The Challenge:
New Hampshire is one of the lowest-ranked states in the nation for state-level contributions to K-12 education, leaving school costs to be carried largely by local property taxpayers, resulting in inequities across districts and making it increasingly difficult to sustain.
What do New Hampshire residents think?
Contributors described a system in which the cost of educating children falls disproportionately on local property owners, with limited and uneven support from the state. One contributor wrote: “New Hampshire needs to figure out a fair and equitable way to fund education for all of our children.” Another contributor pointed to the long-running legal context: “Courts have ruled that the New Hampshire state government is mandated to pay their fair share but for years they have not. We are the last state in the nation for funding for public schools.” Across responses, contributors described uneven outcomes between districts, rising local burdens, and a shared belief that the state’s share of education funding has not kept pace with what schools and communities need.
The Challenge:
Home prices and rents have climbed sharply across New Hampshire, leaving many working residents, young people, and first-time buyers unable to find housing they can afford.
What do New Hampshire residents think?
Contributors described the rapid rise in housing costs and the strain it places on residents at nearly every income level. A realtor in the Monadnock region wrote: “No normal person with a normal job can afford housing. Even somebody making $20 an hour wouldn’t even qualify for most apartments.” Another full-time worker added: “Working full time with a second job, couponing, not shopping, traveling or eating out, and I still cannot get close to being able to afford $2000+ per month on my own. You can’t even find a studio apartment for less than $1500.” Even higher earners described difficulty: “Even with a salary of $115k and $150k in savings for a first home, I’m struggling to find something that’s not a condominium with a $600 a month HOA fee.” Others raised concerns about the kinds of housing being built. As one contributor put it: “We need affordable housing to attract more people to live and work here. No more seasonal high priced homes that people who don’t have to work can afford to buy and rent.” Across responses, contributors pointed to a widening gap between wages and housing costs that is reshaping who can afford to live in the state.
The Challenge:
New Hampshire relies heavily on local property taxes to fund state and local services, with no broad-based income or sales tax, resulting in large pressures on homeowners, renters, and small towns.
What do New Hampshire residents think?
Contributors described the pressure created by the state’s tax structure, with many pointing to property taxes as unsustainable. One contributor wrote: “Resting all of New Hampshire’s costs on property taxes is awful. It forces people out of their homes because they can’t pay the taxes, and it increases rent until nobody can afford it.” Another framed it as a structural shift: “In the past 8 years, NH has reduced rates on the Business Profit Tax and the Business Enterprise Tax, meaning over a billion dollars has been lost to the state. The result is a transferred burden to towns.” A landlord summed up the cumulative effect: “I have to charge $1300/month just to pay taxes. Then I have to add the mortgage, insurance, maintenance, repairs. 3 bedroom house = $4500/month. Ridiculous.” Across responses, contributors converged on the view that the current system places too much weight on a single revenue source, even as they offered different solutions.
The Challenge:
Contributors across the political spectrum expressed concern that party-line thinking, partisan reflexes, and a loss of compromise are weakening governance and community life in New Hampshire.
What do New Hampshire residents think?
Contributors described a political environment where ideas are increasingly judged by who proposes them rather than on their merits. One contributor wrote: “It feels like ideas and possible solutions are judged immediately, not on the merits of the idea but on who put it forward — democrat or republican. I wish we could stop the knee jerk reaction and spend the time to consider the idea regardless of who proposes it.” Another called for a return to compromise: “I would like to see our politicians reaching across the aisle and actually compromising. In the past 15 years, this has been lost.” Some pointed to listening as the starting point: “We would all be better off by listening first, and listening to understand. Listening doesn’t mean agreeing. We shouldn’t all agree. But right now we’re talking past each other, and nothing good comes from that.” Others tied the issue to social trust more broadly. One contributor wrote: “An essential element of every democracy is a broadly shared sense of purpose, which requires a restoration of our social fabric.” Across responses, contributors pointed to polarization, loss of compromise, and erosion of shared community as a foundational concern.
The Challenge:
Contributors raised concerns about the influence of corporate donations and out-of-state spending on New Hampshire elections, particularly given the modest stipend paid to state legislators.
