Independent New Hampshire Journalism · Northfield, NHBelknap County, across Lake Winnipesaukee, went from 44.7 to 49.3. In both counties, deaths outnumbered births in every yearly period the Census Bureau estimated from mid-2010 to mid-2019 and again from mid-2020 to mid-2024. Both grew anyway, because more people moved in than moved out.
Audio edition (10:43): a synthetic voice reads the article. The charts, tables and fact check are on this page.
On Census Day, April 1, 2020, half of Carroll County’s residents were 54.9 or older. No other New Hampshire county came close. Coos County was next, at 50.4, and the state as a whole stood at 43.6. Ten years earlier, the 2010 Census had put Carroll County’s median age at 48.3. Its rise of 6.6 years was the largest of the state’s 10 counties.
Belknap County, which shares Lake Winnipesaukee’s shoreline with Carroll, went from 44.7 in 2010 to 49.3 in 2020, third-highest in the state. Strafford County was the youngest both times, at 36.9 and then 38.9. Every county got older.
The median age is the midpoint: half of a county’s residents are older than it and half are younger. The figures here come from two U.S. Census Bureau products. The 2010 and 2020 censuses are counts. The bureau’s yearly population estimates, which run to July 1, 2024, start from a base and add births, subtract deaths and account for people moving in and out. As the last section of this article shows, the two products do not start from the same place, so a census figure and an estimate should not be subtracted from each other.
Ten counties, two census counts
Carroll County’s 2020 median was 11.3 years above the state’s. Belknap’s was 5.7 years above it. Coos County sat between the two Lakes Region counties, at 50.4. Hillsborough County, the most populous, was 40.9.
Median Age by County, 2020 Census
Ranked from oldest. The note under each bar gives the 2010 Census median and the change. Bars drawn to scale from zero; Carroll County is the full width.
Granite State Report · Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census Demographic and Housing Characteristics File, table P13; 2010 Census medians as published in the bureau’s county characteristics file for 2010–2019 (cc-est2019-agesex-33), April 1, 2010 Census row. Changes are Granite State Report arithmetic. New Hampshire as a whole: 43.6 in 2020.
Around the lake
Granite State Report’s October 2026 look at seasonal homes on Lake Winnipesaukee used a 2014 state map of public access sites that labels eight municipalities around the lake: Alton, Gilford, Laconia, Meredith and Center Harbor in Belknap County, and Moultonborough, Tuftonboro and Wolfeboro in Carroll County. In the 2020 Census, all eight had median ages above the state’s 43.6. Five of them were above 55.
Median Age in the Eight Municipalities on Lake Winnipesaukee, 2020 Census
Ranked from oldest, with each place’s 2020 Census population.
| Municipality | County | Median age | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wolfeboro | Carroll | 58.2 | 6,416 |
| Tuftonboro | Carroll | 58.1 | 2,467 |
| Moultonborough | Carroll | 57.8 | 4,918 |
| Center Harbor | Belknap | 56.5 | 1,040 |
| Meredith | Belknap | 55.3 | 6,662 |
| Gilford | Belknap | 52.2 | 7,699 |
| Alton | Belknap | 51.9 | 5,894 |
| Laconia (city) | Belknap | 47.5 | 16,871 |
| For comparison | |||
| New Hampshire | 43.6 | ||
Granite State Report · Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census Demographic and Housing Characteristics File, tables P13 (median age) and P1 (total population), county subdivisions. Municipality list from a 2014 state public access map, as reported by Granite State Report on Oct. 14, 2026.
Wolfeboro was the oldest, at 58.2, followed by Tuftonboro at 58.1 and Moultonborough at 57.8. Laconia, the only city among the eight and the largest by population, was the youngest of them at 47.5. The Census Bureau protects 2020 results with a disclosure avoidance system based on differential privacy, its estimates methodology statement notes. For towns of a few thousand people, Granite State Report treats a difference of a few tenths of a year as too small to read as meaningful.
Seniors and children
In the 2010 Census, Carroll County already had more residents 65 or older than children under 18: 9,838 to 8,917. By the 2020 Census the gap had widened to 15,054 to 7,541, nearly two to one. The bureau’s estimate for July 1, 2024, put Carroll County at 17,152 residents 65 or older and 7,479 under 18, or about 2.3 for every child. Those older residents were 32.6 percent of the county, nearly one in three.
Belknap County started the decade the other way around. The 2010 Census counted 12,481 children and 10,057 residents 65 or older. In the bureau’s Vintage 2019 yearly estimates, older residents first outnumbered children on July 1, 2014, 11,964 to 11,762. The 2020 Census counted 15,453 residents 65 or older and 11,252 children. The July 1, 2024, estimate was 16,863 to 10,801, with older residents making up 25.8 percent of the county.
