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I am VT born and raised, I have been out of the state for many years, heading back to New England next spring or so. I have family still in VT, who have suggested that I check out NH as a possibility to come home to.
So I am kind of looking for the 'cliff notes' comparison of the two states from someone who has first hand knowledge.
I started searching though these forums, with the assumption that the two states are quite similar, but there is some real love for NH on here, that has really peaked my curiosity.
Vermont is unabashedly socialist and very expensive, with a 7-9% sales tax depending on the location, income taxes, and property taxes that were in line with NH at least in the area I lived.
Like I said, politics are very liberal, although not everyone in the state is that way. The government is definitely left. Bernie Sanders - need I say more?
Economies are two worlds apart, at least when comparing VT to the southern half of NH. I believe NH is much more business friendly than VT. It seemed to me no one liked development in VT. They wanted to keep it like a national park. That's great until you have to pay the bills.
Vermont is beautiful, though. But then again, so is NH. NH is expensive to live in, but I thought VT was even worse for what you get. I lived there from 2005-2008.
To each his own. Plenty of people are happy in both places.
I lived near Burlington in the late 80's before the drinking age changed, so my perspective of Vermont is probably not close to its current political climate, nor does it extend to the rest of the state. I've lived in many places in New Hampshire, e.g., Portsmouth, Rye, Dover, Concord, Exeter, Merrimack, Nashua, Amherst. Burlington was a hopping college party town, an easy shot to Montreal, and I enjoyed it there, but NH to me seems more a sophisticated rustic (from my limited perspective of VT) and less isolated.
I have no idea about the business climate in VT, but as a small business owner I definitely wouldn't call NH business-friendly.
If you have a lot of money, or a good job set up....Vermont is beautiful, and a great place to live. But if you need work and are not bringing your own cash VT is a difficult place to get started. It's anti-business & very restrictive on building.
The taxes are brutal & complex in VT. Of the 3 northern New England states I think NH has the best lifestyle cocerning taxes, jobs, & housing. If you read the VT board on City-Data you will notice that most of the posters find their home state something of a fiscal & social mess. That said: I would live in Vermont, NH or Maine before I would live in southern New England. Good luck
IMHO - If I had a decent paying job I would prefer Vermont because of its access to Canada and the Adirondacks of NY. The left of extreme right politics are another attraction along with the reasonably progressive tax system.
The only reason we are in NH is we moved for employment and southern NH was close to the job. As I now work in downtown Boston it is still convenient. I find NH to have very regressive business and property taxes that do not take into account business’, person’s, and family's financial condition. This is even worse in the property and population poor towns in the North Country.
After I retire we will need to do a careful financial analysis to see if we can afford to continue to live in NH.
geology is very different. VT is all former ocean silts, etc. NH is granites....
Understand VT is the 'largest home' of folks in the Witness Protection Program. Guess it is sort of out of the way, but close enough to NY or Boston or DC to keep tabs on those folks!
If you have a lot of money, or a good job set up....Vermont is beautiful, and a great place to live. But if you need work and are not bringing your own cash VT is a difficult place to get started. It's anti-business & very restrictive on building.
The taxes are brutal & complex in VT. Of the 3 northern New England states I think NH has the best lifestyle cocerning taxes, jobs, & housing. If you read the VT board on City-Data you will notice that most of the posters find their home state something of a fiscal & social mess. That said: I would live in Vermont, NH or Maine before I would live in southern New England. Good luck
Thank you great insight. I rated all of your posts +, thanks for taking the time. Just as some background I have spent the last 10 years growing a business in FL. 5 years in CA before that. Over the last 12-18 months I have watched my contact list go from just under 200 to less than 50. These were not entry level people, nor were they casual contacts, most were mid to senior level people, or business owners. These were people I have worked with, or for, on a host of projects over the last 10 years. They are all victims of this current economy. It's one thing to here stats on the news, it's quite another when you know them personally.
So I am basically starting over, so if I have to start over, I want to start over in a place where I have seasons again, and access to the mountains again. I have a teenager from a previous marriage that is getting ready to graduate HS, so this is really a perfect time to go. Nothing in the state worth staying for, except Disney World, and that isn't a reality in the FL summer with small children. I really have no desire to raise my younger kids down here. I want them to have access to the outdoors experiences and community that I had growing up. We can play the snow-bird lifestyle for two weeks during the New England winters, to get our fill of Disney, and FL when the temps are tolerable, if we want.
So I started to put out feelers to my relatives back home in VT, I have been on the city-data forum since last November trying to get a feel for the business climate, internet access and speeds of VT. Most of my work is business to business, mostly architects, and ad agencies, usually in a freelance/sub-contractor role. Internet access and speed is priority number one. Both relatives, and things I read online don't paint a favorable picture of business development in VT, but I am hoping that more research will dial in better data.
My Aunt told me to check out upstate NY, or NH, but she is my crazy Aunt (everybody has one) so I didn't initially listen. I don't know if I can do NY, maybe? But I have got to tell you the tone and the flavor of the NH forums, is quite different than that of the VT boards. New Hampshire definitely has my attention!
geology is very different. VT is all former ocean silts, etc. NH is granites....
Understand VT is the 'largest home' of folks in the Witness Protection Program. Guess it is sort of out of the way, but close enough to NY or Boston or DC to keep tabs on those folks!
This has got to be the most unexpected answer to my post. My inner geek saw the geology, and thought 'how interesting'. But then I read the witness protection program part and thought that your comedic timing was impeccable. But then I realized that you were serious... Yikes.
IMHO - If I had a decent paying job I would prefer Vermont because of its access to Canada and the Adirondacks of NY. The left of extreme right politics are another attraction along with the reasonably progressive tax system.
The only reason we are in NH is we moved for employment and southern NH was close to the job. As I now work in downtown Boston it is still convenient. I find NH to have very regressive business and property taxes that do not take into account business’, person’s, and family's financial condition. This is even worse in the property and population poor towns in the North Country.
After I retire we will need to do a careful financial analysis to see if we can afford to continue to live in NH.
I can't even begin to afford to think about retirement, and I am analyzing if I can afford to live in NH. LOL. Thanks for the input, I really appreciate it.
You might want to check out "the Upper Valley" area near Dartmouth college. You could live on the VT side of the border with the lower property taxes & shop in sales tax free NH. I don't know much about upstate NY, but I understand the housing is cheap as opposed to New England.
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