How many people are employed in New Hampshire?

According to Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 data, New Hampshire has 533,259 employees across 34,554 business establishments in 600 tracked industries.

What are the largest industries in New Hampshire?

The largest industries in New Hampshire by employment are Full-Service Restaurants (28,814), General Medical and Surgical Hospitals (27,753), and Limited-Service Restaurants (15,312).

What is the average payroll in New Hampshire?

Average payroll per employee varies widely by industry in New Hampshire. The highest-paying tracked industry is All Other Publishers at $179,125/yr. All data is from Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023.

How many businesses operate in New Hampshire?

New Hampshire has 34,554 business establishments across 600 industries tracked by the Census Bureau County Business Patterns program. Each establishment represents a single physical location or operating unit.

State overview · NH · Census CBP 2023

New Hampshire Industry Benchmarks

Name: New Hampshire Industry Employment and Payroll Benchmarks
Creator: PlainBizBench
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Employment, establishments, and payroll for 600 industries in New Hampshire. Drill into any industry for a New Hampshire-specific view, then cross-reference the national page for margins.

Compiled by PlainBizBench

533K
Workers: 35K
Establishments: 600
Industries tracked

Data updated August 2026

The verdict · New Hampshire

New Hampshire employs 533,259 workers across 600 tracked industries, led by Full-Service Restaurants (28,814 workers).

Health Care and Social Assistance anchors New Hampshire; top-three cumulative share is 49%. Margins stay on national industry pages.

New Hampshire sector employment mix

Share of private-sector employment by NAICS-2 sector (Census CBP 2023). Tile area = workers.

New Hampshire private employment by sector · Census CBP 2023

Health Care and Social Assistance is the clear anchor in New Hampshire (18% of 533,259 private-sector workers (about the 20th percentile of states by employment)), but sibling sectors still take meaningful shares. Read the treemap as an anchor-plus-breadth economy rather than a one-sector state.

#1 · NAICS 62

Health Care and Social Assistance

97,220 · 18%

#2 · NAICS 44

Retail Trade

95,663 · 18%

#3 · NAICS 31

Manufacturing

68,626 · 13%

Anchor economy · Herfindahl 0.114 (open) · top-three 49% of New Hampshire private payroll.

Profit margins are national (IRS SOI); open any industry row below, then the matching national industry page for profitability.

Census CBP firm roll

County Business Patterns NH ANCHORED · CBP

#41/51 · 533,259 workers · 34,554 firms

EMP 533,259
EST 34,554
RANK #41/51
PCT 20th pct
LEAD Health Care and Soci…
SHARE 18% lead
BAND anchored
DENS 15.4 /firm
BOOK 600 NAICS
PHOTO West Virginia

Nearest employment-scale peer: West Virginia (537,890 workers)

According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, New Hampshire ranks #41 of 51 states and territories by total private-sector employment (level-2 sector totals, the same non-double-counted aggregate shown above). Margins stay on national industry pages (IRS SOI). Read with this state → · Lead 6-digit industry →

Census CBP level-2 private employment among this state and nearest nationwide peers

Top Industries by Employment

Industry	Employment	Establishments	Annual Payroll	Avg Payroll/Emp
Full-Service Restaurants NAICS 722511	28,814	1,371	$853.0M	$29,603/yr
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals NAICS 622110	27,753	31	$2.1B	$75,541/yr
Limited-Service Restaurants NAICS 722513	15,312	1,074	$384.7M	$25,126/yr
Elementary and Secondary Schools NAICS 611110	8,931	168	$424.1M	$47,486/yr
Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices NAICS 551114	8,648	163	$1.1B	$122,644/yr
New Car Dealers NAICS 441110	7,109	163	$632.4M	$88,956/yr
Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels NAICS 721110	6,891	314	$239.1M	$34,691/yr
Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars NAICS 722515	6,627	539	$133.2M	$20,092/yr
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors NAICS 238220	5,608	776	$437.0M	$77,932/yr
Child Day Care Services NAICS 624410	5,465	447	$160.6M	$29,388/yr
Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities NAICS 624120	5,434	159	$165.3M	$30,427/yr
Offices of Dentists NAICS 621210	5,209	586	$398.3M	$76,457/yr
Landscaping Services NAICS 561730	5,174	1,027	$310.7M	$60,046/yr
Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers NAICS 713940	4,732	292	$80.4M	$16,988/yr
Electrical Contractors and Other Wiring Installation Contractors NAICS 238210	4,473	682	$328.6M	$73,469/yr
Home Health Care Services NAICS 621610	4,186	111	N/A	N/A
Gasoline Stations with Convenience Stores NAICS 447110	3,988	498	$126.7M	$31,768/yr
Computer Systems Design Services NAICS 541512	3,897	258	N/A	N/A
Family Clothing Stores NAICS 448140	3,680	163	$73.4M	$19,949/yr
Religious Organizations NAICS 813110	3,596	664	$94.9M	$26,404/yr

Scale peers for New Hampshire's anchor economy

Nearest other states by Census CBP level-2 private employment (533,259 in New Hampshire), excluding NH.

West Virginia 537,890 Maine 545,965 District of Columbia 520,480 New Mexico 628,423 Hawaii 437,405 Delaware 435,085 Montana 401,056 Rhode Island 394,740

Disclaimer: New Hampshire (NH) figures on this page are Census CBP employment and payroll counts for informational registry use only, not financial, tax, or business advice. Consult a qualified accountant for decisions about New Hampshire businesses.

Source: Census Bureau County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023 · NH

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from official public datasets for New Hampshire (NH). See our methodology.

Verify with U.S. Census Bureau → · Verify with IRS SOI →