What do New Hampshire residents think?
Contributors described a system in which they feel the volume of campaign spending has come to drown out ordinary voices. One contributor wrote simply: “Candidates are not allowed to take more than [a set amount] from any entity or person. It works in countries where democracy is thriving.” Another tied the issue to legislator pay: “A ban on corporate PACs and dark money being able to be accepted by NH lawmakers and candidates for political office would ensure that we move closer to a legitimate representative democracy. And if the pay of our local lawmakers can increase, it will allow for the state house to be more accessible.” A third pointed to scale: “When candidates are spending tens of thousands of dollars, much of it dark money from out of state, to run for a NH House seat that pays $100 per year, this is not an environment that favors local candidates devoted to public service.” Across responses, contributors pointed to a perceived mismatch between the cost of running for office and the public-service nature of the role, and they raised questions about whose voice is heard in policymaking.
The Challenge:
Contributors described a pattern of state-level legislation that has eroded the authority of towns and cities over zoning, schools, land use, and other local matters, while shifting more costs onto local property taxpayers.
What do New Hampshire residents think?
Contributors described concerns about the balance between state and local authority. One contributor wrote: “The State Legislature has continued to pass legislation which removes any local control of zoning, education, among other issues. Moreover, the legislature continues to pass costs on to the local property tax which is leading to a taxpayer revolt.” Another framed the dynamic broadly: “There are constant bills at the statehouse written to take away more and more local anything — from land use to schools to dumps. It’s like they want NH to be one big indiscernible town.” Some contributors pointed to specific legislative caucuses they feel are driving the trend: “I am concerned that FreeStaters have taken over our NH legislature, to the detriment of local taxpayers. We are paying more, with less coming back to towns and cities.” Others described a sense of misalignment: “The needs of state and local government seem to be at odds rather than in coherence, and residents are paying the price.” Across responses, contributors pointed to a tension between state policy decisions and the ability of towns to make decisions for themselves.
The Challenge:
New Hampshire’s forests, lakes, rivers, and rural character are central to many residents’ sense of place and there are major concerns about contamination, out-of-state waste, overdevelopment, and long-term stewardship.
What do New Hampshire residents think?
Contributors described concerns about the long-term health of the state’s natural environment. One wrote: “I’d like to plead that we protect our forests, water and soils from polluting companies and landfills. Please stop accepting trash from other states. We need leaders who care more about what makes this state a true natural treasure.” Others framed it as an obligation to future generations: “Conservation of natural resources — water, forest, fields. We need to care for the environment.” Specific concerns included water quality: “Contamination of water sources like ponds, lakes, rivers etc.” Another contributor focused on land: “Keeping our nature preservations and woodlands intact — no roads or buildings.” Across responses, contributors emphasized that the state’s environmental character is both a defining feature and a vulnerable one, and they called for stronger protections from contamination, overdevelopment, and external waste streams.
The Challenge:
Contributors raised concerns about academic outcomes between high performing and under performing schools, with a focus on literacy rates and grade inflation to the role of technology, as well as a need to evolve what students learn.
What do New Hampshire residents think?
Alongside funding debates, Contributors described concerns about the quality of K-12 outcomes. One contributor wrote: “One of the biggest challenges is the continual decline of our education and low ranking compared to other states.” Another raised concerns about academic rigor: “All across the nation students are graduating from high school with extremely poor proficiency in English and mathematics. Colleges have complained about the number of students that are placed into remedial courses.” Others called for a broader rethinking: “We need to be having broader conversations about what kids growing up today will need to know to be successful citizens and members of the workforce. Teachers need more support, kids need more discipline.” Across responses, contributors described concerns about academic outcomes, classroom approaches, and how well current systems prepare students for what comes next.
The Challenge:
New Hampshire residents pay among the highest electricity rates in the country, and the regional grid is heavily dependent on imported power and fossil fuels during peak winter demand creating concerns for costs and long-term reliability.
What do New Hampshire residents think?
