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I got a job in Hanover/Lebanon area and I will be moving to the are soon. I'm moving from a big city and I would like to avoid live in a very rural area (I know I won't find any big city on the area, but that's good, as I'm tired of the chaotic life of big cities) so I'm searchig to live in a good downtown on the area, but Lebanon and Havover seams to be quite expensive and without a lot of options.
Manchester seams to be a very good option for me, but I'm not sure if a daily commute between the two areas would be possible. I'm used to a one hour or more daily commute inside this insane traffic from big cities, but I'm not sure if one hour driving from Manchester to Lebanon are would be a good ideia, I'm afraid of the winter.
I already read some people talk that it is possible and others saying that isn't, so I would like to hear more opinions and tips about the area.
Manchester is an hour-and-a-half from Hanover/Lebanon, and longer in the winter. You can't commute from there unless you're only doing it infrequently.
Housing in the Upper Valley is tight, particularly if you have a limited budget. Where will you be working? Rent or buy? Are you used to driving in snow?
Here are a bunch of threads discussing same. See if your new employer's HR dept maintains housing referrals. Use a realtor. Check the local paper. vnews.com
You could also check White River Junction and West Lebanon if you haven't. Those tend to be a little cheaper, but rental inventory is generally tight in the area in general.
Further afield, Claremont is a pretty sizable town that's cheaper and still a half-hour closer than Manchester/Concord. That said, it's not the greatest place economically and has some issues of it's own. All depends on where you're coming from. As someone who lived in major cities before, I don't really consider the "bad" places in most of NH to be worthy of the name.
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Manchester to Lebanon is ~72 miles. (Concord would be 10 miles shorter, which is slightly more sane). That means on a clear, dry day, with zero traffic anywhere and questionable adherence to the speed limit, you're still looking at an hour.
There is not typically going to be any traffic on I-89 other than a minute or two at the Lebanon off-ramps if it's a DHMC shift change.
I-89 between the two is hilly and you will be doing 50 or less when it's snowing. Which is enough times a year to matter.
I wouldn't consider it to be a good life to be making that commute twice a day.
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Dartmouth maintains an Upper Valley rentals list here, most of which are available to the general public. A good number of those listings don't show up on Craigslist/elsewhere, so I suggest looking through it.
Traffic isn't an issue once you're out past Concord - unless you're trying to get to DHMC at shift change. The area around the hospital gets very congested then.
But it's going to take you over an hour each way and 89 gets dicey in the snow.
Look into Lebanon (which includes West Leb) and Hartford (which includes a few villages, such as WRJ). Heading north to Hanover/Etna, Norwich, and Lyme is going to be out of your budget. To the south, try Windsor or Hartland if you're willing to live in a town of 3-4,000 or else Claremont. Claremont isn't necessarily going to get you cheaper rent than Leb though, because the property taxes are so high (And definitely don't rent sight-unseen in Claremont! There are some sketchy properties and landlords). To the east, Enfield is the most populated but still a small town and will feel pretty remote, not being along one of the highways. I don't think you're going to find anything by heading west into Vermont.
Scouring the listings for Leb and Hartford is going to be your best bet.
Welcome to the Upper Valley! It's a nice place to live. The lack of Targets and shopping malls feels a little odd when you're from somewhere bigger, but I seldom have trouble finding what I need day-to-day. There are great options for outdoor recreation and the arts and it's super family friendly.
As others have said, you don't want to work in Hanover/Leb and live in Manchester, no one does that kind of commute if they don't have to. I stress this particularly if you are "afraid of the winter."
There is often a misconception with folks moving from big cities that a "90 Minute Commute" here is just like a "90 Minute Commute" where they are coming from. Here, a "90 Minute Commute" covers about 75 actual miles (in good weather at least)
You don't say which "big city" you are coming from but I suspect all of the towns here will feel very small to you. If you want any actual walkability then you really want downtown Hanover (very expensive), Lebanon or White River Junction (very hip but getting pricey). Rentals in any of these areas are tight so start looking now.
