NH gains more residents than it loses in recent years
Oct. 30—More than 111,000 people moved to New Hampshire in 2021 and 2022 compared to 93,000 who left the state during that time, offsetting the state seeing more deaths than births.
Nearly 44% of those migrating to New Hampshire came from Massachusetts during those two years compared to 37% in 2018-19, according to research from Kenneth Johnson, senior demographer at the University of New Hampshire's Carsey School of Public Policy.
"The overall volume of domestic migration to NH is slightly higher" in 2021-22 versus 2018-19, Johnson said in an email.
But "movement from abroad is lower" due to the coronavirus pandemic and decisions by the Trump administration, he said.
A net gain in migration helps the economy.
"Migrants to NH tend to have higher education and income, and the state receives many migrants in the family stage of the life cycle (30s and 40s)," Johnson said in an email. "So migrants bring a significant amount of intellectual, human and financial capital to the state at a time when its resident population is aging."
Bedford Realtor Greg Powers said he could see the uptick of Bay Staters moving north.
"The reason I say I'm not surprised is in 2021 and 2022, if you went to an open house on any given weekend, probably half the cars had Massachusetts plates," said Powers, who works at Keller Williams Realty Metropolitan.
"More people from Mass. is simply more demand, period," resulting in higher home prices, he said.
Many Massachusetts home shoppers had a higher tolerance level for prices because they were accustomed to seeing higher home prices in Massachusetts versus their neighbor to the north.
"My instinct is the people moving up from Mass., were probably at a higher income bracket than the people leaving New Hampshire," he said.
According to New Hampshire Housing, 19% of all home sales in New Hampshire in 2021 were bought by Massachusetts residents compared to 14.7% in 2016.
Getting people to move here also helps to combat one of the nation's lowest employment rates.
"More bodies is good, especially when you have jobs that aren't filled," Powers said.
Only 41% of the state's residents were born in New Hampshire during 2017-2021, higher than only Nevada, Florida, the District of Columbia and Arizona, Johnson said. Two thirds of those who migrated to New Hampshire in 2021-22 came from the Northeast, 14% from the South, 10% from the West, 3% from the Midwest and 7% from abroad.
Deaths had exceeded births in each of the last six years, predating the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
"More people died (28,700) than were born (24,900) in New Hampshire in 2021 and 2022, Johnson said, adding that COVID boosted the death toll.
