Manchester, New Hampshire · city zoning districts · 16 districts
Manchester, NH zoning map & districts
Manchester's zoning ordinance forms Title XV (Land Usage) of the Manchester Code of Ordinances, administered day to day by the Planning & Community Development Department, with a Planning Board handling subdivision and site plan review and a separate Zoning Board of Adjustment hearing variances and special exceptions. Like every New Hampshire municipality, Manchester regulates land use under the state's enabling statute, RSA 674, and must comply with New Hampshire's 2022 statewide accessory dwelling unit law (RSA 674:73), which requires the city to permit at least one ADU by right on lots holding a single-family home. The city currently has an active Zoning Ordinance Steering Committee working on a rewrite of the code, so developers should confirm whether a parcel's applicable standards reflect the ordinance currently in force or a pending amendment.
The code City of Manchester Zoning Ordinance
Manchester zoning map
The city publishes its zoning map at City of Manchester, NH - Official Ordained Zoning Map (24x36, effective March 1, 2026) .
Manchester's Planning & Community Development Department maintains the official zoning map and the Title XV ordinance text; the City Clerk's office processes rezoning petitions.
A published summary is never the authority. The adopted ordinance and the city's official zoning map govern, and both change — verify the district and every standard on your parcel before you rely on it.
How zoning works in Manchester
Manchester's most distinct land-use feature is the Millyard, the 19th-century mill complex along the Merrimack River that has been redeveloped into a dense mix of office, residential, and institutional uses — including the University of New Hampshire's Manchester campus and Southern New Hampshire University's continuing-education offices — under standards tailored to adaptive reuse of the historic mill buildings rather than greenfield construction.
Manchester zoning districts by family
The 16 district codes below are the ones that decide most projects in Manchester, grouped by what they are for rather than by the order the ordinance prints them.
| Code | District | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Residential 6 districts | ||
| R-S | Residential-Suburban Low Density | Manchester's actual lowest-density single-family tier; missing from the prior dataset, which mistakenly called R-1A the lowest tier. |
| R-1A | Residential One Family Medium Density | Medium-density single-family tier — corrected from the prior dataset, which mislabeled it as the lowest-density district. |
| R-1B | Residential One Family High Density | Tighter single-family lots than R-1A. |
| R-2 | Residential Two Family | Duplex-permitting zone; corrected name — the prior dataset wrongly labeled this 'Residential One Family'. |
| R-3 | Urban Multifamily | Core multifamily zone in the older, denser parts of the city. |
| R-SM | Residential Suburban Multifamily | Suburban-format multifamily, different site-plan expectations than R-3. |
| Mixed-use 1 district | ||
| RDV | Redevelopment | Purpose-built mixed-use redevelopment district. |
| Commercial 2 districts | ||
| B-1 | Neighborhood Business | Small commercial nodes serving residential areas. |
| B-2 | General Business | Broader commercial zone along major corridors. |
| Downtown / core 2 districts | ||
| CBD | Central Business | Manchester's downtown core district. |
| AMX | Amoskeag Millyard Mixed Use | The historic Millyard redevelopment district; a real district omitted from the prior dataset despite being the city's signature land-use feature. |
| Industrial 2 districts | ||
| RP | Research Park | Flex/office-industrial park zone. |
| IND | General Industrial/Industrial Park | Manchester's standard industrial zone. |
| Special purpose 3 districts | ||
| C-1 | Civic Institutional | Civic and institutional-use district, not a general commercial zone despite the C prefix. |
| C-2 | Civic Hospital | Carved out for the hospital campuses specifically. |
| CV | Conservation | Protective district for conservation land. |
Manchester zoning — common questions
- How do I find the zoning district for a property in Manchester, NH?
- Manchester's Planning & Community Development Department maintains the official zoning map alongside Title XV of the Code of Ordinances; the Assessor's parcel lookup can help confirm a lot's district before requesting a formal zoning verification.
- Can I build an accessory dwelling unit in Manchester?
- Yes. New Hampshire's statewide ADU law (RSA 674:73) requires Manchester, like all NH municipalities, to allow at least one accessory dwelling unit by right on a lot with an existing single-family home, subject to the city's own size and parking standards.
- Is Manchester rewriting its zoning ordinance?
- The city has an active Zoning Ordinance Steering Committee working on updates to Title XV. Developers evaluating a project timeline should check whether a pending amendment or rezoning could affect their parcel's district before relying on current standards.
Keep reading
← New Hampshire zoning — who holds the zoning power in New Hampshire, under which enabling statute, and the reforms that override local rules.
Other New Hampshire cities
- Concord 13 districts
- Derry 10 districts
- Dover 15 districts
- Nashua 13 districts
- Rochester 12 districts
The zoning reference → — every state, plus city-level district guides like this one.
Manchester zoning summaries on this page are provided for information, not legal advice. Confirm every project against the current adopted code for the jurisdiction.