New Hampshire County Map: All 10 Counties

Under New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated (RSA) Title II, Chapter 24, county executive administration is carried out by three elected County Commissioners. However, the Board of Commissioners does not have the legal authority to enact the county budget or levy taxes on member municipalities.

That power belongs exclusively to the County Convention, which consists of every member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives elected from that county. Because the New Hampshire House is the largest state legislative body in the country with 400 members, Hillsborough County's delegation alone includes over 120 state representatives.

The County Convention convenes annually to review commissioner line items, audit expenditures, and approve the county property tax assessment, which is then apportioned to each city and town based on state equalized property valuations.

Coos County covers 1,801 square miles—nearly one-fifth of New Hampshire's entire landmass. Known as "The Great North Woods," it is crowned by Mount Washington (6,288 ft), notorious for some of the world's most severe recorded weather in the Presidential Range.

Unlike southern New Hampshire where every square inch is incorporated into cities and towns, Coos County contains 23 unincorporated townships, grants, purchases, and locations—such as Bean's Purchase, Chandler's Purchase, Crawford's Purchase, and Dixville Notch.

Because these locations lack municipal town governments, the Coos County Commissioners act as their de facto municipal council, providing emergency road clearing, solid waste disposal, and property tax assessments, funded through the Coos County Unincorporated Places Budget.