Maine & New Hampshire Continue to Attract New Residents

According to recent data from the Census Bureau, new arrivals continued to migrate to Maine and New Hampshire in 2022. Maine and New Hampshire continue to be viewed as highly desirable places to live, continuing to drive demand for homes. Other New England states like Vermont and Connecticut had much smaller increases this past year, while Rhode Island and Massachusetts saw a negative percent change.

Throughout New England, the population surged in the wake of the pandemic as out-of-state migrants fled more populous urban regions and sought the safety of rural areas, as indicated by the gray bars in the graph above from the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire. From July 2021 to July 2022, Maine’s population grew by 0.59 percent, while New Hampshire’s population grew by 0.55 percent despite death rates outpacing birth rates. Driven entirely by migration, the increase is higher than the rate of New England (0.06 percent) and the country as a whole (0.38 percent).

The Maine Monitor, operated by the nonprofit Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, summarized the Census Bureau’s latest findings:

Since July 2020, an estimated 34,200 people have migrated to Maine — including 30,642 domestic migrants and nearly 3,600 international migrants, according to the Census figures. The state gained 14,125 domestic and international migrants in the year ending July 1.

Among neighboring states, Vermont and New Hampshire saw an increase in population in the past year and since July 2020. Massachusetts’ population dropped.