Contributors described concerns about both the affordability and the resilience of the state’s energy system. One contributor put it simply: “Electric costs are too high.” Another framed the resilience side: “Energy resilience — both cost and grid stability — is a crisis.” On hardening, one contributor wrote: “Three threats could cripple our region: EMP, CME, and cyber threats. We need to harden our infrastructure against these threats.” Others pointed to clean-energy options as part of the answer. One contributor wrote: “The Granite State should be offering homeowners and the businesses that do installation, incentives to install solar power. The more we can encourage homeowners to do that, the more stress relief on the entire system we would create.” Another called for a market-based approach: “New Hampshire needs to figure out a market-based way to encourage renewable energy and nuclear power that doesn’t rely on subsidies and can’t be gate-kept by utilities.” Across responses, contributors described energy as both an immediate cost concern and a longer-term infrastructure question.
The Challenge:
Rising property taxes, the taxation of Social Security, and gaps in senior services are putting strain on older New Hampshirites, including food insecurity, missed medications, and being pushed out of long-held homes.
What do New Hampshire residents think?
Contributors described the cumulative pressure on older residents, particularly homeowners on fixed incomes. One contributor wrote: “With property taxes increasing by thousands of dollars a year in some cases, it’s not possible for our senior citizens on fixed income to continue to reduce other necessities to pay the increased tax. You’re driving our seniors out of their homes and in many cases out of the state away from family.” Another raised the broader picture: “Senior housing and care crisis is not on the NH radar. 25% of NH seniors live alone and have no one caring for them. 10K are food insecure and at risk of hunger. Many skip meals, prescriptions, or heat.” Some specifically pointed to retirement income: “The system of taxing people on Social Security is cruelty to seniors that have made New Hampshire great and have paid their dues over and over again.” Others called for income-based relief: “Help out people who are elderly on a fixed income by lowering the property taxes so someone on a fixed income is not pushed out of the area.” Across responses, contributors described a population whose costs continue to rise even as their incomes do not.
The Challenge:
As surrounding states legalize recreational cannabis, New Hampshire must decide whether to align its policy, particularly in light of its state-controlled alcohol model and revenue needs.
What do New Hampshire residents think?
Contributors expressed broad interest in legalization, often connecting it to other state needs. One wrote: “All of the surrounding states have legalized it and the tax revenue it generates could easily help fund our public school systems in an impactful way. It would be a great way to balance funding school systems.” Another proposed using existing state infrastructure: “NH has state controlled liquor stores and the lottery that contribute profits back to the state. Why not look to expand the liquor stores to also sell cannabis? The state could control and cash in to bring more funds to our students.” One contributor pointed to scale: “Within six years of the first recreational cannabis shops opening, New Hampshire could gain $350M in tax revenue.” And another framed it within the state’s identity: “Everybody is struggling with property taxes; rent is high. Cannabis should be legal in the live free or die state.” Across responses, contributors linked legalization to revenue, regional consistency, and personal liberty.
The Challenge:
Contributors raised concerns about the role of corporate investors and large property holding entities in the residential market, including in rural areas, and the effect on availability and pricing for local buyers.
What do New Hampshire residents think?
Contributors described concerns about who is buying homes in their communities. One wrote: “It should be illegal for corporations to buy single family homes.” Another offered a more specific proposal: “More low income housing and make it illegal for corporations to buy single family homes and any buildings with less than 6 units.” On rural impact, one contributor wrote: “I am exhausted by seeing the blatant gentrification happening in our rural communities. Places are buying up all of the land and homes/properties for sale and turning them into more of their associated properties, effectively pushing out the locals.” Across responses, contributors described a market in which they feel ordinary buyers are increasingly competing against investors with substantially greater resources.
The Challenge:
Contributors concerned about the lack of resolution on the ongoing zoning debate calling for reforms that would enable more housing while also raising concerns about overbuilding, second-home development, and loss of rural character.
What do New Hampshire residents think?
