Graduation Rate
20 New Hampshire Districts Hit All-Time Low Graduation Rates in 2025
One in five NH districts posted their lowest graduation rate on record in 2025, including the capital, second-largest city, and affluent suburbs.
New Hampshire
Education News & Data
Local education reporting from every corner of New Hampshire, grounded in New Hampshire Department of Education data.
Franklin's 29-Point Climb: From 56% to 85% in Five Years
Franklin graduated 84.8% of its Class of 2025, up from a 56.3% trough in 2020, the largest sustained turnaround of any traditional district in New Hampshire.
Concord's Graduation Crisis: Capital City Drops to 73%, Below Manchester for First Time
New Hampshire's capital graduated just 73% of its Class of 2025 — an all-time low, and for the first time, below Manchester.
Dover's Decade: How One City Climbed to an All-Time High of 91.5%
Dover graduated 91.5% of its Class of 2025 — an all-time high and the only large district to set a record in a year when 21 districts hit bottom.
The Shrinking Pipeline: NH Graduating Cohort Has Declined Every Year for a Decade
NH's graduating cohort has shrunk every year since 2015, from 14,780 to 12,980 — a 12% decline producing 1,662 fewer graduates annually.
More Coverage
Charter Schools
The Charter Gap: NH Charter Schools Graduate 17 Fewer Per 100 Than Traditional Districts
NH charter schools average a 72.5% graduation rate vs. 89.3% for traditional districts. Every district below 70% is a charter.
Graduation Rate
Manchester's Quiet Turnaround: 4-Year Streak Lifts NH's Largest District
Manchester has posted four consecutive years of graduation rate improvement, climbing from 67.8% to 75.6% — even as the state average fell.
Equity
Bedford and Londonderry: Affluent Suburbs Join the Graduation Slide
Bedford and Londonderry — two of NH's wealthiest suburbs — both hit all-time low graduation rates in 2025, falling roughly 10 points from 2017 peaks.
Graduation Rate
New Hampshire's Graduation Rate Crashes 1.6 Points After Hitting 11-Year Peak
New Hampshire's graduation rate fell from a record 89.2% to 87.5% in one year — the largest drop in a decade. Dropouts didn't cause it.
Grade Shift
Kindergarten Hits a Record Low, and the Pipeline Has No Fix
NH kindergarten enrollment fell to 10,727 in 2025-26, the lowest non-COVID year on record. The private-school buffer that once padded first grade is fading.
Demographics
NH Pre-K Enrollment Up 39% as K-12 Shrinks
New Hampshire added 1,230 pre-K students since 2012 even as the state lost 30,483 K-12 students. But growth has stalled, and half of districts still offer no program.
District Spotlight
Farmington Has Lost Half Its Students
Farmington's enrollment fell from 1,379 to 698 in 14 years, the steepest decline among mid-size NH districts, raising viability questions.
Governance
One in Five NH Districts Has Fewer Than 100 Students
New Hampshire has 44 districts with fewer than 100 students, yet those districts serve just 1.5% of enrollment. A look at the state's extreme fragmentation.
District Spotlight
Berlin Has Lost Students Every Year for 14 Years
Berlin has declined every year since 2011-12, the longest unbroken streak in New Hampshire, and now enrolls fewer than 1,000 students.
Enrollment
Only 21 Traditional Districts Are Growing
Of 173 traditional public school districts in New Hampshire, 148 have lost students since 2012. The 21 that gained added just 895 students combined.
