Mr-Bovine_Joni t1_jbemmn2 wrote on March 8, 2023 at 2:33 PM

Gonna play devils advocate to the common consensus in this thread. Boston proximity has indeed led to a higher desirability in NH (close to jobs), but that’s not the main reason.

VT just doesn’t have the housing to support 2x more people. Apartments and homes surely could be built to accommodate more people, and I’m sure plenty of people would love to move to VT, but right now housing costs and lack of supply keep tons of people out of state.

Not only is this problematic today, but if the VT populace continues to trend to an older demographic, the state is going to be in even more trouble with the tax base.

Across the country, the bread-and-butter for states & municipalities to pay for nice services is taxing high-earners, generally people between 30-55. VT makes it really hard to grow that base of people.

Full_Mission7183 t1_jberqdp wrote on March 8, 2023 at 3:09 PM

Don’t think it’s the housing market, Portsmouth NH median home cost is 45% higher than Burlington VT. Supply/Demand pricing suggests the housing costs are greater in NH

Mr-Bovine_Joni t1_jbeskfn wrote on March 8, 2023 at 3:14 PM

Right - but the incomes support that in NH. 2019 median income in Portsmouth was $83,923, and $51,394 in Burlington. THAT is the disparity & the issue w/ VT

VT has the lowest rate in the country of residents who can afford the median home, at 16%. Next lowest is CT at 21%. There’s some issue here

nomadicbohunk t1_jbjtxws wrote on March 9, 2023 at 3:49 PM

I feel like I'm a great example of that. We moved to VT for family reasons as we needed to be in New England. My partner's job got sent to VT. We'll move away again in a few years. I don't think people realize how high the cost of living is here and how low the pay is.

I have a masters. I got a job in my field with a very well known nonprofit here. It was a cool job. I finally quit because I was making so little money and they expected too much of me even at a good salary. A nonprofit doing the same work at a nonprofit in states like Arkansas and Oklahoma would be paying me 2x as much. It was an eye opener when I realized something. After undergrad, I took classes for a summer at a midwestern state school. I got a day job at a telemarketing firm being on the phones. This would have been in 2006 or 2007. I don't remember for sure. I made more there taking inflation into account than I did in VT doing a professional job. I looked up the job at that same place and it took benefits into account. It was paying more than I was making in a low cost of living area.