{"id":4439,"date":"2011-12-20T10:30:29","date_gmt":"2011-12-20T15:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/?p=4439"},"modified":"2011-12-21T00:52:10","modified_gmt":"2011-12-21T05:52:10","slug":"part-3-which-nh-counties-won-new-residents-and-lost-old-ones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2011\/12\/20\/part-3-which-nh-counties-won-new-residents-and-lost-old-ones\/","title":{"rendered":"Part 3: Which NH Counties Won New Residents–And Lost Old Ones"},"content":{"rendered":"
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araza123 \/ Flickr<\/p>

Find out more on which NH counties are challengers--and which are contenders--after the jump<\/p><\/div>\n

One of our most popular drop-in series at StateImpact has been our county-by-county glimpses at migration rates.\u00a0 Our work is based on\u00a0 a map generated by Jon Bruner of Forbes<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 (We still recommend you check it out.)\u00a0 Using IRS data, Bruner traced where people in every county in the country were moving to\u2013and from\u2013between 2005 and 2009.<\/p>\n

Although New Hampshire’s economy<\/a> is doing very well now, given the circumstances, there are questions about whether the state will be on sound footing in the coming decades.\u00a0 New England in general is experiencing a shortage of young people.\u00a0 And the young people we have aren’t having a lot of kids.\u00a0 In the past, New Hampshire’s been able to depend, to some extent, on people moving in from elsewhere.\u00a0 But as we’ve seen in previous posts, that in-migration is concentrated in certain pockets throughout the state.\u00a0 And while Bruner’s map doesn’t list migration patterns by age, we can fill in some gaps in key places based on what we know from New Hampshire economist- and demographer-types.<\/p>\n

We’ve already looked at the North Country, White Mountains, Dartmouth-Sunapee, Monadnock Region, and Lakes Region.\u00a0 (You can read those posts here<\/a> and here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Now, it’s on to Strafford County and the Seacoast!<\/p>\n

As always, we’ve boiled everything down to a set of key bullet points, to make it understandable.\u00a0 Except for the “Overarching Story” portion, which covers all years, we’re looking at the most recent figures, from 2009.\u00a0 And we’ve framed the narrative in terms of “wins” and “losses,” to make it entertaining.\u00a0 It’s important to note, however, that since we’re dealing with raw numbers, sometimes the difference between a “win” and a “loss” for counties can be a handful of residents…or even just one.\u00a0 (So in monetary terms, we’re not dealing with net figures…only gross.)<\/p>\n

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drocpsu<\/p>

Conventional wisdom says Portsmouth's a draw for young professionals thanks to being the home of UNH and a number of innovative tech start-ups<\/p><\/div>\n

Rockingham County:<\/h3>\n

The Overarching Story: <\/strong>As home to a number of tech start-ups, Rockingham County–the Seacoast region–is often viewed as the corner of the state most appealing to young professionals.\u00a0 But since 2005, the number of people (of all ages) making their way to the Seacoast has steadily declined.\u00a0 While the area didn’t see a net loss in residents from 2005-2009, in-migration hasn’t outpaced out-migration by that much.\u00a0 Back in 2005, Rockingham County saw about 17,000 new residents–while losing roughly 16,000.\u00a0 By 2007, the county was breaking even, although it saw a brief uptick in population growth the following year.\u00a0 Then, in 2009, the county once again broke even.<\/p>\n

Biggest Wins In 2009:<\/strong><\/p>\n