Is the New Hampshire Driving Test Hard? (2026 Statistics)

The test

The DMV asks 40 questions and requires 80% correct - at least 32 right answers. That leaves a margin of 8 wrong. That places New Hampshire near the middle of the national distribution on test difficulty.

New Hampshire's path from permit to full license

In New Hampshire, a new driver picks up a learner's permit at 15½, holds it for 6 months, qualifies for an intermediate license at 16, and earns a full unrestricted license at 18.

On New Hampshire's roads.

For every 100,000 licensed drivers aged 19 and under in New Hampshire, 8.0 die in a crash each year. The U.S. average is 16.8; New Hampshire ranks 8th lowest of 51.

Across all drivers, New Hampshire's road network sees 0.92 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled. The U.S. average is 1.25.

The country's strictest law on driving with a phone in your hand.

New Hampshire scores a full 6.0 of 6 on our distracted-driving rubric - the only state to do so. The law bans handheld phones for all drivers, prohibits texting and manual data entry for all drivers, and applies a total cellphone ban to teen and novice drivers. New Hampshire has no statewide adult seat-belt requirement. Self-reported belt use is 87%.

What it costs to insure a car here.

Once you have the license, insurance is the real running cost. In New Hampshire, the average driver pays about $987 a year, less than the $1,282 a typical American pays. Here is where that sits next to the national average and the cheapest and priciest states.

About 10% of New Hampshire drivers carry no insurance at all (the national figure is 15.4%), and the least coverage the state lets a driver carry is $25,000 for injuries to one person, $50,000 total for injuries per accident, and $25,000 for property damage. New Hampshire does not force drivers to carry insurance at all; those limits only apply if you do. Roll spend, uninsured drivers, affordability and required coverage together and New Hampshire lands T-42nd of 51 on our insurance-burden score, where 1st is the heaviest.

New Hampshire does not require insurers to discount for a defensive-driving course, though some may still offer one. The same course can also knock points off your record or help dismiss a ticket.

On two wheels.

New Hampshire's motorcyclist fatality rate is 4.76 deaths per 10,000 registered motorcycles - well below the 6.87 U.S. average. New Hampshire has no statewide adult helmet requirement.

DMV's motorcycle knowledge test is 25 questions, with a 80% pass mark. Whether a safety course waives the DMV road test is not something we have verified for New Hampshire, so check with DMV before you count on it. No statewide adult helmet requirement.

On bigger rigs.

The New Hampshire CDL knowledge test is federally standardised - 50 questions, 80 percent to pass, the same content in every state. The CDL knowledge-test fee in New Hampshire is $20. Other fees and endorsement processing run through the DMV.