Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Cornish’s best subject grades are an A for health and an A+ for history; its weakest is a D for walkability. Only 4 of New Hampshire’s 187 towns score lower on walkability. Its National Register listings include Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site and Salmon P. Chase Birthplace. Cornish has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Cornish beats most towns.
Census counts: 982 in 1790, a low of 790 in 1940, 1,616 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1866 and 3 maps from 1926 on.
10 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Hampshire), ordered by how far Cornish is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Cornish. Close and well known come first.
in town National Historical ParkSaint-Gaudens National Historical Park28K visitors a year
26 mi Ski areaKillington Resort184 runs · 3,031 ft vertical
22 mi Ski areaOkemo Mountain119 runs · 2,165 ft vertical
15 mi Ski areaMount Sunapee77 runs · 1,469 ft vertical
4 mi MuseumAmerican Precision Museum
40 mi Ski areaStratton Mountain Resort106 runs · 1,899 ft verticalSaint-Gaudens National Historical Park: Ser Amantio di Nicolao, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Killington Resort: NHRHS2010, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Okemo Mountain: Jrclark (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Mount Sunapee: User:Josephbrophy, Public domain · American Precision Museum: Stilfehler, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Stratton Mountain Resort: Rudi Riet from Washington, DC, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Cornish, 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 Cornish.
Cornish beats the New Hampshire average on 4 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 2. 27% of adults feel lonely in Cornish, below both New Hampshire’s towns (30%) and U.S. towns (33%). 30% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Cornish.
| Cornish | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 30% | 33% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 33% | 36% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 16% | 17% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 9.6% | 11% | 14% |
| What stands out | Cornish | NH |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7.2% | 9.5% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 6.4% | 8.1% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.6% | 9.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by the Cornish School District. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cornish Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–8 | Grades PK–8 | 137 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NH on state tests
Most working residents leave Cornish for work: only 4% work in town. 4.7% of residents live below the poverty line in Cornish, below both the New Hampshire town median (6.8%) and the median of U.S. towns (9.6%). The top destinations are Lebanon (34%), Plainfield (9%) and Hartford (7%).
| Cornish | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 4.7% | 6.8% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 3.9% | 10% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 24 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $92,000 | $103,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Cornish has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. Cornish’s July high is 80°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
38 miles of trail in 6 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Michael M. & Claudia Yatsevitch Forest, at 653 acres. The trail density in Cornish is 0.9 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park | 1.9 mi | 188 |
| 2. Michael M. & Claudia Yatsevitch Forest | 0.8 mi | 653 |
| 3. Cornish Town Forest | 0.5 mi | 260 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
People 65 and older are 27% of residents (20% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 17% of residents (21% statewide). 14% of Cornish residents are under 18. 41% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 41% across New Hampshire.
| Cornish | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 54 years | 44.8 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 27% | 20% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 14% | 18% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 41% | 39% | 29% |
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±5.4 points. Across New Hampshire, 50.1% of residents are women. Among residents 35 to 44, 71% are men (NH 51%).
| Cornish | NH | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 8.5% | 9.3% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 5.9% | 8.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 2.6% | 8.7% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 13.9% | 12.7% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.6% | 12.4% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 9.2% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 22% | 15.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 16.6% | 12.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 10.7% | 7.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 2% | 5.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 28.6% | 26.8% | 26% |
| Some college | 12.4% | 17.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 16.4% | 9.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 27.1% | 24.5% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 13.5% | 16.1% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,600, single groups can be off by several points
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 65% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Among 126 New Hampshire towns, just 2 have a lower property crime rate than Cornish. Cornish's reported crime rate is well below New Hampshire's. Among 126 New Hampshire towns, just 5 have a lower violent crime rate than Cornish.
| Cornish | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.6 per 1,000 residents | 4.4 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The typical Cornish home is worth about $452,000, up 11% in a year, 12% below the New Hampshire typical home.
| Cornish | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 94% | 82% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,221 a month | $1,388 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
1 within 15 miles of the center of Cornish
About 1 of every 100 Cornish residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Hampshire.
Where Cornish’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
10 places in Cornish on the National Register of Historic Places.
8 notable people were born in Cornish.
Town in New Hampshire, United States
Cornish is a town in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,616 at the 2020 census. Cornish has four covered bridges. Each August, it is home to the Cornish Fair.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Cornish.
| Town | NH rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cornish | — | — | C | — | C+ | A |
| Plainfield | #27 | A | D | A | A− | A |
| Croydon | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Claremont | #123 | D | C | C | D | C+ |
Cornish has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Cornish reports no FBI crime data of its own. Croydon isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Cornish with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
That is 5.4 years of the area's median household income ($83,269 across the Lebanon-Claremont, NH-VT area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
8 notable people were born here, including Salmon P. Chase and Dudley Chase.
.jpg){kind=link}