Pay gaps and workforce dynamics across New Hampshire
Women in New Hampshire are earning less than men and are less likely to be in the workforce, which can have major implications for family finances and the state’s economy.
Pay gaps and workforce dynamics across New Hampshire
Women in New Hampshire are earning less than men and are less likely to be in the workforce, which can have major implications for family finances and the state’s economy.
In 2024, full-time, year-round working men had a median income of $75,397 compared to $61,442 for women in the state, meaning that the median-income woman earned only 81% of what the median-income man had earned that same year. Among the 25 occupational categories included in U.S. Census Bureau data, women had higher median earnings in only four categories, with some of the largest gaps favoring men among health diagnosing and treating practitioners (50.2%) and personal care and service occupations (52.9%).
These gaps are even larger for women of color. While New Hampshire data is limited, available data shows that almost all racial and ethnic groups have lower per capita incomes than white non-Hispanic Granite Staters. Nationally, a gender pay gap among full-time, year-round workers existed across all racial and ethnic groups in 2024.
While women earn less than men in almost all occupational categories, pay gaps can be exacerbated by differences in how, and how much, people are participating in the labor force. In 2025, Granite State women ages 25-54 had a labor force participation rate around 5.3 percentage points lower than men of the same age (84.3% vs. 89.6%). Women also comprised a smaller proportion of the state’s workforce despite holding nearly half of the state’s private sector jobs, suggesting that women may be less likely to commute out of state for work and may be more likely to hold multiple parttime positions that often pay lower wages and provide fewer opportunities for benefits.
Women are also more likely to be engaged in both paid and non-paid caregiving roles. During the first quarter of 2025, women comprised about 90.6% of New Hampshire’s early care and education workforce and around 84.7% of the home health care workforce, which are sectors with wages typically far lower than the statewide average. At the same time, the high cost of child care and care for older adults may push more women to reduce their hours or leave the workforce altogether to care for family members.
Despite these challenges, women’s earnings, stemming from almost half of the jobs based in the state, are a crucial part of the economy. With slowing population growth and more older adults reaching traditional retirement ages, investments in each individual worker, whether through higher wages, more education or other access to opportunities, will likely become even more important for the state’s labor force and economic well-being.
Jessica Williams is a senior policy analyst with the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute. The NHFPI Policy Memo is a partnership of the NH Fiscal Policy Institute and NH Business Review.
