This. Vermont and NH residents are much more concerned by property taxes and education funding. I do not love having to fill out yet another tax form for the state in VT, but the income tax is a rounding error compared to other expenses. Meanwhile, I live somewhere that other people come to vacation. It is paradise year round (with an exception for mud season).
All are welcome, particularly if they want to start families. We could use many more young families with school age children.
We are an old state with a dropping population, hence why the government is trying to attract new residents. Seriously, grab your skis, get in the car and come on up; the more the merrier.
It's been twenty years since I lived in southern NH and worked for a company in Vermont, but I don't remember a lot of differences in the landscape, or frankly the culture. Yes Vermont has a reputation for being liberal and progressive, and NH has a reputation for being the live free or shoot me place, but the reality on the ground, at least when I was there, was a lot less contrasting.
I think there's a material difference between southern new hampshire and most of vermont. Vermont in general is far more rural (outside of Burlington, Rutland) whereas the larger towns in southern new hampshire that are fast growing are basically now suburbs of boston.
So it that why the state leans progressive? Liberal transplants from Boston? For a state that seems to be mostly rural without a large city, it is amazing Bernie Sanders is the senator.
Vermonter here. The average Vermonter voted for a Socialist Senator, a Democratic Representative, and a Republican governor in the last election. The person tends to be much more important than the party.
Vermont was reliably Republican until there was the perception that the GOP had an evangelical social agenda. Vermonters are not against private expressions of faith, but they believe it is deeply personal and have no interest in being lectured on it by politicians.
There's a lot of people from NYC that want to retire upstate but come to the realization that NYC has done a very thorough job turning the entire state into a dump and that the only way out is to move out of state.
However, as a sibling comment pointed out, even if you ignore transplants the people of Vermont tend to agree with the modern left on a certain set of social issues anyway.
Yup, at some point you consider, it's only $800 and maybe you're getting a lot for your money. Not to mention other factors in overall cost of living can totally swamp that $65/mo. You probably spend more on internet.
