Photo: BakedintheHole · CC BY 4.0With 0.6 jobs for every working resident, most of Hampstead works elsewhere
Household incomes here are higher than in 85% of U.S. towns. There are 2,680 jobs in Hampstead; 4,797 of its residents have a job. Hampstead grades A for jobs and income and C+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Hampstead
Where Hampstead’s Jobs & income grade comes from
The poverty rate is its strongest input (3.8%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (4.0%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hampstead could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
7% of working residents work in Salem
Where Hampstead clocks in
6% of workers
3% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Who commutes out of Hampstead, and who commutes in
On a workday 4,390 residents head out to work, 407 work right here, and 2,273 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,000 people are in Hampstead on a workday afternoon, 23% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
What Hampstead’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hampstead, 2013 → 2023: 2,073 → 2,680. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Hampstead’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Hampstead takes about 30 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hampstead workers work from home, vs 17% across New Hampshire. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,594 commuters (the 21% who work from home are left out). Across New Hampshire: 87% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How many miles Hampstead commutes
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most trips from Hampstead start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hampstead is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns, #79 of 126 in New Hampshire. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.6% across New Hampshire.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,552 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.0% of Hampstead households have no vehicle (New Hampshire 4.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Hampstead’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 6,400 to 12,300, Hampstead ranks 624th of 2,855 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 132 | Hollis NH | 8,819 | $169K | 1.9% | 2.0% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 236 | Amherst NH | 11,985 | $153K | 4.4% | 1.5% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 274 | Litchfield NH | 8,704 | $162K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 622 | Johnson Lane NV | 6,467 | $121K | 3.3% | 0.8% | 1% | A |
| 623 | Rye Brook NY | 9,955 | $247K | 5.6% | 6.2% | 6% | A |
| 624 | Hampstead NH | 9,110 | $112K | 3.8% | 4.0% | 8% | A |
| 625 | Tamalpais-Homestead Valley CA | 12,085 | $243K | 3.3% | 5.9% | 5% | A |
| 626 | Wildewood MD | 7,552 | $127K | 4.7% | 1.7% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,855 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Hampstead, the top three, the last and three more from New Hampshire.
How Hampstead compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Derry (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hampstead workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hampstead | – | A | C+ | 30 min | $112,348 |
| Atkinson | under 3% | A | C | 28 min | $146,380 |
| Sandown | under 3% | B | D | 33 min | $135,040 |
| Derry | 3% | A | C | 31 min | $108,944 |
| Plaistow | 3% | A− | B | 29 min | $108,317 |
| Kingston | under 3% | A | C | 34 min | $105,330 |
| Danville | under 3% | A− | D | 35 min | $115,104 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Hampstead’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Hampstead: questions
What is the median household income in Hampstead?
$112,348 (±$17,783) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,031 across New Hampshire and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hampstead?
3.8%, against 7.2% across New Hampshire and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hampstead?
30 minutes each way on average, against 27 across New Hampshire and 26 nationally. 21% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hampstead work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Salem (7%, 7 mi), Manchester (6%, 16 mi), Nashua (3%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hampstead walkable?
Hampstead is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hampstead without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hampstead, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hampstead
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.