© 2026 Sosa Research·Powered by Omega Memory

AboutPrivacyDisclaimerContact
Globe/United States/New Hampshire/Merrimack County

Merrimack County

Central New Hampshire / Concord (state capital), New Hampshire · 154K people · $9.0B GDP

ReportCompareBoard BriefMeridian
Timeline
2026Present
NOW
EVENT HORIZON
2020202620302035204020452050
Central New Hampshire / Concord (state capital)

Future Path

Pick a future path. Every number on this page updates with the impacts and the ranked actions for that path.

Disruption Profile

Baseline + Probable

High — Active disruption underway in key sectors

Moderate — Building pressure in key sectors

Moderate — Moderate exposure across select industries

Moderate — Median household income $82K (-9.3% vs state median) -- near the state median.

Moderate — Moderate exposure across select industries

Low — Moderate exposure across select industries

Low — AI Exposure Index: 30/100 -- lower vulnerability to AI-driven workforce disruption.

Minimal — Limited disruption signal

Minimal — Limited disruption signal

Merrimack County vs New Hampshire Average

Merrimack County exceeds New Hampshire average on 4/9 dimensions. Highest divergence: Social Trust (-20)

Click a dimension label to explore

Merrimack New Hampshire US Avg

Projected impact · 2026

Stakes for Merrimack County

Probable cone · 1.00x

With 79K jobs in Merrimack County and AI exposure at 30/100, here is what the model projects through 2031 under the probable cone (default 5-year horizon — scrub the timeline to extend).

Model: at-risk = workforce × (AI exposure ÷ 100) × ((year − 2020) ÷ 10, capped 0-1) × cone multiplier. Each STEEPE-point improvement preserves ~1% of at-risk jobs. The same formula runs backwards (retrodiction) and forwards (projection), so scrubbing pre-2026 shows what the model says was already exposed by that year.

See per-dimension breakdown

How 7 actions distribute across 4 dimensions, plus near-term vs medium-term lists.

If Merrimack County implements all 7 recommended actions, the model projects these dimensional improvements.

Education Value
68+14 pts
Pre-emptive Reskilling Pipeline: State government clerical & case-processing /Sector-Aligned K-12 + Community College Pipeline /Registered Apprenticeship Expansion: Education & Health Services
AI > AGI > ASI
30+9 pts
Anchor Employer AI Co-Investment Compact /Leverage Broadband Advantage for AI Sector Growth
Economic Disruption
36+8 pts
Reduce Government (state + local) Concentration Risk
Social Trust
38+4 pts
Pre-Positioned Displaced Worker Rapid Response
Near-term (1-3 yr)+35 pts

7 actions within local control

  • - Reduce Government (state + local) Concentration Risk
  • - Pre-emptive Reskilling Pipeline: State government clerical & case-processing
  • - Sector-Aligned K-12 + Community College Pipeline
  • - Anchor Employer AI Co-Investment Compact
  • - Leverage Broadband Advantage for AI Sector Growth
  • - Registered Apprenticeship Expansion: Education & Health Services
  • - Pre-Positioned Displaced Worker Rapid Response

Action Plan

Probable path

Top recommendations for Merrimack County, ranked by estimated impact. 7 total · +35 pts combined.

Who Can Act

Of 7 recommended actions for Merrimack County, 7 are within direct control. Tap a sphere to see the actions and what each one does.

Acting on the 7 local levers alone (+35 STEEPE pts) is the fastest path to shifting the probable→preferred future cone for this county.

Top Employers — Merrimack County

The 10 largest employers shaping the local labor market. Tap any row for the public-data profile and AI-exposure assessment.

Economic Development Authority

Capital Regional Development Council

Central NH Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS)

Website

Target Sectors

Healthcare & Aging Services (Concord Hospital regional system)Workforce Training (NHTI allied-health, mech-trades, IT pipelines)State Government Modernization (eligibility, permitting, court systems)Tourism & Outdoor Recreation (Lakes Region edge, Mt. Kearsarge)Light Manufacturing & Specialty Production (I-93 corridor)

Active Programs

  • +Community College System of NH workforce-training grants via NHTI
  • +NH Department of Business and Economic Affairs incentive programs
  • +Federal BEAD broadband expansion
  • +USDA Rural Development -- central-NH community grants

Recent Wins

Concord Hospital expansion of regional cardiovascular and oncology services
2024
NHTI allied-health workforce program expansion (nursing, surgical tech)
approx $8M+2024

Supporting detail

Open any section to dig into the underlying data.

Layoff history (WARN)

Federal layoff filings on the timeline

WARN Act Notices (2020-2026)

Notices

0

Workers

0

Layoff Rate

0%

of total employment

2025

0

Workers Affected by Year

0
2020
0
2021
0
2022
0
2023
0
2024
0
2025
0
2026

Recent Notices

Source: New Hampshire Employment Security WARN. Federal WARN Act: 60-day notice for mass layoffs (50+ workers) at employers with 100+ employees.

