Signer's House and Matthew Thornton Cemetery · Photo: Jane023 · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Merrimack have higher incomes than those in 91% of U.S. towns
About one in five work in Merrimack itself; outside it, Nashua draws the most (16%, 7 miles). Below the poverty line: 3.0% of residents, against 7.2% across New Hampshire. For jobs and income Merrimack is better than 97% of U.S. towns (A+); for walkability it is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns (C).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Merrimack and work: the main findings
Merrimack trades workers with the towns around it
Merrimack has about as many jobs (17,967) as working residents (14,929), but they are mostly different people: 12,374 residents leave for work each day while 15,412 people come in. Only 14% of the jobs in Merrimack are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of Merrimack works one town over
34% of working residents work in a town that borders Merrimack: Nashua (16%), Manchester (13%) and Bedford (5%). Next door ↓
Most jobs in Merrimack pay over $40,000 a year
79% of the jobs based in Merrimack pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
How Merrimack earns its Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 75% of U.S. towns). 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, Merrimack could be anywhere from A to A+.
Merrimack by day and by night
On a workday 12,374 residents head out to work, 2,555 work right here, and 15,412 people come in from elsewhere.
About 33,000 people are in Merrimack on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.20 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
79% of the jobs in Merrimack pay over $3,333 a month
17,967 jobs are based in Merrimack.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Merrimack, 2014 → 2024: 16,719 → 17,967. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Merrimack’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where people from Merrimack work
Where Merrimack clocks in
16% of workers
13% of workers
5% 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.
From Merrimack, about 27 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Merrimack workers work from home, vs 17% across New Hampshire. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 12,739 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 Merrimack commutes
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most of Merrimack commutes by car
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 16,129 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). 2.4% of Merrimack households have no vehicle (New Hampshire 4.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Merrimack’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Merrimack is 60th of 1,366 U.S. towns of 21,000 to 40,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Bedford NH | 23,973 | $167K | 2.7% | 1.7% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Glastonbury CT | 35,503 | $157K | 3.8% | 2.9% | 15% | A+ |
| 59 | Mequon WI | 25,120 | $144K | 4.2% | 2.6% | 13% | A+ |
| 60 | Merrimack NH | 29,699 | $127K | 3.0% | 1.9% | 17% | A+ |
| 61 | Matthews NC | 32,769 | $109K | 3.7% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| 62 | South Windsor CT | 27,036 | $145K | 4.9% | 2.4% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 164 | Salem NH | 31,868 | $110K | 5.0% | 2.8% | 18% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 347 | Londonderry NH | 27,844 | $133K | 2.7% | 5.0% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,366 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 16% | 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 Merrimack, the top three, the last and three more from New Hampshire.
The towns next door employ 34% of Merrimack
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Merrimack workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Merrimack | – | A+ | C | 27 min | $127,219 |
| Nashua | 16% | A− | B+ | 26 min | $96,326 |
| Litchfield | under 2% | A | C | 29 min | $162,036 |
| Amherst | under 2% | A | C+ | 33 min | $153,196 |
| Bedford | 5% | A+ | B+ | 25 min | $167,418 |
| Manchester | 13% | B+ | A− | 24 min | $81,007 |
| Hollis | under 2% | A+ | C | 27 min | $168,883 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Nashua. Darker towns draw more of Merrimack’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 2024, 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 Merrimack: questions
What is the median household income in Merrimack?
$127,219 (±$16,220) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,031 across New Hampshire and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Merrimack?
3.0%, against 7.2% across New Hampshire and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Merrimack?
27 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 Merrimack work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Nashua (16%, 7 mi), Manchester (13%, 10 mi), Bedford (5%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Merrimack walkable?
Merrimack is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Merrimack without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Merrimack, from the people who make the trip.
More of Merrimack
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.