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Maldonian t1_jc4ymlc wrote

Will you have a car? And where do you plan to live? And do you expect your income to increase? Those will be the most important things.

Portsmouth is perhaps New Hampshire’s most desirable city, and cost of housing there is expensive. And there is little public transportation in New Hampshire.

Probably the only way to make $40,000 work, even with a roommate, will be to live outside of town. Look up Route 16 on the map. The farther north you go, the cheaper it gets, but also the worse it gets. Dover is pretty nice, Somersworth is ok enough, Rochester has some rough parts of town. Not too rough but still somewhat methed up.

If your trajectory is going to be to stay at the same salary, life there will be doable but not particularly easy. On the other hand, if you think your income will increase over time, you should be off to a good start.

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plowfaster t1_jc58tmd wrote

Great post but don’t sleep on 95, either. It’s pretty quick to get from many places in ME to Portsmouth

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Maldonian t1_jc6rfsg wrote

Good point, I should have thought of that. If OP is reading this, if considering living in Maine and working in New Hampshire, consider the following:

If you live in Maine, regardless of where you work, you'll pay 5.8+ % in state income tax. However, property tax in Maine is often lower than in New Hampshire.

At $40,000, the Maine income tax shouldn't be a big deal. If your income increases, living in New Hampshire becomes more attractive.

Also, if you will someday purchase a house, you'll want to compare the Maine income tax versus the (generally) higher New Hampshire property tax. What's best for you at that time would depend on both your income, and how much house you'll be buying.

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