Grafton County, New Hampshire covers about 1,750 square miles running from the Connecticut River and the Vermont line east into the White Mountains. It had 91,118 people at the 2020 census and 40 municipalities: one city (Lebanon), 38 towns and the township of Livermore (Wikipedia). The county seat is North Haverhill, a village in the town of Haverhill, and about half the county lies inside the White Mountain National Forest.
Grafton is our home county. Our office is in the Pemigewasset Valley, and most of the homes we sell are in Grafton County towns: Plymouth, Campton, Thornton, Holderness, Waterville Valley and Lincoln. This guide covers the whole county, but it reads it the way we do: from the I-93 corridor outward.
Grafton County at a glance
| County seat | North Haverhill, in the town of Haverhill (county complex at 3855 Dartmouth College Highway) |
| Population | 91,118 (2020 census); 93,225 (2025 estimate) |
| Area | About 1,750 sq mi; 1,708.6 sq mi of land |
| Municipalities | 40: Lebanon (city), 38 towns, Livermore (township) |
| Largest city | Lebanon |
| Colleges | Dartmouth College (Hanover), Plymouth State University (Plymouth) |
| National forest | About half the county is in the White Mountain National Forest |
| Founded | 1769, one of New Hampshire's five original counties |
In this guide
- What is the county seat of Grafton County, NH?
- What towns are in Grafton County, New Hampshire?
- Where is Grafton County on the map?
- Plymouth, Hanover, Lebanon and Littleton: the four hubs
- Grafton County property taxes: 2025 rates by town
- Grafton County NH real estate: what homes cost in 2026
- Schools and colleges in Grafton County
- The White Mountain National Forest in Grafton County
- Grafton County NH property search: deeds, tax cards and listings
- Frequently asked questions
What is the county seat of Grafton County, NH?
The county seat of Grafton County, NH is North Haverhill, a village in the town of Haverhill. Grafton County's own administration page puts the Commissioners Office at 3855 Dartmouth College Highway "in North Haverhill, the County seat." The county complex there covers 757.7 contiguous acres, with the county offices, nursing home and farm.
Grafton County's seat gets three different answers online because Haverhill has several villages. Wikipedia lists the seat as the town of Haverhill, and the county names the village of North Haverhill. Both point to the same place: North Haverhill is part of the town of Haverhill.
Woodsville, Haverhill's largest village on the Connecticut River, is the third answer. Wikipedia's Haverhill article says the courthouse and county offices were in Woodsville until 1972, when they moved to the new complex on Route 10 north of North Haverhill village. Our Haverhill page covers the town and its villages.
What towns are in Grafton County, New Hampshire?
Grafton County, New Hampshire has 40 municipalities. They fall into four regions, and the regions matter more than the county line when you're shopping for a house.
The Pemi-Baker valley and I-93 corridor (our core). Plymouth, Campton, Thornton, Holderness, Rumney, Wentworth, Ellsworth, Waterville Valley, Lincoln, Woodstock, Warren and the township of Livermore. Plymouth is the service town, with Plymouth State University, Speare Memorial Hospital and the courthouse. Lincoln and Woodstock are the Loon Mountain and Kancamagus towns.
The Newfound and Squam edge. Bristol, Bridgewater, Hebron, Alexandria, Groton and Ashland, around Newfound Lake and the Pemigewasset south of Plymouth. Holderness, on Squam Lake, overlaps with the Pemi-Baker group.
The Upper Valley. Hanover, Lebanon, Enfield, Canaan, Grafton, Orange, Dorchester, Lyme, Orford and Piermont, along the Connecticut River and the hills east of it. Hanover is home to Dartmouth, and Lebanon is the county's only city and its main job center.
The North Country and Ammonoosuc valley. Littleton, Bethlehem, Franconia, Sugar Hill, Easton, Lisbon, Lyman, Landaff, Bath, Monroe, Haverhill and Benton. Littleton is the hub for this corner, and Franconia Notch sits at its eastern edge.
One naming trap: the town of Grafton is a small Upper Valley town of its own, separate from the county. Our Grafton town page covers it.
Where is Grafton County on the map?
Grafton County fills the west-central and northern middle of New Hampshire. On a map of Grafton County, New Hampshire, the Connecticut River forms the western border with Vermont, and the White Mountain National Forest covers most of the eastern half. I-93 runs north and south through the middle, from Ashland through Plymouth, Campton, Lincoln and Franconia Notch to Littleton. I-89 crosses the southwest corner at Lebanon.
The neighbors are Coos County to the north, Carroll County to the east, Belknap and Merrimack counties to the south and Sullivan County to the southwest. Lake Winnipesaukee is not in Grafton County. Squam Lake is partly in Holderness, and Newfound Lake is entirely inside the county.
Plymouth, Hanover, Lebanon and Littleton: the four hubs
Grafton County has four towns that act as hubs, and most buyers end up choosing a hub first and a town second.
