Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The best of Sutton’s subject grades are an A+ for safety, an A for health, and an A− for history; the weakest is a C− for walkability. No town in New Hampshire scores higher than Sutton on safety. Sutton has 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Matthew Harvey House and Pillsbury Memorial Hall. Sutton has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Sutton beats most towns.
Census counts: 520 in 1790, a low of 487 in 1960, 1,978 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1891 and 5 maps from 1928 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Hampshire), ordered by how far Sutton is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Sutton, 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 Sutton.
Sutton reports less crime per resident than 99% of the U.S. towns and cities we grade. Sutton’s property crime rate is 1.4 per 1,000 residents, below both New Hampshire’s towns (4.4) and U.S. towns (9.9). Only 5 of the 126 New Hampshire towns we compare have a lower violent crime rate than Sutton.
| Sutton | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.4 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
Its public schools are run by the Kearsarge Regional School District. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Kearsarge Regional High School, with 485 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kearsarge Regional Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 410 | B |
| Kearsarge Regional High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 485 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NH on state tests and graduation
Sutton beats the New Hampshire average on 2 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 27% of Sutton adults feel lonely, below both the New Hampshire town median (30%) and the median of U.S. towns (33%). 14% of Sutton adults report frequent mental distress.
| Sutton | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 30% | 33% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 16% | 17% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 20% | 25% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 9.4% | 11% | 14% |
| What stands out | Sutton | NH |
|---|---|---|
| More adults seeing a dentist | 74.1% | 68.8% |
| More adults getting cholesterol checked | 90.4% | 88.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Most working residents leave Sutton for work: only 4% work in town. Sutton’s median household income is $130,000. Since 2013, Sutton has added 102 jobs, to 449 in 2023.
| Sutton | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $130,000 | $103,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 29 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 4.8% | 6.8% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 4.4% | 10% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Sutton has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. The July high in Sutton is 80°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
46 miles of trail in 18 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Black Mountain Forest, 1,102 acres with 4.6 miles of trail.
| Sutton | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 13% | 18% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 1.1 miles per square mile | 1.2 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Black Mountain Forest | 4.6 mi | 1,102 |
| 2. King Hill Reservation | 3.6 mi | 445 |
| 3. Webb/Crowell Forest | 1.2 mi | 97 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Adults 18 to 34 are 15% of residents (21% statewide). 44% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Sutton. Sutton has grown 4.1% since 2020, to 2,064 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Sutton | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 48.1 years | 44.8 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 44% | 39% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 22% | 20% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 21% | 18% | 22% |
48% women, 52% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3 points. Across New Hampshire, 50.1% of residents are women.
| Sutton | NH | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 8.8% | 9.3% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 11.6% | 8.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.3% | 8.7% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 6.8% | 12.7% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.5% | 12.4% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 17.4% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 15.1% | 15.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13.3% | 12.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 8.3% | 7.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 2.8% | 5.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 22.4% | 26.8% | 26% |
| Some college | 19.4% | 17.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 11.1% | 9.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 27% | 24.5% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 17.3% | 16.1% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 2,100, single groups can be off by several points
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 58% of U.S. communities. Since 2005, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Sutton.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The typical Sutton home is worth about $495,000, up 2.6% in a year, close to the New Hampshire typical home. Among 127 New Hampshire towns, just 8 have a higher share of households owning their home than Sutton.
| Sutton | New Hampshire towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 96% | 82% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,656 a month | $1,388 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Sutton. Close and well known come first.
35 mi LakeLake Winnipesaukee
34 mi MountainMount Monadnock
8 mi Ski areaMount Sunapee77 runs · 1,469 ft vertical
33 mi Stadium & arenaSNHU Arena
11 mi Ski areaRagged Mountain Resort42 runs · 1,103 ft vertical
25 mi National Historical ParkSaint-Gaudens National Historical Park28K visitors a yearLake Winnipesaukee: No machine-readable author provided. JohnJHenderson~commonswiki assumed (based o, Public domain · Mount Monadnock: Jonwmcinenrey, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mount Sunapee: User:Josephbrophy, Public domain · SNHU Arena: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0 · Ragged Mountain Resort: Tom Morgan, Public domain · Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park: Ser Amantio di Nicolao, CC BY-SA 3.0
2 within 15 miles of the center of Sutton
About 5 of every 100 Sutton residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New Hampshire.
Where Sutton’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
3 places in Sutton on the National Register of Historic Places.
8 notable people were born in Sutton.
Town in New Hampshire, United States
Sutton is a town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,978 at the 2020 census. Sutton includes the villages of Sutton Mills (shown as "Sutton" on topographic maps), North Sutton, South Sutton and East Sutton. North Sutton is home to Wadleigh State Park on Kezar Lake.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Sutton.
| Town | NH rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sutton | — | — | C | A+ | B | A |
| Newbury | — | — | C | A− | B | A |
| Warner | #30 | A− | C | A+ | B | A |
| New London | #29 | A− | D | A− | B | A+ |
| Wilmot | — | — | C | A+ | B | B+ |
Sutton, Newbury and Wilmot have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Compare Sutton with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
That is 5.1 years of the area's median household income ($97,004 across the Concord, NH 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 John S. Pillsbury and Matthew Harvey.
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