Search Mansions for Sale in New Hampshire

General
New Hampshire is located in the New England region of the northeastern United States. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It borders Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north. New Hampshire ranks 44th in land area, 46th in total area of the 50 states, and 41st in population. It became the first post-colonial sovereign nation in the Americas when it broke off from Great Britain in January 1776, and was one of the original thirteen states that founded the United States of America six months later. It was the ninth state to ratify the United States Constitution, bringing that document into effect. New Hampshire was the first U.S. state to have its own state constitution, and is the only state with neither a general sales tax nor a personal income tax at either the state or local level. Concord is the state capital, while Manchester is the largest city in the state.

It is known internationally for the New Hampshire primary, the first primary in the quadrennial U.S. presidential election cycle.

Its license plates carry the state motto: "Live Free or Die." The state nickname is "The Granite State", in reference to its geology and its tradition of self-sufficiency. Several other official nicknames exist but are rarely used.

New Hampshire's recreational attractions include skiing and other winter sports, hiking and mountaineering, observing the fall foliage, summer cottages along many lakes, motor sports at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Motorcycle Week, a popular motorcycle rally held in Laconia in June.

Economy
The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that New Hampshire's total state product in 2003 was $49 billion. Personal income in 2005 was $37,835, 6th in the nation and 10 percent greater than the national average ($34,495). Its agricultural outputs are dairy products, nursery stock, cattle, apples and eggs. Its industrial outputs are machinery, electric equipment, rubber and plastic products and tourism. New Hampshire experienced a significant shift in its economic base during the last century. Historically, the base was composed of the traditional New England manufactures of textiles, shoe-making, and small machining shops drawing upon low-wage labor from nearby small farms and from parts of Quebec. Today, these sectors contribute only 2% for textiles, 2% for leather goods, and 9% for machining of the state's total manufacturing dollar value (Source: U.S. Economic Census for 1997, Manufacturing, New Hampshire).

According to the Energy Information Administration, New Hampshire?s energy consumption and per capita energy consumption are among the lowest in the country. The Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant, located near Portsmouth, is the largest nuclear reactor in New England and provides about 30 percent of New Hampshire?s electricity. Two natural gas-fired plants and some fossil-fuel powered plant, including the coal-fired Merrimack Station plant in Bow, provide most of the rest.

Taxes
The state has no general sales tax, no personal state income tax (the state does tax, at a 5 percent rate, income from dividends and interest) and the legislature has exercised fiscal restraint. Efforts to diversify the state's general economy have been ongoing.

Additionally, New Hampshire's lack of a broad-based tax system (aside from the controversial state-wide property tax) has resulted in the state's local communities having some of the nation's highest property taxes. Overall, New Hampshire remains ranked 49th among states in combined average state and local tax burden