New Hampshire as a whole crossed the same line later. Adding up the county figures, the 2010 Census counted 287,234 children and 178,268 residents 65 or older. The 2020 Census counted 265,954 residents 65 or older and 256,849 children. In the bureau’s yearly estimates, which start from a different base, children still led on July 1, 2020, by 268. A year later, residents 65 or older led, 269,332 to 257,462. By July 1, 2024, the estimate was 303,344 to 249,364. Older residents were 21.5 percent of the state’s estimated population, against 18.0 percent for the nation’s counties combined.
Residents 65 and Older, and Children Under 18
2010 and 2020 Census counts, and the Census Bureau’s estimate for July 1, 2024.
| Place | Year | 65 and older | Under 18 | 65+ share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carroll County | 2010 Census | 9,838 | 8,917 | 20.6% |
| Carroll County | 2020 Census | 15,054 | 7,541 | 30.0% |
| Carroll County | 2024 estimate | 17,152 | 7,479 | 32.6% |
| Belknap County | 2010 Census | 10,057 | 12,481 | 16.7% |
| Belknap County | 2020 Census | 15,453 | 11,252 | 24.3% |
| Belknap County | 2024 estimate | 16,863 | 10,801 | 25.8% |
| New Hampshire | 2010 Census | 178,268 | 287,234 | 13.5% |
| New Hampshire | 2020 Census | 265,954 | 256,849 | 19.3% |
| New Hampshire | 2024 estimate | 303,344 | 249,364 | 21.5% |
Granite State Report · Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, county characteristics files cc-est2019-agesex-33 (April 1, 2010 Census row) and cc-est2024-agesex-33 (July 1, 2024 estimate); 2020 Census Demographic Profile, table DP1. Under-18 counts are total population minus the population 18 and older. Statewide figures and shares are Granite State Report arithmetic from the county rows.
A narrated summary of this article (1:23), read by a synthetic voice. Photographs: Main Street, Wolfeboro, Fletcher6, and Wolfeboro Town Docks, Aja Devork, both via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Main Street, Wolfeboro, Detroit Publishing Company postcard, 1907–1908 series, New York Public Library, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Charts: Granite State Report from U.S. Census Bureau figures. Because it adapts CC BY-SA 3.0 photographs, this video is offered under CC BY-SA 3.0.
More deaths than births, and more arrivals than departures
The bureau’s estimates break each year’s population change into births, deaths and net migration, the number of people who moved in minus the number who moved out. Each yearly period runs from July 1 to June 30. In Carroll, Belknap and Coos counties, deaths outnumbered births in all nine periods of the series from mid-2010 to mid-2019 and in all four periods from mid-2020 to mid-2024. No other New Hampshire county did so in all 13.
Statewide, births outnumbered deaths in each period from mid-2010 through June 30, 2016. Deaths outnumbered births in each of the three periods that followed, through June 30, 2019, and in each of the four periods from July 2020 through June 2024. Hillsborough County was the only county where births outnumbered deaths in all four of those later periods.
Births, Deaths and Net Migration, July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2024
Four yearly periods combined, from the Census Bureau’s Vintage 2024 county estimates.
| Place | Births | Deaths | Births minus deaths | Net migration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carroll County | 1,212 | 2,659 | −1,447 | +3,853 |
| Belknap County | 1,805 | 3,310 | −1,505 | +3,021 |
| New Hampshire | 48,197 | 56,904 | −8,707 | +38,748 |
Granite State Report · Source: U.S. Census Bureau, co-est2024-alldata, fields BIRTHS2021–2024, DEATHS2021–2024 and NETMIG2021–2024 (each covering July 1 of the prior year to June 30). Sums are Granite State Report arithmetic.
In Carroll County, the bureau counted 3,751 of the 3,853 net arrivals in those four years as domestic migration, people moving from elsewhere in the United States. Its estimated population rose from 50,240 on July 1, 2020, to 52,580 on July 1, 2024. Belknap County’s rose from 63,774 to 65,257. The estimates do not say how old the people who moved in were.
Against the rest of the country
The bureau’s July 1, 2024, estimates put Carroll County’s median age at 55.3. Of the 3,144 counties and county equivalents in that file, 48 had a higher median. In New England, only Barnstable County, Mass., was older, at 56.3. Belknap County’s 2024 estimate was 49.0.
Why the census and the estimates disagree
The two Census Bureau products give different median ages for the same day. The 2020 Census put Carroll County at 54.9 on April 1, 2020. The bureau’s estimates base for that same date, the starting point for its yearly estimates, put it at 53.5. For Belknap County the figures were 49.3 and 47.8.
