New study finds New Hampshire’s becoming a magnet for millennials

Report says the state is 10th most popular place for them to locate

Defying a years-old image of an aging state, New Hampshire is listed in a new report as among the 10 most popular states that millennials are choosing to move to. And Manchester is ranked as the 20th most popular city in the nation for millennials.

Smart Asset’s The third annual edition of “Where Millennials Are Moving” used 2017 Census Bureau data to find where millennials are moving. According to the report, nine of the most popular states where millennials are locating to are in the South and West, leaving New Hampshire as the only state not in either of those regions.

According to Smart Asset, New Hampshire had a net millennial in-migration of 6,719 people, or .50% of the state’s population, the 10th best net number in the country. Manchester alone had a net in-migration of 2,344, 35% of the state’s entire net migration number and the 20th best figure in the U.S.

For the second year, the most popular state for millennial migration was Washington, with a net in-migration of 36,257, which also is approximately 0.50% of its population.

Also in the top 10 were: Texas (24,734 net in-migration); Colorado (21,229); Arizona, (20,965); North Carolina (18,824); Oregon (12,516); Georgia (11,877); Nevada (10,381); and Tennessee (7,608).

According to Smart Asset, the millennials are choosing the state for a variety of reasons, including job opportunities, housing affordability and quality of life.

Of course, while the trend is encouraging, there’s still a long way to go for New Hampshire to really turn the demographic corner, since the state is the second oldest in the nation, with a median age of 43.1, according to 2017 Census figures.