Contributors described tensions in how the state handles development. On one side, supporters of reform wrote: “NH legislators must continue to support zoning reform and incentivize communities to take steps to make their development codes clearer, more accessible, and more modern. Support and fully fund the Housing Champions Program.” On the other side, contributors raised concerns about overbuilding: “Do not allow overbuilding. Preserve the green spaces and forests.” Some called for balance: “Affordable housing without causing the congestion of overbuilding.” Specific concerns included the type of housing being built: “Too many new condos, which are unaffordable to locals.” Across responses, contributors pointed to a need for housing supply alongside concerns that current development patterns are not producing the kinds of homes locals can afford.
The Challenge:
New Hampshire has limited public transit, particularly in rural areas and the North Country, and no statewide passenger rail which affects employment access, daily errands, and quality of life.
What do New Hampshire residents think?
Contributors described public transportation as a foundational issue tied to employment and access. A supported employment specialist wrote: “As a supported employment specialist for over 12 years, there’s no greater barrier for individuals with and without disabilities who want to work than transportation. Employers need people; with the housing market limited and expensive, transportation is a luxury for many.” Others pointed to broader options: “We need passenger rail transportation in NH.” And basic infrastructure remained a concern as well: “Repair to roads and bridges.” Across responses, contributors described transportation as a quiet but consequential constraint on opportunity, particularly outside the southern tier of the state.
The Challenge:
Contributors raised concerns that public conversation has lost shared meanings of basic concepts — truth, fact, evidence — and that this erosion makes it harder for people to discuss disagreements productively.
What do New Hampshire residents think?
Contributors described what one called “truth decay,” a sense that shared understanding of basic concepts has weakened. The most-engaged single statement on this topic was: “We no longer share common meanings of words. Lying has become acceptable. We cannot talk to each other if we disagree on the meaning of concepts such as truth, fact, evidence.” While this issue had fewer separate submissions than many others, the high engagement on the single statement suggests it resonates broadly across contributors as a foundational concern that underlies many other issues raised on the platform.
The Challenge:
Contributors raised concerns about the rising cost of healthcare, gaps in coverage, and questions about access to specific kinds of care creating affordability concerns alongside housing and energy.
What do New Hampshire residents think?
Contributors described healthcare costs and access as central to household financial pressure. One wrote: “When I hear regular folks talk about what affects them the most, it’s the cost of health care. No matter how great your health choices are, everyone gets sick and everyone dies.” Some framed access in terms of personal autonomy: “Medical care should be free of interference from non-medical professionals and all citizens should have access to medical care.” Another contributor focused on reproductive and sexual healthcare specifically: “Without the freedom to express and seek our own personal health choices and care, doctors will continue to leave the state.” Across responses, contributors pointed to healthcare costs and access as a recurring source of financial and personal stress, and as a factor in whether providers and residents stay in the state.
The Challenge:
Contributors raised concerns about how unprepared residents are to participate in democracy, from understanding how government works, to voting, to running for office.
What do New Hampshire residents think?
Contributors described a gap between civic theory and practical participation. One wrote: “We need to invest in stronger, more accessible civic and electoral education that goes beyond theory and shows people how to actually participate — whether that’s voting, organizing, advocating, or running for office. Too many people feel locked out not because they don’t care, but because no one shows them how.” Others focused on the relationship between elected officials and constituents: “I wish elected officials would listen to their constituents rather than following their own self-serving agendas.” Some pointed to structural concerns: “Redistricting for equal representation.” Across responses, contributors tied a healthy democracy to clearer pathways for participation and stronger lines of communication between voters and the people who represent them.
The Challenge:
Contributors described long waits, limited capacity, and difficulty navigating the mental health system for both children and adults.
What do New Hampshire residents think?
Contributors described a mental health system that is overwhelmed and difficult to navigate. One contributor wrote: “The mental health system in the state of NH is by far extremely broken. Individuals, both children and adults, are waiting in emergency rooms for days (sometimes weeks) at a time for a bed at a mental health setting. Access to appropriate mental health care is scarce and the system can be quite difficult to navigate.” Another tied mental health to other pressing issues: “Mental health and affordable housing are first priority. All affect each other in one way or another.” Across responses, contributors described mental health care as a system that is difficult to access in a timely way, and one that affects — and is affected by — housing, employment, and broader community wellbeing.
