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My wife and I are currently planning on relocating out of Nashville to settle down (we are in our late 20's). I have my Bachelors and am in IT. Based on my preliminary research New Hampshire seems like the best fit. She has lived in Nashville her whole life, I have lived here and California, and grew up in Michigan. The reasons we are planning on moving are.
Traffic: It is absurd here, we have had over 700 fatalities this year alone and you spend more time in a bottleneck then not.
Sales Tax: Over 9% on everything including groceries.
Crime: Very high in a lot of Nashville
Weather: The majority of the year is unbearably hot and muggy, not to mention the tornadoes
Outdoor Activities: Unless you go east TN your pretty much out of luck
Housing: Cannot compared to a lot of the Victorian styles in the Northeast, and those that do are easily in the 250K+, if not more
What we are looking for:
-All four seasons, leaning towards winter
-A decent amount of sun
-A good variety of outdoor activities
-Lower Crime
-Being in realistically close proximity to the Atlantic
-Smaller towns, but you can commute to a bigger city
-Decent IT job market (I saw unemployment for both states is under 6%)
Any information anyone could provide would be very much appreciated. Thanks so much in advance!
Best to line up the job before thinking of moving.
You'd be lucky to get a job in the 128 belt - and that is in Massachusetts.
One can communte from southern New Hampsire - but so does just about everyone else living in southern New Hampshire. Making for a long commute with tons of traffic.
There is a fair amount of tech in Southern NH (Dell, Oracle, Intel and others all have a presence here) but I don't know who if anyone is hiring. There are also some other large corporations that have IT needs (e.g. Fidelity) but as this blogger laments, it can be slim pickings: Southern NH Great Employers: Where art thou? - Nashua, NH Patch
In IT, you could basically find employment in an array of places, check the hospitals too. What does your wife do? We (My husband, myself, & children) would love to relocate to NH, we are just trying to figure out a way to make it happen.
Take what posters say here on City-Data with a grain of salt. Not that they do not know what they are talking about or anything. I mean, it is their stomping ground and all. But anywhere you look things are not great. Moving across country is super difficult. But, if you want to do it, you can make it happen. (One of my husband's customers recently moved to NH from FL and LOVE it!)
My wife and I are currently planning on relocating out of Nashville to settle down (we are in our late 20's). I have my Bachelors and am in IT. Based on my preliminary research New Hampshire seems like the best fit. She has lived in Nashville her whole life, I have lived here and California, and grew up in Michigan. The reasons we are planning on moving are.
Traffic: It is absurd here, we have had over 700 fatalities this year alone and you spend more time in a bottleneck then not.
Sales Tax: Over 9% on everything including groceries.
Crime: Very high in a lot of Nashville
Weather: The majority of the year is unbearably hot and muggy, not to mention the tornadoes
Outdoor Activities: Unless you go east TN your pretty much out of luck
Housing: Cannot compared to a lot of the Victorian styles in the Northeast, and those that do are easily in the 250K+, if not more
What we are looking for:
-All four seasons, leaning towards winter
-A decent amount of sun
-A good variety of outdoor activities
-Lower Crime
-Being in realistically close proximity to the Atlantic
-Smaller towns, but you can commute to a bigger city
-Decent IT job market (I saw unemployment for both states is under 6%)
Any information anyone could provide would be very much appreciated. Thanks so much in advance!
After growing up in the Hampton area, my spouse and I moved back to NH 7 years ago, to take care of my aging father. We choose Exeter since it had the only new house on the market, and we thought that the school system would make it easy to sell when my father passed on. The property tax was ridiculous--$13,000--and we had just left Florida where our same-value property cost us only $2,000 a year in property taxes. However, since we were only going to be here a couple of years, we thought the "profit" from the FL house would pay for it, then we'd move back to an affordable area. Of course the real estate crash not only wiped out our FL profit, it locked us into not being able to sell the house. The fact that Exeter's tax rate is so excessive seems to wipe out the advantage of the school system. Over the last 7 years (and my Dad was gone after 2), we have paid $91,000 to the Town of Exeter--making moving here a financial disaster. We will have to move immediately if one of us loses our job, since we have no pensions and our savings earn almost no interest.
So when moving here, realize that any gains from no local income tax or sales tax could be totally offset by property taxes and cost of living. I'd say it takes $100,000 here in southern NH to have the same lifestyle we had with $50,000 in Florida. Interestingly, we have looked at Tennessee for a possible retirement destination due to a better climate and lower cost of living than here.
And if you are looking for a decent amount of sun, NH is not the place to be. We are ranked 43rd out of all the states for sunny days. Vermont is 47th. Best and Worst States: Best States for Sunshine Seasonal depression is very prevalent here, and on the days that are nice, everyone else is out too--making traffic or destination spots a stressful jumble of frustration. The mountains are very pretty in the summer and fall, however, and living in NH lets you enjoy them during the less crowded times when the weather is still good.
