How Wide Is New Hampshire? Total Distance from East to West

New Hampshire is a state in New England in the United States, and it is one of the 10 smallest states by area in the country. With a total area of only 9,349 square miles, this beautiful northeastern gem is the fifth-smallest state in the country. The landscape is so beautiful in New Hampshire that it is sometimes called “The Switzerland of the United States”. There is so much to learn and explore about New Hampshire, and we’re going to explore some of it. Most importantly, we’re going to answer an important question: How wide is New Hampshire?

By learning about the width and length of a state, we can better plan our road trips, understand geography and distance, and have a better scope of understanding about the world around us. Without further ado, let’s get started!

Where is New Hampshire on a Map?

First, let’s look at exactly where New Hampshire is. As we said before, it’s part of New England, which is a group of six states in the northeast corner of the United States. This group of states is comprised of Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Maine is the largest of the states and Rhode Island is the smallest. Let’s use this interactive map from Google to look at exactly where New Hampshire sits.

You can see on this map that New Hampshire is bordered by a lot of interesting places. First, let’s look north. The Canadian province of Quebec takes up the tiny north and northwest corner of the state. Moving in a clockwise rotation, New Hampshire shared a border with Maine and the Atlantic Ocean. Yes, indeed, part of New Hampshire is coastal. Heading south, Massachusetts takes up the border and gives way to Vermont in the west.

According to the New Hampshire Government website, the geographic center of the state is three miles east of Ashland, New Hampshire, in Belknap County.

How Wide is New Hampshire?

New Hampshire is the 45th-largest – or 5th-smallest – state in the United States and it reaches a total width of only 70 miles. That’s right, this New England state is only 70 miles wide. The extreme width of the state – the absolute maximum width – is 93 miles.

What’s the longest trip from east to west we can take in New Hampshire? Well, New Castle, New Hampshire is the easternmost town in New Hampshire, so we’ll start there and head west. We will set our sights on North Bennington, a small town on the western edge of New Hampshire near the Vermont border. Surprisingly, this trip covers 171 miles and takes three hours and 23 minutes to complete. This trip takes you through forests and mountainous terrain that adds a good deal of mileage to traverse.

How does New Hampshire compare in width to other states and countries? The smallest state in the United States is Rhode Island, with an overall width of only 37 miles. That means that, at its extreme width, Rhode Island would easily fit twice inside New Hampshire, side by side. In extreme contrast, Alaska is the largest state in the United States and has a width of 2,400 miles. That means that you could fit the extreme width of New Hampshire into Alaska 25.81 times. The entire state would fit into Alaska 70 times over.

Population of New Hampshire

The total population of New Hampshire is 1.389 million as of the 2021 census. With a square mileage of 9,349, that means there are about 153.9 people per square mile. This population is dominantly contained in 96 places, of which 13 are incorporated and 83 are census-designated places. New Hampshire is 92.6 percent white, 2 percent Black or African American, 3.2 percent Asian, and 4.6 percent Hispanic or Latino.

From 2017 to 2021, there were 540,498 households with an average household size of 2.46 people per household. The average income in New Hampshire is $37,025. According to SoFi, the average cost of living in New Hampshire is $56,727 per year. You can see that there is a distinct disparity between the average income and the average cost of living. It’s important to remember that these numbers are gathered by taking the average of the highest and lowest earners and housing costs. That means that a lot of people make much less than the average, but a lot of people also pay less for annual living costs than others. This goes both ways – some people make significantly more than the average, and some pay significantly more for living costs.

Major Cities

There are 188 towns or cities in New Hampshire with populations at or above 1,000 residents. Of these cities or towns, only 73 have a population above 5,000 and only 29 have a population above 10,000. 13 cities have populations above 20,000, and only one has a population above 100,000. Let’s take a look at the ten most populated towns or cities in New Hampshire. We have highlighted the state’s capital city in bold.

When did New Hampshire Become a State?

New Hampshire was one of the earliest states in the United States and is actually one of the original 13 colonies. These colonies would become the 13 first states in the United States. These states were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

The first colony to become a state was Delaware on December 7, 1787, but it was quickly followed by Pennsylvania and New Jersey in the same month. New Hampshire became the 9th state to join the United States on June 21, 1788. However, it was settled significantly before that. The first true colonist settlements in New Hampshire date back to 1623. This is still long after the arrival and existence of Indigenous tribes in the area. According to the Official New Hampshire Government website, Native American tribes lived in the area for at least 11,000 years.

The Indigenous tribes are now collectively called the Abenaki, or “People of the Dawnland”. They are comprised of several separate tribes, including the Cowasuck, Ossipee, Sokoki, Pigwacket, and Penacook people. Unfortunately, many of these tribes disappeared with the arrival of British and European colonists. From conflict to contagion, the arrival of the colonists spelled death and disaster for tribal natives. In modern America, there are now less than 1,000 Abenaki people remaining in New Hampshire.

Summary and Additional Facts

From east to west, New Hampshire is about 70 miles wide, with an extreme width of 93 miles. This small state boasts a north-to-south distance of 190 miles. The state contains 1,300 lakes and ponds, 18 miles of seashore, and over 40,000 miles of river. It is the 9th state to become a part of the United States and now has a population of 1.389 million people.

New Hampshire is home to several attractions and parks, including Story Land, Franconia Notch State Park, the Conway Scenic Railroad, and Echo Lake State Park.

Interestingly, the oldest highway in North America is located in New Hampshire. It is called King’s Highway and it linked all 13 colonies together. It was one of two routes traversable through the colonies, the other being a Native American footpath. King’s Highway was the most important road in colonial America and ran 1,300 miles to connect major colonial cities such as Charleston, South Carolina, and Boston, Massachusetts. You can still go see where the highway was and experience and explore the history of the highway at King’s Highway Historic Site.