Deciding between Dover NH and Lawrence NH (Nashua, Portsmouth: sales, houses) - New Hampshire - City-Data Forum

askask · 07-21-2021, 04:07 PM

Hi all,

I would appreciate your valuable inputs in deciding between Lawrence KS and Dover NH as living place.
I have got 2 job offers, one from Dover and other from Topeka. We are considering these two places due to their proximities to kansas city/overland park and boston resp. In NH favor, There are lot of jobs for my spouse in boston as compared to kansas city though not sure if it matters as much as he can work from home too. We have some community ties with kansas city which we wont have in NH. I see lot of diversity in kansas city as compared to NH which can be another factor raising our kids. We are not that outdoorsy or have not got chance to discover that part of us so not sure if NH features are going to matter to us alot. I see NH comes up as one of the best states to live but I find it cold from outlook itself. I seem to be missing what makes NH so desirable over so called midwest. Lawrence we decided based on either way commutes to overland park and topeka. Still not sure what would be best place between dover and boston. Weather is another factor, one is moderately cold and other very cold in winters

Assuming both of my jobs are similar in other respects, I am not able to decide which one would be better.
Anyone with inputs from personal experience would be great

Thanks in advance!

KCZ · 07-21-2021, 06:27 PM

It sounds like you've listed the things that are important to you (diversity, community ties, weather, relevance of activities available) and KS seems to be the winner except perhaps spousal job opportunties, which is pretty important. One big thing you left out was finances...cost/availability of housing, COL, taxes, etc (or maybe that's not a factor for you). Where do you live now?

askask · 07-21-2021, 06:39 PM

Thanks for your reply. Yes we are bit biased towards KS but I would like to know why would anyone prefer New hampshire cold weather over kansas moderate weather? COL etc fortunately is not an issue. Someone who has been to both places would give any additional insights?

gf2020 · 07-21-2021, 07:17 PM

New Hampshire's relative attractiveness to newcomers usually centers around, in no particular order:

political leanings
no state income tax
no sales tax
gun laws
proximity to the ocean
proximity to the mountains
proximity to Greater Boston job opportunities

If more than a couple of those things are not important to you, then you should probably not live here.

askask · 07-21-2021, 08:49 PM

I wonder with high COL, isnt that evens out the no sales tax and income tax?
I like ocean but afraid its a cold one. Its just the cold weather I guess I am most afraid of having lived in montreal and toronto in Canada. How bad is the cold as compared to those areas or even Detroit?
Houses in particularly I find very small and mostly old colonial style as compared to other states

jdhpa · 07-21-2021, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by askask

I wonder with high COL, isnt that evens out the no sales tax and income tax?
I like ocean but afraid its a cold one. Its just the cold weather I guess I am most afraid of having lived in montreal and toronto in Canada. How bad is the cold as compared to those areas or even Detroit?
Houses in particularly I find very small and mostly old colonial style as compared to other states

Every state needs revenue. Not having income or sales taxes doesn't mean paying less in tax, it just means a different mix of how it's collected. New Hampshire has relatively high property taxes to generate revenue. The total tax burden, on average, is fairly low in New Hampshire. But that's a reflection of restraint in spending, not lack of income or sales taxes. And how the tax mix affects you personally depends on your particular circumstances.

Southern New Hampshire is about the same latitude as Toronto. It's cold in the winter. city-data has climate information (and a lot of other data) on cities so it's fairly easy to compare. Here's a link to information on Nashua. Here's a link for Detroit. (It appears Nashua is a bit colder and snowier than Detroit)

Housing tends to be older. Well maintained older homes are actually very nice, they have more character than new "box" homes. So I wouldn't rule a home out because of its age, but you do need to check its condition carefully so you're less likely to get an unpleasant surprise (I've owned several houses in my life, and the two new ones I bought from builders gave me the most trouble). There are a lot of older homes that are not well maintained.

From your opening post, I think KCZ and gf2020 summed it up pretty well.

Good luck in your search.

abnfdc · 07-22-2021, 06:04 AM

I've only spent about a month in Kansas. About three weeks on Fort Leavenworth and a couple of days in wherever Hiawatha is. Just seat of the pants opinion is you'll probably see better weather in Dover than Kansas-less wind and the water tends to keep the temps up. Also, Kansas is kind of boring unless you like good food and hunting.

//www.city-data.com/city/Lawrence-Kansas.html

//www.city-data.com/city/Dover-New-Hampshire.html

Kansas is likely less expensive though. KC has some decent stuff in it such as the World War I museum a couple of sports teams and some good food. I could hit up Em Chamas right now. I'm not a huge southern NH or Boston fan, so no real input there-Boston has tons of stuff in it, but then you have to deal with "Boston".

Kansas and New Hampshire have similar gun laws.

KCZ · 07-22-2021, 12:40 PM

Per Wikipedia, Portsmouth NH is about 6-8 degrees colder, gets a foot more precipitation, and 3 1/2 ft more snow annually than Lawrence KS, on average.

I'd have to say that these kind of weather statistics are pretty deceptive. The biggest issues with NH winters are not the cold and the snow...by far the worst things to deal with are the daily darkness and the length of the winters.

abnfdc · 07-22-2021, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KCZ

Per Wikipedia, Portsmouth NH is about 6-8 degrees colder, gets a foot more precipitation, and 3 1/2 ft more snow annually than Lawrence KS, on average.

I'd have to say that these kind of weather statistics are pretty deceptive. The biggest issues with NH winters are not the cold and the snow...by far the worst things to deal with are the daily darkness and the length of the winters.

Indeed. Kind of hard to judge. I think the city data info also shows Dover as colder, but I didn't read into it much. I would be willing to bet the NH trees may serve to blunt some wind chill effects. Not a ton of trees in that part KS.

You're right about the darkness. In the winter, I swear it is full dark by 5PM. Almost as bad as when I lived in Alaska.

Leo58 · 08-17-2021, 11:34 AM

If one of you will work in Boston, you're going to have to live closer than Dover. For example, Newburyport MA is a lovely town. It would be a 40 minute commute for you and one hour for him. On the other hand, Google maps tells me that Lawrence is within 30 min drive of either Topeka or KC.

Houses in Newburyport are going for $300-400 per sq ft; in Lawrence the price is half that.

On the other hand, in Newburyport you have the ocean, forests, mountains and major cultural attractions all within driving distance. In Kansas you have good BBQ.