Plymouth is the hub for the Pemi-Baker valley. Plymouth State University enrolls about 3,700 students (IPEDS 2024–25), and the town has the hospital, the courthouse and I-93 Exits 25 and 26. Its 2025 tax rate, $23.77 per $1,000, is one of the highest in the area. Our Plymouth property tax guide explains why, and the neighboring towns are much lower.
Hanover is home to Dartmouth College. Lebanon, next door, is the county's largest municipality and its only city. Together they make up the New Hampshire side of the Upper Valley job market. Their 2025 rates were $12.78 (Hanover) and $21.53 (Lebanon). See our Hanover and Lebanon pages for the markets.
Littleton is the North Country hub, a walkable Main Street town at I-93 with a 2025 rate of $14.10. Bethlehem and Franconia are next door. Our Littleton page and Bethlehem guide cover that corner.
Grafton County property taxes: 2025 rates by town
Grafton County property tax rates ranged from $6.35 per $1,000 of assessed value in Bridgewater to $31.16 in Canaan in 2025, per the NH DRA's 2025 certified rates. Across the 38 towns and the city of Lebanon, the median was $15.94. The unincorporated township of Livermore, with almost no homes, is left out of those figures. Statewide, the simple average of New Hampshire's 234 town rates was about $17.10.
These are the towns we're asked about most:
| Town | 2025 total rate | County line | Region |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plymouth | $23.77 | $1.15 | Pemi-Baker hub |
| Campton | $17.46 | $1.04 | Pemi-Baker, I-93 |
| Thornton | $11.74 | $0.97 | Pemi-Baker, I-93 |
| Holderness | $9.42 | $1.34 | Squam Lake |
| Rumney | $14.50 | $1.01 | Pemi-Baker |
| Waterville Valley | $9.96 | $0.98 | Ski resort town |
| Lincoln | $12.66 | $1.53 | Loon Mountain |
| Woodstock | $12.37 | $1.09 | Loon / Kancamagus |
| Ashland | $19.19 | $1.23 | Pemi, south of Plymouth |
| Bristol | $13.16 | $1.10 | Newfound Lake |
| Bridgewater | $6.35 | $1.03 | Newfound Lake |
| Hanover | $12.78 | $1.12 | Upper Valley, Dartmouth |
| Lebanon | $21.53 | $1.13 | Upper Valley city |
| Canaan | $31.16 | $1.51 | Upper Valley |
| Littleton | $14.10 | $1.19 | North Country hub |
| Bethlehem | $16.19 | $1.18 | North Country |
| Franconia | $15.94 | $1.73 | Franconia Notch |
| Haverhill | $22.74 | $1.06 | County seat |
Rates are the town-wide total. Some addresses also pay a village district rate on top: Campton Village, Waterville Estates in Campton and Thornton, Hanover's fire districts, and Woodsville and North Haverhill in Haverhill. Your tax card shows which applies.
What is the county line on a Grafton County tax bill?
The county line is the share of the Grafton County budget your town pays, turned into a rate on local assessments. It funds county government, including the jail, the sheriff, the nursing home and the farm. In 2025 the Grafton County line ran from $0.81 per $1,000 in Orange to $2.56 in Groton, per the DRA. In most towns it was about the size of the state education line and far smaller than the municipal and local school lines.
The county line varies even though everyone pays toward one budget. Each town's share of the county tax is based on its share of the county's equalized (market) value. The town then spreads that share over its own assessments. A town that assesses well below market shows a higher county rate for the same real cost. For that reason, never compare two towns on the raw rate alone. Our guide to NH property taxes explains equalization and how to compare bills fairly.
Why are some Grafton County towns so much cheaper?
The cheap towns are cheap because of the school line. The DRA's 2025 breakdown shows it. The local education rate was $1.08 per $1,000 in Waterville Valley, $2.46 in Bridgewater, $2.81 in Hebron and $2.84 in Lincoln. In Canaan it was $19.36, in Lyme $18.60 and in Wentworth $14.57.
In our reading of the DRA breakdown, the low-rate towns have something in common: ski-resort condos, or Newfound Lake and Squam shoreline. That high-value seasonal property spreads school costs over a big tax base. A low rate on a lake town still doesn't mean a cheap house. Lakefront assessments are high, so the bill on the house you want can still be large.
Grafton County NH real estate: what homes cost in 2026
Grafton County NH real estate had a single-family median of $500,000 from January to September 2026, up 8.7% on the year, with a median of 45 days on market, per NHAR (our 2026 market report). Grafton County condos went the other way: the year-to-date median was $350,000, down 7.9%. Most of the county's condos are in the ski towns, Lincoln, Woodstock and Waterville Valley.
Treat a single month's county median with care. Grafton's September 2026 single-family median was $620,000, up 34.8%, but on only 95 sales. That's the mix of homes that happened to close, not a repricing.
