Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
2.6 times the library visits per person than the typical New Hampshire town.
Conway grades C− overall, ranked 115th of 125 in New Hampshire, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. It is healthier than 81% of U.S. towns and it has 154 miles of trail and 32% conserved land. On the other side, FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 76% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top. 35% of residents are 65 or older in Conway, above both the New Hampshire town median (20%) and the median of U.S. towns (18%). On incomes, just 7 of New Hampshire’s 187 towns do worse. Green Hills Preserve, at 4,847 acres with 21 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
Where Conway beats most towns.
North Conway Depot and Railroad Yard
Census counts: 574 in 1790, 9,822 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1858 and 4 maps from 1930 on.
7 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Hampshire), ordered by how far Conway is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Conway, 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 Conway.
Conway is a second-home town, draws workers from Fryeburg and beyond and is safe by national standards but not by New Hampshire’s.
Its 14,383 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 92% of New Hampshire towns.
154 miles of trail in 31 parks and preserves. Conway’s trail density is 2.2 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Green Hills Preserve | 21 mi | 4,847 |
| 2. Conway Mitigation Lands | 15.6 mi | 701 |
| 3. Marshall Conservation Land | 10.6 mi | 380 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Conway School District. Two of its 7 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Kennett High School, with 642 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| A. Crosby Kennett Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 308 | C |
| Kennett High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 642 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NH on state tests and graduation
6,553 jobs are based in Conway, 1.5 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 20.6 minutes, against 26.7 across New Hampshire.
44% of Conway working residents work locally. Only 7 of the 126 New Hampshire towns we compare have a lower median household income than Conway. The average trip to work in Conway is 21 minutes.
| Conway | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 44% | 9.8% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $64,000 | $103,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 13% | 16% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Against the 9,806 U.S. towns with household incomes like Conway’s, it is healthier than 97%, so its A− isn’t only a matter of income. Within New Hampshire it is less healthy than 66% of the 126 graded towns: New Hampshire sets a high bar.
29% of adults feel lonely in Conway. Conway beats the New Hampshire average on 2 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 6. 14% of adults report frequent mental distress in Conway.
| Conway | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 30% | 33% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 16% | 17% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 16% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 32% | 35% |
| What stands out | Conway | NH |
|---|---|---|
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 81.4% | 76.8% |
| More adults getting cholesterol checked | 90.3% | 88.3% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 12.8% | 8.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
29.7% of homes are seasonal or vacation homes, against 10.1% statewide, which helps explain the older median age.
Conway has grown 5.1% since 2020, to 10,308 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. Only 7 of the 126 New Hampshire towns we compare have a lower share of children under 18 than Conway. 38% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 41% across New Hampshire.
| Conway | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 55 years | 44.6 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 12% | 18% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 38% | 39% | 29% |
51% women, 49% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.8 points. Across New Hampshire, 50.1% of residents are women.
| Conway | NH | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 7.5% | 9.3% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 5% | 8.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6% | 8.7% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.2% | 12.7% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13% | 12.4% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 7.5% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 14.9% | 15.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 22.2% | 12.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 12.9% | 7.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 6.6% | 5.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 29.7% | 26.8% | 26% |
| Some college | 16.8% | 17.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9% | 9.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 21.4% | 24.5% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 16.5% | 16.1% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Since 1978, 62 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Conway.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
At 25.8 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 94% of New Hampshire’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 252 to 165 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The N Conway weather station, 5 miles away, records that 84 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 95% of U.S. towns.
Conway has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 81° and January nights drop to 8°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The typical Conway home is worth about $456,000, up 2.8% in a year, 11% below the New Hampshire typical home.
| Conway | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 71% | 82% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,095 a month | $1,393 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Conway. Close and well known come first.
Big draw22 mi MountainMount Washington
in town Scenic railwayConway Scenic Railroad
31 mi LakeLake Winnipesaukee
in town Ski areaCranmore Mountain Resort60 runs · 1,127 ft vertical
10 mi Theme parkStory Land
18 mi National forestWhite Mountain National ForestMount Washington: wwoods, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Conway Scenic Railroad: Pi.1415926535, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Lake Winnipesaukee: No machine-readable author provided. JohnJHenderson~commonswiki assumed (based o, Public domain · Cranmore Mountain Resort: Davidafranklin, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Story Land: AnotherMaker, CC BY-SA 4.0 · White Mountain National Forest: Ken Gallager at English Wikipedia, Public domain
None within 15 miles of Conway; the nearest are
About 5 of every 100 Conway residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New Hampshire.
Where Conway’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
7 places in Conway on the National Register of Historic Places.
3 notable people were born in Conway.
Town in New Hampshire, United States
Conway is a town in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. It is the most populous community in the county, with a population of 9,822 at the 2020 census, down from 10,115 at the 2010 census, with another increase up to an estimate of 10,308 in 2025. The town is on the southeastern edge of the White Mountain National Forest. There are five villages in the town: Conway, North Conway, Center Conway, Redstone and Kearsarge. Additionally, it shares a portion of the village of Intervale with the neighboring town of Bartlett. Conway serves as the main economic and commercial hub for Carroll County. Tourism remains Conway's biggest economic engine, with numerous lodging and rental propertie…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
8 towns share a border with Conway.
| Town | NH rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conway | #115 | C− | C | C | B− | A− |
| Madison | #79 | B | C+ | A | C | A |
| Bartlett | #108 | C | C | B+ | C | A |
| Eaton | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| North Conway | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Chatham | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Albany | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Eaton, North Conway, Chatham and Albany aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Conway with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Conway grades C− overall, better than 21% of U.S. towns and #115 of 125 in New Hampshire. It grades A− for health, C for safety and B− for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a C−.
New Hampshire has less crime than most states, so among its own towns Conway sits nearer the middle.
That is 5.3 years of the area's median household income ($86,463 across the county). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
3 notable people were born here, including Abbi Fisher and James Farrington.
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