In terms of our share of federal dollars--the money our state gets back after sending it to Washington via federal income taxes--we rank very low. We send far more to Washington than we get back; in effect, the NH federal income taxes are used to mainly subsidize other states.
Are you looking northern, central or southern NH? They are as different as night and day. The farther north you go, the less influence felt by ultra-liberal, tax-loving Mass. relocatees. It is amazing how quickly the formerly fiscally-conservative local governments turn to massive overspending, the moment the see a significant percentage of ex-Mass. liberals in their jurisdictions. Overall, the State government fell into fiscal irresponsibility with the election of Governor Lynch in 2004, and they have been raising every fee and tax they had by massive amounts ever since. We don't expect this trend to change, so the cost--and intrusiveness--of government in NH will continue to go up at a rapid rate.
While the southern part has more access to Mass. jobs (which trigger Mass. income tax even if you live here), the cost of living is extremely high, property taxes range from very high to insane, traffic is often a problem since the road system was designed long ago for much smaller populations. We don't have lots of violent crime, but we do have property crimes as more and more young people prowl around with nothing to do, and the lack of jobs makes a huge number of career petty criminals (pretty much everyone who had a home at Hampton Beach has had all their copper piping stolen over the last 2 years).
Politically, southern NH is as liberal as Mass, since slightly more than half the population is ex-Mass residents. They have replaced the fiscally conservative, self sufficient person that formerly made up NH's population. Social services costs are exploding as the ex-Mass. liberals allow local politicians to continue raising tax rates and add programs. The NH that attracted these retirees due to low government costs is now gone: the local governments and the State have racked up huge debts in recent years and are working on every possible way to squeeze more money out of residents. This means even if you are currently charged $13,000 a year for your average colonial-style house, you will STILL see increases of 10% to 15% every single year--recession or not. Housing prices are still crazy, and even though the value of houses dropped 25% since 2007 nationwide, asking prices don't reflect that. School systems are very good, but you pay through the nose for them, and will pay much more every year.
Being near the Atlantic is a double-edged sword, since NH has less than 20 miles of coastline and there are few sandy beaches other than Hampton Beach. And while Hampton Beach offers real estate prices about 40% lower than just a mile away (as well as lower tax rates and better trash services than other southern NH towns), few parts of the Beach have quiet neighborhoods and nice houses. Hampton Beach unfortunately is in easy driving distance from the Boston area, so huge numbers of less-than-desireable tourists can drive up for the day without adding much to the local economy. As for traffic, if the weather is nice, traffic and parking on Hampton Beach is a nightmare.
Central NH is prettier and feels very different from the southern area: is a large tourist area that has major traffic problems during summer and foliage season. Property taxes here can be much lower than in southern NH. There are few non-tourism related jobs here, though. Housing prices are still high, since many retire to this area, and they brought money and bid the nicer properties up. Unfortunately, cost of living all over NH is very high.
Northern NH has even lower property taxes, but very little jobs (even in tourism). Winters are pretty bad, but it would be good for a nature-lover. Housing will be lower than the rest of NH, but still higher than is reasonable (still too many Mass retirees). There are few roads, and much of the land is inaccessible. So the choice of housing is limited.
NH's lack of income tax and sales tax is a huge plus, but there are relatively few jobs here. Working in the border states, where there are more jobs, triggers their income taxes. I think the low published unemployment rate is simply a function of so many of NH residents being retired: we have the oldest median ages in the nation. And the fact that if you lose your job, you'd better move to a state with a lower cost of living.
After growing up in the Hampton area, my spouse and I moved back to NH 7 years ago, to take care of my aging father. We choose Exeter since it had the only new house on the market, and we thought that the school system would make it easy to sell when my father passed on. The property tax was ridiculous--$13,000--and we had just left Florida where our same-value property cost us only $2,000 a year in property taxes. However, since we were only going to be here a couple of years, we thought the "profit" from the FL house would pay for it, then we'd move back to an affordable area. Of course the real estate crash not only wiped out our FL profit, it locked us into not being able to sell the house. The fact that Exeter's tax rate is so excessive seems to wipe out the advantage of the school system. Over the last 7 years (and my Dad was gone after 2), we have paid $91,000 to the Town of Exeter--making moving here a financial disaster. We will have to move immediately if one of us loses our job, since we have no pensions and our savings earn almost no interest.
So when moving here, realize that any gains from no local income tax or sales tax could be totally offset by property taxes and cost of living. I'd say it takes $100,000 here in southern NH to have the same lifestyle we had with $50,000 in Florida. Interestingly, we have looked at Tennessee for a possible retirement destination due to a better climate and lower cost of living than here.