Prices within Grafton County real estate vary more by region than by town:
- Upper Valley (Hanover, Lebanon, Lyme): demand there follows Dartmouth and the Lebanon job market.
- Lake towns (Holderness, Bridgewater, Hebron, Bristol): prices follow the water, and frontage on Squam or Newfound carries the premium.
- Ski towns (Lincoln, Woodstock, Waterville Valley): the market is mostly condos and second homes, so short-term rental rules matter.
- The I-93 corridor (Plymouth, Campton, Thornton, Rumney): this is where most of our year-round single-family and land sales happen.
For how the three corridor towns compare, see our Plymouth vs Campton vs Thornton guide.
Schools and colleges in Grafton County
Grafton County schools are organized by school administrative unit (SAU), and an SAU often crosses town lines. Two examples near us:
- SAU 48 (Pemi-Baker) covers Plymouth, Campton, Ellsworth, Holderness, Rumney, Thornton, Waterville Valley and Wentworth. Each town has its own elementary school (Ellsworth has none and tuitions out), and older students go to Plymouth Regional High School. Ashland, in SAU 2, also sends its high school students to Plymouth Regional.
- SAU 35 includes Bethlehem, and the Profile Junior/Senior High School in Bethlehem serves Bethlehem, Easton, Franconia and Sugar Hill.
The county has two universities. Dartmouth College is in Hanover. Plymouth State University is in Plymouth, and it shapes that town's rental market (our guide to homes near PSU covers it).
The White Mountain National Forest in Grafton County
About half of Grafton County's area is inside the White Mountain National Forest, so much of the county can't be built on. That federal land is why the eastern towns have so much trail and so little land for sale, and why a buildable lot next to the forest boundary is scarce. Franconia Notch, the Kancamagus Highway west of the height of land, Waterville Valley, the Welch-Dickey Loop and Mount Moosilauke (4,802 feet) are all in Grafton County. Our guide to the best hikes and waterfalls in the White Mountains covers the trails.
Grafton County NH property search: deeds, tax cards and listings
A Grafton County NH property search has three parts, and each answers a different question.
- Ownership and deeds are recorded at the Grafton County Registry of Deeds, reached from the county's website. That's where you find a deed, a mortgage, an easement or a recorded survey plan.
- Assessments and tax cards are kept by each town, not the county. Ask the town's assessing office for the property record card. It shows the assessed value, the lot size, the building details and any village district.
- What's for sale is in the MLS. Our property search shows current listings across Grafton County with prices and status.
The deed tells you what was bought, the tax card tells you what the town thinks it's worth, and the MLS tells you what the market is asking. You'll want all three before you make an offer.
When you're ready to look at homes, our buyer services page explains how we work with buyers across the county.
Frequently asked questions
What is the county seat of Grafton County, NH?
The county seat of Grafton County, NH is North Haverhill, a village in the town of Haverhill, which is why some sources simply say Haverhill. The county complex is at 3855 Dartmouth College Highway in North Haverhill. The county offices were in Woodsville, another Haverhill village, until 1972.
How many towns are in Grafton County, New Hampshire?
Grafton County, New Hampshire has 40 municipalities: one city (Lebanon), 38 towns and one township (Livermore). The towns run from Hanover and Lyme on the Connecticut River to Plymouth, Campton, Lincoln and Waterville Valley in the White Mountains.
What is the largest town in Grafton County?
Lebanon is the largest municipality in Grafton County and its only city. Hanover, home of Dartmouth College, is next door. Plymouth, home of Plymouth State University, is the largest town in the central part of the county.
What are property taxes like in Grafton County, NH?
Property taxes in Grafton County, NH are set town by town. In 2025, the NH DRA rates ran from $6.35 per $1,000 of assessed value in Bridgewater to $31.16 in Canaan, with a median of $15.94 across the 38 towns and Lebanon. Plymouth was $23.77, Campton $17.46, Thornton $11.74 and Hanover $12.78. The county's share is a small line inside each town's rate.
What is the median home price in Grafton County, NH?
The median single-family home price in Grafton County, NH was $500,000 for January to September 2026, up 8.7% from a year earlier, per NHAR. The condo median for the same period was $350,000, down 7.9%. Homes took a median of 45 days to sell.
Is Grafton County in the White Mountains?
Yes, the eastern half of Grafton County is in the White Mountains. About half the county's area is inside the White Mountain National Forest, including Franconia Notch, Waterville Valley and Mount Moosilauke. The western half is the Connecticut River valley, called the Upper Valley around Hanover and Lebanon.
What colleges are in Grafton County, NH?
Grafton County, NH has two universities: Dartmouth College in Hanover and Plymouth State University in Plymouth. Plymouth State enrolls about 3,700 students (IPEDS 2024–25).