[2] It is located in New Hampshire's Lakes Region, slightly southeast of the state's geographic center.

Belknap County comprises the Laconia, NH Micropolitan Statistical Area, which in turn constitutes a portion of the Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT Combined Statistical Area.

The Belknap Mountains lie along the shore of Winnipesaukee east of Laconia and feature Mount Major, known for its numerous hiking trails and Gunstock Mountain, home of a popular ski resort.

Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion is a concert venue in Gilford which features major national touring music acts, while the Laconia Motorcycle Week attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every June.

Funspot Family Fun Center, located in Weirs Beach, is the largest video game arcade in the world.

[3] It is named for Dr. Jeremy Belknap, a renowned preacher, historian, and author of The History of New Hampshire.

Most of the county's water area is part of Lake Winnipesaukee.

24.40% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 60,088 people, 24,766 households, and 16,609 families living in the county.

[10] In terms of ancestry, 20.8% were English, 20.7% were Irish, 8.5% were Italian, 8.0% were German, 7.1% were French Canadian, and 6.6% were American.

Since 1888, only three Democrats have won Belknap County: Woodrow Wilson in 1912 when the Republican Party was mortally divided between William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt; 1964, when Lyndon B. Johnson swept the Northeast due to Republican Barry Goldwater's conservative views regarding the Civil Rights Movement; and 2008, when Barack Obama swept every county in New England bar one.