And if you are looking for a decent amount of sun, NH is not the place to be. We are ranked 43rd out of all the states for sunny days. Vermont is 47th. Best and Worst States: Best States for Sunshine Seasonal depression is very prevalent here, and on the days that are nice, everyone else is out too--making traffic or destination spots a stressful jumble of frustration. The mountains are very pretty in the summer and fall, however, and living in NH lets you enjoy them during the less crowded times when the weather is still good.
In terms of our share of federal dollars--the money our state gets back after sending it to Washington via federal income taxes--we rank very low. We send far more to Washington than we get back; in effect, the NH federal income taxes are used to mainly subsidize other states.
Are you looking northern, central or southern NH? They are as different as night and day. The farther north you go, the less influence felt by ultra-liberal, tax-loving Mass. relocatees. It is amazing how quickly the formerly fiscally-conservative local governments turn to massive overspending, the moment the see a significant percentage of ex-Mass. liberals in their jurisdictions. Overall, the State government fell into fiscal irresponsibility with the election of Governor Lynch in 2004, and they have been raising every fee and tax they had by massive amounts ever since. We don't expect this trend to change, so the cost--and intrusiveness--of government in NH will continue to go up at a rapid rate.
While the southern part has more access to Mass. jobs (which trigger Mass. income tax even if you live here), the cost of living is extremely high, property taxes range from very high to insane, traffic is often a problem since the road system was designed long ago for much smaller populations. We don't have lots of violent crime, but we do have property crimes as more and more young people prowl around with nothing to do, and the lack of jobs makes a huge number of career petty criminals (pretty much everyone who had a home at Hampton Beach has had all their copper piping stolen over the last 2 years).
Politically, southern NH is as liberal as Mass, since slightly more than half the population is ex-Mass residents. They have replaced the fiscally conservative, self sufficient person that formerly made up NH's population. Social services costs are exploding as the ex-Mass. liberals allow local politicians to continue raising tax rates and add programs. The NH that attracted these retirees due to low government costs is now gone: the local governments and the State have racked up huge debts in recent years and are working on every possible way to squeeze more money out of residents. This means even if you are currently charged $13,000 a year for your average colonial-style house, you will STILL see increases of 10% to 15% every single year--recession or not. Housing prices are still crazy, and even though the value of houses dropped 25% since 2007 nationwide, asking prices don't reflect that. School systems are very good, but you pay through the nose for them, and will pay much more every year.
Being near the Atlantic is a double-edged sword, since NH has less than 20 miles of coastline and there are few sandy beaches other than Hampton Beach. And while Hampton Beach offers real estate prices about 40% lower than just a mile away (as well as lower tax rates and better trash services than other southern NH towns), few parts of the Beach have quiet neighborhoods and nice houses. Hampton Beach unfortunately is in easy driving distance from the Boston area, so huge numbers of less-than-desireable tourists can drive up for the day without adding much to the local economy. As for traffic, if the weather is nice, traffic and parking on Hampton Beach is a nightmare.
Central NH is prettier and feels very different from the southern area: is a large tourist area that has major traffic problems during summer and foliage season. Property taxes here can be much lower than in southern NH. There are few non-tourism related jobs here, though. Housing prices are still high, since many retire to this area, and they brought money and bid the nicer properties up. Unfortunately, cost of living all over NH is very high.
Northern NH has even lower property taxes, but very little jobs (even in tourism). Winters are pretty bad, but it would be good for a nature-lover. Housing will be lower than the rest of NH, but still higher than is reasonable (still too many Mass retirees). There are few roads, and much of the land is inaccessible. So the choice of housing is limited.
NH's lack of income tax and sales tax is a huge plus, but there are relatively few jobs here. Working in the border states, where there are more jobs, triggers their income taxes. I think the low published unemployment rate is simply a function of so many of NH residents being retired: we have the oldest median ages in the nation. And the fact that if you lose your job, you'd better move to a state with a lower cost of living.
Worth reading again and again. This sums up the "myth" of New Hampshire. Too many think NH is real inexpensive to live in as it has no sales tax and no income tax. Too many read statistics about the unemployment rate and think that New Hampshire must be full of good high paying jobs.
A good story of why some of those who "dream" of New Hampshire should stay where they are. And live better.
This means even if you are currently charged $13,000 a year for your average colonial-style house...
.
$13,000 property tax in S.NH is NOT average. And that is just one exaggeration of many in your post. You had some bad luck, got burned, I get it. But you're making your experience seem like the norm. It isn't.
And.....they forgot to mention that we have ZOMBIES up here in NH ! A lot of them. So be careful
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