The bureau’s December 2024 methodology statement explains that the estimates do not start from the census tabulations alone. It calls the starting point a “blended base” built from three sources. At the national level, it says, population totals come from the 2020 Census, while “age and sex detail is drawn from 2020 DA,” the bureau’s Demographic Analysis estimates. County figures started from the bureau’s census-adjusted Vintage 2020 county estimates, which were then fitted to the state blended base and to the protected 2020 Census county counts by Hispanic origin. Measured within the estimates alone, Carroll County’s median went from 53.5 in April 2020 to 55.3 in July 2024, and Belknap’s went from 47.8 to 49.0.
The growth of the state’s population, census by census, is traced in Granite State Report’s history of New Hampshire’s census counts from 1790 to 2020.
— Granite State Report
Your Turn
Tell us: do you live year-round in a Lakes Region town? What has changed in your town, its schools, its volunteer fire and ambulance crews or its businesses, as its population has aged? Write to granitestatereport@gmail.com. No person or agency named in this article was asked to comment for it. Any of them may write to the same address; a response will be added here with its date.
Fact check
| # | Claim | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2020 Census median ages: Carroll 54.9, Coos 50.4, Belknap 49.3, Sullivan 47.2, Rockingham 45.4, Grafton 43.7, Cheshire 43.6, Merrimack 43.4, Hillsborough 40.9, Strafford 38.9; New Hampshire 43.6. | VERIFIED | U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census DHC, table P13 (P13_001N), counties and state. |
| 2 | 2010 Census median ages: Carroll 48.3, Belknap 44.7, Coos 46.4, Sullivan 43.9, Rockingham 42.2, Grafton 41.2, Cheshire 40.7, Merrimack 41.4, Hillsborough 39.3, Strafford 36.9. | VERIFIED | Census Bureau, cc-est2019-agesex-33, YEAR 1 (“4/1/2010 Census population” per the file layout), MEDIAN_AGE_TOT. |
| 3 | Carroll’s 6.6-year rise was the largest of the 10 counties; every county rose; Carroll’s 2020 median was 11.3 years above the state’s and Belknap’s 5.7 above. | VERIFIED | Granite State Report arithmetic from rows 1 and 2 (54.9 − 48.3 = 6.6; 54.9 − 43.6 = 11.3; 49.3 − 43.6 = 5.7). |
| 4 | Hillsborough was the most populous county in the 2020 Census (422,937). | VERIFIED | 2020 Census DHC, P1_001N, counties. |
| 5 | Eight municipalities on Lake Winnipesaukee and their 2020 medians and populations: Wolfeboro 58.2 (6,416), Tuftonboro 58.1 (2,467), Moultonborough 57.8 (4,918), Center Harbor 56.5 (1,040), Meredith 55.3 (6,662), Gilford 52.2 (7,699), Alton 51.9 (5,894), Laconia 47.5 (16,871). All above 43.6; five above 55. | VERIFIED | 2020 Census DHC, P13_001N and P1_001N, county subdivisions of Belknap and Carroll counties. |
| 6 | The eight municipalities on Lake Winnipesaukee are Alton, Gilford, Laconia, Meredith, Center Harbor, Moultonborough, Tuftonboro and Wolfeboro. | ATTRIBUTED | 2014 state public access map, as reported by Granite State Report, Oct. 14, 2026. |
| 7 | The Census Bureau’s estimates methodology describes 2020 Census counts as protected by a disclosure avoidance system using differential privacy. | ATTRIBUTED | Census Bureau, Methodology for the United States Population Estimates: Vintage 2024, December 2024, “Base Population.” |
| 8 | Carroll County residents 65+ and under 18: 2010 Census 9,838 and 8,917; 2020 Census 15,054 and 7,541; July 1, 2024 estimate 17,152 and 7,479 (32.6 percent 65+; about 2.3 to 1). | VERIFIED | cc-est2019-agesex-33 (YEAR 1) and cc-est2024-agesex-33 (YEAR 6), AGE65PLUS_TOT and POPESTIMATE minus AGE18PLUS_TOT; 2020 Census DP1 (DP1_0024C; DP1_0001C minus DP1_0021C). 17,152 / 52,580 = 32.6%; 17,152 / 7,479 = 2.29. |
| 9 | Belknap County: 2010 Census 12,481 children and 10,057 aged 65+; older residents first outnumbered children in the July 1, 2014 estimate, 11,964 to 11,762; 2020 Census 15,453 and 11,252; July 1, 2024 estimate 16,863 and 10,801 (25.8 percent 65+). | VERIFIED | cc-est2019-agesex-33 (YEAR 1, YEAR 7 = 7/1/2014) and cc-est2024-agesex-33 (YEAR 6); 2020 Census DP1. |
