Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Somersworth grades C overall, 109th among New Hampshire's 125 graded towns, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. It has 14 miles of trail. On the other side, its schools rank behind 85% of the state's. On safety, just 9 of New Hampshire’s 149 towns do worse. Somersworth’s trail density is 1.4 miles per square mile, where New Hampshire’s towns sit at 1.2 and U.S. towns at 0.4. Only 14 of New Hampshire’s 187 towns score higher on hazard risk.
Where Somersworth beats most towns.
Census counts: 943 in 1790, 11,855 in 2020. The archive holds 72 old photos and papers going back to 1859 and 5 maps from 1891 on.
6 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Hampshire), ordered by how far Somersworth is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Somersworth. Close and well known come first.
32 mi LakeLake Winnipesaukee
33 mi Ancient siteAmerica's Stonehenge
16 mi LighthouseCape Neddick Light
37 mi Theme parkCanobie Lake Park
14 mi MuseumStrawbery Banke
15 mi LandmarkFort William and MaryLake Winnipesaukee: No machine-readable author provided. JohnJHenderson~commonswiki assumed (based o, Public domain · America's Stonehenge: User:Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Cape Neddick Light: Stefan Hillebrand, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Canobie Lake Park: Alex1961, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Strawbery Banke: Ken Gallager (Ken Gallager from en.wikipedia), Public domain · Fort William and Mary: AlexiusHoratius, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Somersworth, 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 Somersworth.
Somersworth trades workers with Portsmouth and other neighbors, is safe by national standards but not by New Hampshire’s and has a shorter frost-free season than most of the country, though not than most of New Hampshire.
The biggest park or preserve is Malley Farm Recreation Area, at 158 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Willand Pond Recreation Area | 1.2 mi | 25 |
| 2. Malley Farm Recreation Area | — | 158 |
| 3. Noble Pines Park | — | 13 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Somersworth School District. Two of its 5 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Somersworth High School, with 399 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Idlehurst Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–2 | Grades PK–2 | 341 | – |
| Somersworth High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 399 | D |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NH on state tests and graduation
Within New Hampshire it is less healthy than 73% of the 126 graded towns: New Hampshire sets a high bar.
Somersworth beats the New Hampshire average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 10. 35% of adults feel lonely in Somersworth, above both New Hampshire’s towns (30%) and U.S. towns (33%). 26% of Somersworth adults have been diagnosed with depression.
| Somersworth | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 35% | 30% | 33% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 23% | 23% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 33% | 36% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 16% | 17% |
| What stands out | Somersworth | NH |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 8.2% | 9.8% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 11.4% | 8.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 73% of U.S. communities. Since 2006, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Somersworth.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The Durham weather station, 8 miles away, records that the frost-free season runs about 148 days: shorter than most of the country, but longer than 85% of New Hampshire places with climate records. July afternoons average 82.1°: cooler than most of the country, but hotter than 78% of New Hampshire places with climate records; January nights average 13.5°.
Somersworth has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. About 39 inches of snow falls in a winter. The January low in Somersworth is 14°F.
| Somersworth | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 14°F | 13°F | 22°F |
| July high | 82°F | 81°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
At 25.2 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 93% of New Hampshire’s graded towns.
Somersworth’s property crime rate is 16.4 per 1,000 residents.
| Somersworth | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 16.4 per 1,000 residents | 4.4 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.1 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Somersworth has about as many jobs (5,459) as working residents, but only 647 people both live and work here.
Most working residents leave Somersworth for work: only 11% work in town. The top destinations are Portsmouth (17%), Dover (15%) and Rochester (7%). Half commute less than 13 miles.
| Somersworth | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $75,000 | $103,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 6.7% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 12% | 16% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
People 65 and older are 14% of residents (20% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 26% of residents (21% statewide). Somersworth has grown 2.6% since 2020, to 12,171 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 31% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 41% across New Hampshire.
| Somersworth | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 14% | 20% | 18% |
| Median age | 38.4 years | 45 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 20% | 18% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 31% | 39% | 29% |
53% women, 47% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.8 points. Across New Hampshire, 50.1% of residents are women.
| Somersworth | NH | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.7% | 9.3% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.2% | 8.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.2% | 8.7% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 17.7% | 12.7% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.1% | 12.4% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 13.6% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.6% | 15.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 7.2% | 12.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.8% | 7.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 6.4% | 5.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 23.5% | 26.8% | 26% |
| Some college | 24.5% | 17.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 14.3% | 9.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 21.4% | 24.5% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 10% | 16.1% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
The typical Somersworth home is worth about $445,000, up 2.9% in a year, 13% below the New Hampshire typical home. 58% of households own their home in Somersworth.
| Somersworth | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 58% | 82% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,477 a month | $1,382 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
2 within 15 miles of the center of Somersworth
About 5 of every 100 Somersworth residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New Hampshire.
6 places in Somersworth on the National Register of Historic Places.
5 notable people were born in Somersworth.
City in New Hampshire, United States
Somersworth is a city in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 11,855 at the 2020 census. Somersworth has the smallest area and third-lowest population of New Hampshire's 13 cities.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Somersworth.
| Town | NH rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Somersworth | #109 | C | C | C+ | C− | B+ |
| Dover | #60 | B+ | C− | A− | C+ | A |
| Rollinsford | #69 | B | C− | A | C+ | A |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Somersworth grades C overall, better than 29% of U.S. towns and #109 of 125 in New Hampshire. It grades B+ for health, C+ for safety and C− for schools. Schools is its weak spot, with a C−.
New Hampshire has less crime than most states, so among its own towns Somersworth sits nearer the middle.
That is 3.8 years of the area's median household income ($115,863 across the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro 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.
5 notable people were born here, including John Sullivan and Stuart Chase.
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