N.H.-Sun Belt appeal a drain on Mass., N.E.

We who live in close proximity to the Granite State are painfully aware of New Hampshire’s pro-business, low-tax advantage.

It’s apparent that New Hampshire’s appeal continues to grow beyond its borders, evident by the thousands who have voted with their feet and now call it home.

While many New England states experience declining or flat populations, New Hampshire continues its trend of modest gains, according to the latest U. S. Census Bureau figures.

The estimates, based on data from July 2019 to July 2020, show that during that time, Maine and New Hampshire were the only New England states to attract more residents.

New Hampshire — which registered the region’s largest percentage increase for the third year in a row — and Maine have gained population in each of the past four years, while Massachusetts grew in three of the four. Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont all lost population in at least three of the past four years.

While New Hampshire added only about 5,500 people from 2019 to 2020, it’s somewhat surprising given that the overall growth rate for the U. S. was the lowest in at least 120 years, said Kenneth Johnson, senior demographer at the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey School of Public Policy.

All of New Hampshire’s increases in recent years have come from people moving into the state, according to an analysis by the Carsey School. Johnson’s research has shown that recent migration gains were greatest among young adults.

And why are these young adults likely leaving Massachusetts and other New England states? You could say that New Hampshire represents our region’s version of the booming South and Southwest, which due to lower taxes and cost of living, have consistently gained population and business relocation over the past several decades. That phenomenon has drawn people from other states to those more pro-development, pro-business locations.

It’s also a contributing factor in Greater-Boston’s exit from the nation’s top-10 metropolitan areas. For probably the first time ever, it’s not one of the top 10 largest U.S. metro areas, having been unceremoniously pushed aside by the booming Phoenix metro area.

According to the same U.S. Census Bureau data that tracked New Hampshire’s population expansion, Boston dropped to the 11th largest metro area in 2019 with nearly 4.9 million people.

That area includes five counties in Eastern Massachusetts and sections of Southeastern New Hampshire, the most popular area for those fleeing neighboring states.

Greg Slayden, who’s developed a web site that chronicles the history of U.S. metro areas by population, said in an e-mail to the Boston

Globe there’s been a “strong movement of population to cities with vibrant economies, favorable climates, and room for expansion,” for at least a half-century.

Greater Boston might have a vibrant high-tech, life-sciences sector backboned by some of the most prestigious universities in the world, but its density and often cruel winters don’t work in its favor.

Thomas Vicino, a political science professor at Northeastern University, said the Greater Boston’s ranking does “highlight some challenges that our region faces” and poses an obvious question: Why is the population growing more rapidly elsewhere?

He answered his own obvious question with the obvious answer — one that many working families struggling to make it in Massachusetts could attest: a high cost of living and a (chronic) shortage of affordable housing.

While a series of Republican governors have done their best to keep a lid on taxes, with an ever-increasing, left-leaning Democrat Party in control of the Legislature, we don’t see Massachusetts shedding its highlevy, regulation-choking reputation. Which means the rallying cry for economic opportunity and financial security will continue to be: Go West, Southwest – or to New Hampshire.