Concord, Manchester, or Nashua to live? (rent, crime rate, job market)

[cowbell76]

Originally Posted by bigbear99

cowbell, we need to be careful to distinguish the urban core from the rest of Concord. Concord is typical of NH towns in having a very large geographic footprint while having a much smaller settled core. Even Nashua and Manchester have large footprints in relation to their population, although Nashua, as a commuter town to Boston, has a lot of totally car-dependent suburbs on its fringes.

Towns in NH are a lot like townships in the Midwest, and unincorporated parts of counties in the mid-atlantic. Most folks from outside New England don't realize this, since in most places a town is a settled area. Not here.

Sigh. You have lived in NH for less than two years, and always in the Monadnock region (which is actually where I live now too.)

I lived a couple towns outside of Concord for the better part of a decade, so at that time, all of my shopping and most of my dining, as well as employment for a time, was done in Concord. I thought I knew Concord based on that, but it was still a relatively superficial knowledge. It wasn't until we moved into Concord that I actually got to know it and realize how extensive it is, and that includes the settled areas.

Given the short time that you have lived in NH and the fact that the closest you have lived to Concord is about an hour away, you can't possibly even have the experience with it that I had when I lived a couple towns outside of it. It is NOT just Main Street and Loudon Road. Any of the cities mentioned are conceivably walkable. All of them have residential areas close enough to job centers. All of them including Concord have more residential areas that are not within walking distance of job centers.

I have lived in New England my entire life (except internationally for a couple years) and in NH for probably 6 times as long as you have. So I do understand New England towns.

I've been car-free in both Boston and Montreal. The situation in Concord is a little bit different because the city is supposed to plow major sidewalks (like Loudon Road and Clinton Street) but they'll take their time doing it, and then the snow sort of melts, then refreezes, melts, gets filled with footprints, then refreezes. Then more snow falls, etc.. That's why it becomes impassable. It's that deep and "post-holed" concrete-like surface that develops, which could genuinely injure you. Sometimes it's clear, but some winters it's pretty much never clear. There are of course side streets that are as you describe, with some homeowners clearing in front of their houses, and others not. At least in major cities, if you're walking on major routes, the sidewalks are pretty much totally clear in the winter. Concord drops the ball in this regard.

[greenbeanie]

[quote=cowbell76;49118530]Agree. Sometimes people think we're just being intentionally discouraging when we say this, or they think we just don't understand that they just want a "simple" life and don't really need to go many places. (I'm not saying this about this OP.) But it is completely impossible in most locations, and difficult even in the biggest cities. This is something some people just don't get because some other places have much more developed mass transit systems for similar-sized areas (or areas that "feel" about the same) and you can go from municipality to municipality on a shared bus system. I've lived car-free for years in two major cities (with bad winters), and would have loved to do it when I first moved here, but it would have made my life a nightmare.

It seems maybe doable for the OP, with prioritizing that need, but only because it sounds like the spouse would have a car. I'm not sure what OP would do if she had, for instance, a dentist appointment during the workday. You can plan things so you're on one of the limited bus routes between home and work, but any other errand would throw a wrench in the works. Plan for a cab in advance?

OP, are you able to drive if you had a car? Any reason you couldn't get another car in the future?


Thanks for all your advice cowbell and yes I am able to drive...don't like driving in snow but capable. We currently live in Vermont where public transport is awful but luckily husband and I have similar schedules and carpool together. It seems to work quite well but realistically not common that things work out this good. We may have to invest in a small vehicle in future. I appreciate all your advice and love the idea of Concord. It just seems like more of a place we can see ourselves. Manchester is cool as well but a little scared to move there. We visited last week and stayed at the Radisson. Car was vandalized first night during our stay with rearview mirror smashed off. We are trying to be optimistic that this is isolated incident but still a little shaken up by it and questioning how often these types of things occur.

[cowbell76]

Ah! Thanks for the extra info. - so you do know northern New England, so you're way ahead of some people looking to move here.

Unfortunately, that incident at the Radisson is not really isolated. That whole area is pretty filled with crime. They have redeveloped the whole mill area, with luxury apartments, and cars are vandalized and broken into. There was even one stretch of time pretty recently where something like 14 cars were set on fire (by juveniles, I think.)

