New Hampshire has 10 counties with an elected board of commissioners, but their role is narrow: mainly the sheriff's department, county attorney, corrections, and a county nursing home. Virtually all day-to-day local governance — zoning, permits, police and fire, most public meetings — happens at the town or city level, often through the traditional New England town-meeting or select-board system. A resident looking for a public meeting or records request should generally start with their town or city clerk, not the county.

Most states structure local government as a small elected county commission with combined legislative and executive power; New Hampshire instead vests most everyday local governance in towns and cities, a legacy of the New England town-meeting tradition.