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The Status of Women in New Hampshire

A flagship report on women in new hampshire

The New Hampshire Women’s Foundation is pleased to present the fourth edition of our flagship publication The Status of Women in New Hampshire 2025 — the most comprehensive compilation of data on women in the Granite State. This bi-annual report is complemented by our other bi-annual sister report, The Status of Girls in New Hampshire.

This report includes 83 indicators of New Hampshire women’s well-being in health, safety, economic security, and leadership. The data highlight a hardworking, resilient, and diversifying population of women. However, the data also enumerates many social, economic, and political barriers facing women and compounding inequities by race, ethnicity, geography, age, and parenting status. These barriers and inequities present opportunities for New Hampshire to invest in women for a more vibrant and prosperous future.

Highlights of report:

  • The high cost of living puts a disproportionate burden on women, especially mothers.In New Hampshire, 7% of women and 6% of men experience poverty. However, the supplemental poverty measure, which accounts for the cost of food, utilities, and housing in each state, adjusts the Granite State’s poverty ranking to 11th lowest in the nation due to higher costs of living. The yearly median cost of child care in New Hampshire for an infant is $21,593, a cost that consumes nearly half of a single mother’s annual income. Though many Granite Staters qualify for food assistance programs, such as Women, Infants and Children (WIC), only about half of those who are eligible, are enrolled. These costs are an even greater burden for women who earn 76 cents for every one dollar men earn, reflecting the Gender Wage Gap.
  • New Hampshire women are struggling with their mental health.Women are more likely than men to suffer from mental health conditions, with nearly half of New Hampshire women experiencing anxiety, and one third experiencing depression. Mental health conditions contribute to over half of maternal fatalities.  Research suggests that women are exposed to unique stressors, such as pregnancy and the postpartum period, a greater likelihood of experiencing sexual and domestic violence, disproportionate burden of care for children and aging parents, and increased stress related to work and home responsibilities, which put them at greater risk of poor mental health.
  • Although New Hampshire’s highest leadership roles are dominated by women, women’s representation decreases at local levels.New Hampshire’s highest leadership roles are dominated by women, including both U.S. Senators, 50% of U.S. Representatives, and a woman Governor.  At the local level, however, that trend reverses. While school board positions are filled by a majority of women, the higher executive roles in towns and cities like mayor, city council, and select board are majority men. Notably, 39% percent of towns have zero women on their select board.
  • Gender disparities persist, and are compounded by race and ethnicity, income, geography, age, and parent status.These disparities are due to historic, political, economic, and social inequities. These barriers and inequities present opportunities for New Hampshire to shift investment in women for a more vibrant and prosperous future.
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  4. New Hampshire Infectious Disease Surveillance Section. (2025). STI/HIV Data Summary Report 2019-2023. New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt476/files/documents2/sti-hiv-5yr-report-current.pdf 
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  13. Office on Women’s Health. (2025). Depression. https://womenshealth.gov/mental-health/mental-health-conditions/depression 
  14. Katella, K. (2023). Maternal Mortality Is on the Rise: 8 Things To Know. Yale Medicine. https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/maternal-mortality-on-the-rise 
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  18. New Hampshire Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System. (2022). Maternal Depression around the time of Pregnancy. New Hampshire Division of Public Health Services. https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt476/files/documents2/prams-maternal-depression.pdf 
  19. New Hampshire Maternal Mortality Committee. (2025). 2024 Annual Review on Maternal Mortality. New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt476/files/documents2/maternal-mortality-report-2024.pdf 
  20. White, C., Swanson, B., Plante, E., and Fournier, D. (2025) Covering the Care: Pregnancy Tops the List of Highest Out-Of-Pocket Costs for NH’s Commercially Insured. UNH Institute for Health Policy and Practice. https://scholars.unh.edu/ihpp/172/ 
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  22. Guttmacher Institute. (2025). Interactive Map: US Abortion Policies and Access After Roe. https://states.guttmacher.org/policies?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22269387563&gbraid=0AAAAAD-Q3tqoHLU9IOFhlxnckkIVznfrp&gclid=Cj0KCQjwxJvBBhDuARIsAGUgNfjrpk0pkzNNraZrKK5_gMZBWy6JoORRCzgcvsmpyCEd2g-L6ZY1sXoaAsZREALw_wcB 