One more thing and then I'll let it drop, because I've said a lot about Concord. I really love Concord and am still a little conflicted about moving out. Although there are medical offices scattered around the city, your best bet for work would be in the Concord Hospital area (which includes the hospital, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Concord, Concord Orthopedics, and a number of other medical offices) and you could conceivably walk and not even need to take the bus. You could live in Hillside View Apartments, or South Concord Meadows. Your walk to work would be short, safe, and quite pleasant, and even doable (but less pleasant) in the winter. You would also be living in very convenient proximity to 89/93, for your spouse's commute, and close to a lot of conservation land and hiking trails. It's just that there are a lot more rentals out in areas that aren't (at least practically speaking) within walking distance of the main medical area in Concord.

[greenbeanie]

Thank you all for your responses! We currently live in Vermont so familiar with winter weather which I agree can be absolutely dreadful. Looking to move as close to work location and maybe share a car with the hubby if needed. There may be times when public transport would come in handy. Also safety is a concern (not getting hit by cars as well as violent crimes). We recently made a trip to Manchester and loved all the restaurants downtown. Our truck was vandalized the first night so wasn't sure if this is the norm or just bad luck for us. I know these things can happen anywhere just crazy that we were there only one night and rearview mirror got smashed off. Needless to say, Vermont also has these petty crimes (vandalism, burglary, theft...) and stuff got stolen out of our truck in Montpelier Vermont the first week we moved into our place 3 years ago. Nothing has happened since then.

[chris410]

Originally Posted by bigbear99

You also have it wrong about major cities and sidewalk clearing. The "clearing" is often an army of pedestrians compressing the snow into ice. But you wouldn't know that. You've never lived outside New England.

Actually from what I have seen in other states, the clearing of the sidewalks usually lies on the property owner not the state or city. If the snow on the sidewalk is not cleared in a timely manner the property owner is fined. and with that method I have seen the sidewalks getting cleared a LOTTTT faster than it takes Concord to clear them. (1-2 days)

[Yac]

9 deleted posts later, I feel I have to remind some of you to stay on topic, and that your ego, or whatever this silly exchange was about really, is not the topic - at least not in this thread.
Yac.

[greenbeanie]

Thank you all for taking the time to help someone that you have never met in their move. I appreciate all of the advice with different perspectives and views. Again thank you for helping me be a bit less clueless and giving me things to ponder on and think about before we take the plunge Greenbeanie

[Peony321]

Concord is a wonderful city to live and work in. With a thriving downtown and relatively low crime rate. I lived there for 14 years and love and miss it greatly.

[Prismagraph]

To OP--You might also consider Keene or Dover (population ~30,00 in each, with real downtowns). They are both college towns, and so lots of cultural amenities. They both have a good amount of affordable living options, have decent transit systems due to college bus systems + local/regional bus systems (and in Dover, there is an Amtrak station linking Maine and Boston, and all points out of Boston's large national network). Both towns are quite safe. If you land a job at one of the medical facilities in either Keene or Dover, the dense residential neighborhoods are close enough for walking in the warmer months, while also on the transit routes for bus travel in colder months.

In terms of employment, universities are always full of the type of work you and your partner are in. Keene St. and UNH are big enough to have an ongoing hiring schedule, and decent pay and benefit structures. Dover has a medical network that is affiliated with Mass General Hospital (headquartered in Boston, one of the nation's very best hospitals), so that would probably be gainful employment. Can't speak for Keene as much, because I don't know offhand.

As for feel, both towns also have a bit more New England charm than Manchester/Nashua/Concord (although Concord does have some of that), which might make the move from Vermont a bit smoother. They have walkable, attractive downtown areas. The close proximity to Boston from Dover means it's well connected. The close proximity to Vermont from Keene might mean you can see your friends and family more easily.

Anyway, I know they weren't the towns you mentioned, but they might be good additional options.

[Oakley7677]

Another alternative is Uber/Lyft. I've had to wait a bit in Concord before, but there always seems to be someone available, and I have seen plenty of taxis around. If you only need a car every now and then, it would probably be cheaper to use one of these transportation methods.