There are only really 2 big bottlenecks in the Upper Valley commute and it's either the Hanover/Norwich exit of 91 in the morning, or exit 18 off 89 during any work shift time. But if you are working at the College or Hospital, then that's unavoidable.
A lot of folks live in Enfield or Grantham but those are definitely rural, but a decent commute. I live in Windsor and really like it. Hartland is pretty expensive, but Hartford/White River are more reasonable and a quick commute.
You mention Hanover/Lebanon so I assume you have a job already. If you can tell us (roughly) where/who then maybe we can get more specific for you. good luck with the move!
Definitely read through the threads @KCZ listed, lots of good info. This is a great area but every little town is different so you'll probably find it best to rent a place for the first year, as close to work as possible while you explore and figure out where you want to settle longer-term.
There is often a misconception with folks moving from big cities that a "90 Minute Commute" here is just like a "90 Minute Commute" where they are coming from. Here, a "90 Minute Commute" covers about 75 actual miles (in good weather at least)
You don't say which "big city" you are coming from but I suspect all of the towns here will feel very small to you. If you want any actual walkability then you really want downtown Hanover (very expensive), Lebanon or White River Junction (very hip but getting pricey). Rentals in any of these areas are tight so start looking now.
The boldest is a really, really good point. I started to write a long response because at one point I considered a commute from Concord to Lebanon/Hanover (about an hour in good weather) but decided not to post it. In it I mentioned that I had lived in a big city and while a commute in heavy traffic is tedious and in some ways more stressful than an equally-long (time-wise) commute when you're moving freely, that free-moving commute, being MUCH longer mileage-wise, can really wear on you (and your vehicle.) Manchester to the Lebanon area would be close to 150 miles miles round-trip, every day! Do you really want to commute 750 miles a week? And what would happen if (as is not at all unusual) it starts snowing in the afternoon and you have to drive home 75 miles before they've plowed? Or you're stuck behind the plow trucks on the highway?
Some people do that sort of commute out of necessity. Can't get a job close to home, or can't move because spouse works a long drive away in the opposite direction. But I would never, ever advise someone do this by choice - especially if you are new to the state. You'd be setting yourself up for misery.
I'll also add - if you did find yourself up for a long commute, Concord would probably be a much better option. It is smaller than Manchester, but with a lively and less gritty downtown area. It's right on I-89, still about an hour commute in perfect weather.
Also, it may only be 72 miles between Manchester and Lebanon on a map, but unless you live and work adjacent to the exit ramps, that's still a 90 minute door-to-door commute each way, and even more if you work for the college or medical center and have to use an off-site parking lot. And you can easily add 50% to that in the winter. And time for a couple of stops for gas during that 800 miles of commuting each week. Don't do it. Don't even try to commute from Concord, because you may have to go south, then north to get onto I-89 and you won't save any time.
Some people do that sort of commute out of necessity. Can't get a job close to home, or can't move because spouse works a long drive away in the opposite direction. But I would never, ever advise someone do this by choice - especially if you are new to the state. You'd be setting yourself up for misery.
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Originally Posted by KCZ
Also, it may only be 72 miles between Manchester and Lebanon on a map, but unless you live and work adjacent to the exit ramps, that's still a 90 minute door-to-door commute each way, and even more if you work for the college or medical center and have to use an off-site parking lot. And you can easily add 50% to that in the winter. And time for a couple of stops for gas during that 800 miles of commuting each week. Don't do it. Don't even try to commute from Concord, because you may have to go south, then north to get onto I-89 and you won't save any time.
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Unless it's a real necessity, I can't imagine giving up that much time, money and effort in my life just to get back and forth to work.
I can see if you already lived in Manchester, lost your job there and for a time were going to tough it out and commute to Hanover/Lebanon to keep the paychecks coming in if that's where yu found something. But if you're moving into the area from far away, and your job is in Hanover/Lebanon, I just don't see why you'd pick Manchester for your home, it's just too far.
If you're already here for a time and visit Manchester a lot and decide that based on experience that you vastly prefer Manchester, then you can always look to relocate to a job based around Manchester after a year - that'd be my proposal.
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