Disruption scenarios

Exponential impact paths driven by the timeline

Exponential Impact Scenarios

Cross-signal alerts

When multiple risk signals converge on this county

Full economic profile

Demographics, employment, sectors, incentives

EVI: stableBASELINENon-Metro (RUCC 4)

Housing & Infrastructure

Median Home Value

$349K

Homeownership

71.8%

Median Rent

$1,280

Broadband Access

91.8%

Avg Commute

25.4 min

Labor Force Part.

64.8%

More expensive than rural northern NH but well below Boston-metro pricing. Post-2020 remote-work inflow tightened inventory along the I-93 corridor and pushed median values up sharply. NH's no-income-tax structure has long attracted out-of-state buyers but Concord remains accessible by NH standards.

Employment by Sector

Government (state + local)21.5%
Education & Health Services21%
Trade, Transportation & Utilities17.2%
Leisure & Hospitality9.8%
Manufacturing (light + specialty)8.4%

Population & Talent

Population

154K

Change Since 2020

+1.2%

Median Age

44.6

Roughly stable: modest in-migration of remote workers from greater Boston and out-of-state retirees attracted by NH tax structure, offsetting younger-resident outmigration to higher-wage labor markets.

State-capital and healthcare-anchored economy. Three durable legs: state government (Concord is the seat of NH state government, including legislature, NH Supreme Court, and most executive agencies), Concord Hospital regional health system (largest non-government employer in central NH), and the NHTI / community-college workforce-training base. Tourism and light manufacturing fill out the private-sector mix. New Hampshire's no-income-tax, no-sales-tax fiscal model constrains state-agency expansion but keeps the cost of doing business competitive. Aging population; roughly an hour from Boston metro via I-93.

Sources

Census QuickFacts: Merrimack County, NHBLS New Hampshire Employment SummaryMerrimack County governmentConcord Hospital

Grant matches

Federal funding aligned to county levers

Target industries

Sectors prioritized by the county strategy

Sectors aligned with the county’s diversification strategy and AI impact assessment.

1.State Government (Concord, state capital)

AI mixed

Concord is the seat of New Hampshire state government, with the State House, legislature, NH Supreme Court, and most executive agency headquarters concentrated in Merrimack County. State employment is the largest single payroll in central NH. AI exposure is mixed: clerical and case-processing roles are vulnerable, while high-touch policy and constituent-services roles are durable. The state's small-government, low-tax political culture constrains agency headcount expansion.

2.Healthcare (Concord Hospital regional health system)

AI tailwind

Concord Hospital is the dominant regional health system serving central New Hampshire, with affiliated facilities, primary-care practices, and specialty clinics across multiple counties. Largest non-government employer in central NH. Serves an aging population with high chronic-disease burden. AI-driven triage, scheduling, clinical-decision support, and aging-in-place tools have outsized impact in this geography given driving distances to tertiary centers in Boston and Lebanon.

Back to New Hampshire

County data: Census ACS, BLS, BEA. Disruption Profile scores 0-100 (higher = more disruption). Timeline adjusts projections.

3.Higher Education & Workforce Training (NHTI)

AI tailwind

NHTI -- Concord's Community College -- is the principal workforce-training anchor for central New Hampshire, with allied health, mechanical trades, and IT programs feeding Concord Hospital, state agencies, and regional employers. Part of the Community College System of NH. Federal workforce dollars and state workforce-development grants flow through NHTI to support retraining pipelines.

4.Tourism & Outdoor Recreation

AI mixed

Merrimack County sits between the White Mountains to the north and the Massachusetts border to the south, capturing tourism flow from greater Boston into the Lakes Region and the mountains. Mt. Kearsarge, lakeside towns, and a network of state parks anchor outdoor recreation. Employment is seasonal and lower-wage but is a meaningful share of the county's private-sector base. Climate variability is a structural risk to winter and shoulder-season products.

5.Light Manufacturing & Specialty Production

AI mixed

Merrimack County retains a light-manufacturing footprint along the I-93 corridor, including precision components, specialty foods, and small contract-fabrication shops. Smaller in scale than the Manchester / Nashua advanced-manufacturing cluster to the south. Direct AI displacement risk is modest in skilled-trade roles and higher in back-office and clerical functions; predictive maintenance and QA tooling are net positives for skilled operators.

Best-case opportunities

What this county wins in the preferred future

Sources

Government, academic, and live data feeds

Census QuickFacts: Merrimack County, New HampshireBLS New Hampshire Employment SummaryMerrimack County, NH (government)Concord HospitalNHTI -- Concord's Community CollegeState of New Hampshire