| 10 | New Hampshire: 2010 Census 287,234 children and 178,268 aged 65+; 2020 Census 265,954 aged 65+ and 256,849 children (19.3 percent 65+); July 1, 2020 estimate children ahead by 268 (259,293 to 259,025); July 1, 2021 estimate 269,332 aged 65+ to 257,462 children; July 1, 2024 estimate 303,344 to 249,364 (21.5 percent 65+). | VERIFIED | Granite State Report sums of the 10 county rows in cc-est2019-agesex-33, cc-est2024-agesex-33 and 2020 Census DP1. |
| 11 | Residents 65+ were 18.0 percent of the July 1, 2024 estimated population of all U.S. counties combined. | VERIFIED | cc-est2024-agesex-all, YEAR 6: 61,179,918 / 340,110,988. |
| 12 | Deaths outnumbered births in all nine yearly periods mid-2010 to mid-2019 and all four mid-2020 to mid-2024 in Carroll, Belknap and Coos, and in no other New Hampshire county in all 13. | VERIFIED | co-est2019-alldata (BIRTHS/DEATHS 2011–2019) and co-est2024-alldata (2021–2024); periods per the file layouts. |
| 13 | Statewide, births exceeded deaths in each period from mid-2010 through June 30, 2016; deaths exceeded births in the periods ending 2017, 2018 and 2019 and in each period 2021–2024; Hillsborough was the only county with more births than deaths in all four later periods. | VERIFIED | Same files; state natural change 2011–2019: +2,245, +1,847, +1,712, +1,061, +388, +518, −101, −355, −121; 2021–2024: −1,684, −2,431, −2,229, −2,363. |
| 14 | July 2020–June 2024 births, deaths, net migration: Carroll 1,212, 2,659, +3,853; Belknap 1,805, 3,310, +3,021; New Hampshire 48,197, 56,904, +38,748. Carroll domestic migration 3,751. | VERIFIED | co-est2024-alldata; Granite State Report sums of the four yearly fields. |
| 15 | Estimated population July 1, 2020 to July 1, 2024: Carroll 50,240 to 52,580; Belknap 63,774 to 65,257. | VERIFIED | co-est2024-alldata, POPESTIMATE2020 and POPESTIMATE2024. |
| 16 | July 1, 2024 estimated medians: Carroll 55.3, Belknap 49.0; 48 of 3,144 counties had a higher median than Carroll; in New England only Barnstable County, Mass. (56.3) was older. | VERIFIED | cc-est2024-agesex-all, YEAR 6, MEDIAN_AGE_TOT; Granite State Report ranking (Connecticut appears by planning region in this file). |
| 17 | April 1, 2020 estimates base medians: Carroll 53.5, Belknap 47.8, versus 2020 Census 54.9 and 49.3. | VERIFIED | cc-est2024-agesex-33, YEAR 1 (“4/1/2020 population estimates base”); 2020 Census DHC P13. |
| 18 | The methodology statement calls the starting point a “blended base” from three sources and says nationally “age and sex detail is drawn from 2020 DA”; county data were raked to state blended base and protected 2020 Census county counts by Hispanic origin. | ATTRIBUTED | Census Bureau, Methodology for the United States Population Estimates: Vintage 2024, December 2024. |
| 19 | Photographs: Fletcher6, Oct. 14, 2012, CC BY-SA 3.0; Aja Devork, uploaded May 14, 2014, CC BY-SA 3.0, sign reading “Danger Thin Ice.” | VERIFIED | Wikimedia Commons file pages, read Oct. 17, 2026. |
| 20 | GSR’s Oct. 14, 2026 seasonal-homes and census-history articles and their permalinks. | VERIFIED | Granite State Report, permalinks confirmed. |
School enrollment reports, town reports, ambulance call logs and the dates on them are what build the record. Confidentiality respected where possible. granitestatereport@gmail.com · (603) 931-9264.
Editor’s note. Census counts of median age and of residents by age are drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 Census Demographic and Housing Characteristics File and Demographic Profile, and from the April 1, 2010 Census rows of the bureau’s 2010–2019 county characteristics file. Estimates for July 1 of each year, and births, deaths and net migration, are drawn from the bureau’s Vintage 2019 and Vintage 2024 county estimates files and their file layouts. The description of the estimates base is from the bureau’s Vintage 2024 methodology statement. Rankings, sums, shares and differences are Granite State Report arithmetic from those files.
Corrections: Granite State Report corrects verified errors promptly and appends a dated note identifying what changed and when. The corrections policy and the corrections register are public, and correction notes are never removed.
