenaSNHU Arena
10 mi MuseumCurrier Museum of ArtLake Winnipesaukee: No machine-readable author provided. JohnJHenderson~commonswiki assumed (based o, Public domain · Mount Monadnock: Jonwmcinenrey, CC BY-SA 4.0 · America's Stonehenge: User:Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Canobie Lake Park: Alex1961, CC BY-SA 2.0 · SNHU Arena: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0 · Currier Museum of Art: Struthious Bandersnatch, CC BY-SA 3.0
7 within 15 miles of the center of Bow
About 6 of every 100 Bow residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New Hampshire.
21% of the town is conserved land, across 21 parks and preserves.
5 notable people were born in Bow.
Town in New Hampshire, United States
Bow is a town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 8,229 at the 2020 census, up from 7,519 at the 2010 census, an increase of 9.4%.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Bow.
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Bow grades A overall, better than 92% of U.S. towns and #16 of 125 in New Hampshire. It grades A+ for health, A for safety and A− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
5 notable people were born here, including Mary Baker Eddy and Henry Moore Baker.
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