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  24. Friedrich-Karnik, A., DoCampo, I., and Gibson, C. (2025). Medication Abortion Remains Critical to State Abortion Provision as Attacks on Access Persist. Guttmacher Institute. https://www.guttmacher.org/2025/02/medication-abortion-remains-critical-state-abortion-provision-attacks-access-persist#:~:text=Conclusion,and%20those%20helping%20abortion%20seekers. 
  25. National Domestic Violence Hotline. Domestic Violence Statistics. Retrieved June 5, 2025. https://www.thehotline.org/stakeholders/domestic-violence-statistics/ 
  26. New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. (2023). Statewide Stats [Dataset]. 
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  28. National Network to End Domestic Violence. (2025). 19th Annual Domestic Violence Counts Report: New Hampshire Summary. https://nnedv.org/resources-library/19th-annual-domestic-violence-counts-report-new-hampshire-summary/  
  29. International Committee of the Red Cross. (2015). What is Economic Security? https://www.icrc.org/en/document/introduction-economic-security 
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  31. US Census Bureau, “Occupation by Sex and Median Earnings in the Past 12 Months (in 2023 Inflation-Adjusted Dollars) for the Full-Time, Year-Round Civilian Employed Population 16 Years and Over,” American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates Subject Tables, Table S2412, 2023, <https://data.census.gov/table/ACSST1Y2023.S2412?q=S2412> 
  32. Houter, D., and Barry, K. (2025). Rethink Job Design to Attract and Retain Women. Gallup. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/657587/rethink-job-design-attract-retain-women.aspx#:~:text=Embrace%20flexibility.&text=Whether%20it’s%20flexible%20hours%2C%20hybrid,talented%20women%20in%20their%20workforce. 
  33. Carson, J., and Sarup, H. (2024). Fewer Providers, Longer Distances: New Hampshire’s Child Care Landscape. Carsey School of Public Policy. https://carsey.unh.edu/publication/fewer-providers-longer-distances-new-hampshires-child-care-landscape 
  34. Sletten, P., and Williams, J. (2024).  Low Poverty Rate in New Hampshire Does Not Rank Lowest Among States by All Estimates of Poverty. New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute. https://nhfpi.org/blog/low-poverty-rate-in-new-hampshire-does-not-rank-lowest-among-states-by-all-estimates-of-poverty/ 
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  37. Institute for Women’s Policy Research. (2024). Gender and Racial Wage Gaps Worsened in 2023 and Pay Equity Still Decades Away: Annual Gender Wage Gap by Race and Ethnicity, 2023. https://iwpr.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/IWPR-National-Wage-Gap-Fact-Sheet-2024.pdf 
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  43. Qian, Y., Glauber, R., & Yavorsky, J. E. (2023). Covid ‐19 job loss and re‐employment among partnered parents: Gender and educational variations. Journal of Marriage and Family, 85(5), 1138–1152. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12927 
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  46. Glynn, S. J. (2018). An Unequal Division of Labor: How Equitable Workplace Policies Would Benefit Working Mothers. Center for American Progress. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/unequal-division-labor/ 
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  51. Williams, J. (2024). Food Insecurity Continues to Increase Among Granite Staters Since 2021. New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute. https://nhfpi.org/blog/food-insecurity-continues-to-increase-among-granite-staters-since-2021. 
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  53. Food and Nutrition Service. (2024). WIC Data Tables: Annual State Level Data. United States Department of Agriculture. https://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/wic-program 
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  55. Anderson, C., Plata-Nino, G., Bhatti, S., Lewis, I., Matsui, A., and Spina, A. (2024). Gender and Racial Justice in SNAP. National Women’s Law Center and Food Research and Action Center. https://nwlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Gender-and-Racial-Justice-in-SNAP-Updated-2024.pdf 
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  57. New Hampshire Women’s Foundation. (2024). Gender Matters 2024, Fall Issue: Women and General Election Results. https://nhwomensfoundation.org/research-item/gender-matters-2024-fall-issue-general-election-results/  
  58. The General Court of New Hampshire. (2025). New Hampshire House of Representatives and Senate Roster. State of New Hampshire. https://gc.nh.gov/house/members/ 
  59. See “Additional Notes” Section at the end of the report titled “Women in City Government” for further details.
  60. See “Additional Notes” Section at the end of the report titled “Women in Municipal Town Government” for further details
  61. New Hampshire Judicial Branch. (2025). Our Courts. https://www.courts.nh.gov/our-courts 
  62. Forster-Long, LLC. (2024). The American Bench: Judges of the Nation. https://www.forster-long.com/americanbench 
  63. Center for American Women and Politics. (2025). Women in State Legislatures 2025. Eagleton Institute of Politics. https://cawp.rutgers.edu/facts/levels-office/state-legislature/women-state-legislatures-2025 
  64. See “Additional Notes” Section at the end of the report titled “Women in Workplace Leadership” for further details.

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