Every state has various sales and excise taxes. NH's happen to be near the lowest in the US. This is unrelated to your pay. For example, NH has no general sales tax. NH doesn't tax liquor. NH doesn't tax cigars. NH has the lowest taxes in New England on smoke, gas and beer. There is also property taxes to consider. While property taxes might be a little higher in NH than VT/MA/CT, rent itself isn't much higher and in many case, it quite a bit lower. So, if you are renting and comparing NH to other New England states, property taxes are only a minor consideration, at best. Also, income tax comes out of your check, whether you make $20,000 or $50,000. Of course, not so in NH.
Yeah, I had no idea about the Sales Taxes before this thread. I imagine that, combined with State/Local income tax, does make quite a good difference assuming people do not charge more for merchandise accordingly. I'm not really comparing NH to the rest of New England, as I'm from Ohio but I can see how regionally it's better. Nationally it does seem somewhat average, although a little surprising.
Some goods are priced even less, not more, in the areas near the MA/NH border. For example, cigarettes and beer are often less expensive near the MA border than in most of NH. You see this on cigarette prices in Salem. This store in rural NH is a good example.
http://countrymilenh.com/ Also, Market Basket, a MA based grocery store, has lower alcohol prices in the NH stores than in the MA stores, even without sales taxes figured in.
Really? That's amazing. Where do people find rent for this cheap? I'm very interested in seeing this. Everything I've seen is at least $600/month for a 1-bedroom and $900/month for a 2-bedroom. I have seen *some* places that are slightly cheaper but I've also seen many more places which are significantly more expensive ($1200 for a 2 bedroom apartment isn't uncommon)
Did you go through the resources I pointed out to you? If you are just looking in the papers, on craigs list and roommates.com, the prices will mostly be a little higher than I pointed out. However, once you get to know folks in NH, know where to check and are willing to put in the work, you can often find less expensive places. Keep in mind, I'm talking about renting 1-2 bedrooms in a house or apartment, not renting a house or apartment.