DURHAM – More young people moved to New Hampshire from other parts of the country in recent years, a substantial shift in demographic trends, according to new research from the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station and Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire.

The new data indicate that New Hampshire is gaining modest numbers of migrants from other states and that gains have been most significant among those in their 20s and 30s and their children, said Ken Johnson, senior demographer with the Carsey School and researcher with the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station.

He said the primary reason for the recent increase in migration appears to be the diminishing influence of the Great Recession, which impacted the country from 2008 to about 2012.

According to Johnson’s analysis of new U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the average annual domestic migration gain was 5,900 from 2013 to 2017. In contrast, only about 100 more people moved to New Hampshire than left it for other U.S. destinations annually during the Great Recession and its aftermath from 2008 to 2012.

The transformation was greatest among those in their 20s.