By Scott Merrill
People in the Granite State can debate whether the cost of living is increasing too much, but there’s no question that it’s rising – and wages aren’t keeping up. This is a driving factor for many young attorneys trying to balance their career choices, quality of life, and whether to stay in a state like New Hampshire, where paying for basics like housing, childcare, and healthcare can break the bank.
For many, it’s a hard choice that pits a desire to pursue a career they love against one that pays the bills.
For attorney Alex Attilli, 24, the math almost pushed her out of New Hampshire before her legal career even started. A 2025 graduate of the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law (UNH Law) and a Daniel Webster Scholar, she had always imagined working in civil legal aid or public-interest law. But the job market was tight, and the bills were real.
“I was freaking out about finding a job,” she says. “I always wanted to do public interest work, but in the New Hampshire market that’s sparse. I started looking at other states.”
Attilli, who is from Ohio, eventually landed an associate counsel position with SEIU Local 1984.
“I feel so blessed to have landed where I am,” she says, adding this was after months of stress and a widening search radius. Even now, she pays $1,600 for an apartment she shares with her boyfriend, which she notes is “a good deal,” but far more than her sister pays in Ohio. “I love New Hampshire … but it was a hard decision.”
In October, the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute (NHFPI) released a cost-of-living study painting a stark picture. Everyday expenses in New Hampshire have outpaced earnings so significantly that a typical four-person household with the state’s median income now falls nearly $2,000 short each year covering essentials like housing, childcare, food, healthcare, and gasoline. Compared to 2015, disposable income for those families has plunged by more than $17,000 annually, an abrupt reversal that has turned former surpluses into structural deficits.
Those pressures are shaping decisions for the next generation of lawyers and making it harder for the state’s legal system, especially indigent defense, to retain them.
The Legal Workforce Squeeze
New Hampshire is one of the oldest states in the country, with a median age of 43.4. This ties Vermont and trails only Maine, and the state already relies heavily on in-migration to sustain its workforce population, according to NHFPI.
A lack of affordable housing and childcare compounds the shrinking workforce pipeline.
Median rent for a two-bedroom apartment has climbed to $2,024 statewide, according to a 2025 report by New Hampshire Housing. A person would need to earn roughly $90,000 a year to afford that price without becoming cost-burdened – spending more than 30 percent of income on rent. Homeownership is increasingly unattainable as well.
The median single-family home price hit $565,000 this year, up 79 percent since 2019, and nearly 80 percent of current homeowners couldn’t afford to buy their own homes at today’s prices. Only four percent of renters could buy at that level, according to the New Hampshire Housing report.
Childcare adds another layer. In 2023, center-based infant care averaged $17,250 a year – and care for an infant and a four-year-old averaged nearly $32,000, according to NHFPI.
Meanwhile, the state is short more than 9,000 childcare slots annually.
For young lawyers, these numbers matter. And at the New Hampshire Public Defender (NHPD), the stakes are constitutional.
Sustainability Challenges
NHPD Executive Director Christopher Johnson says staffing challenges have intensified in recent years.
“We are coming off a few years of relatively high attrition and trying to address that,” he says. “Some of that attrition has been from younger lawyers.”
The office’s struggle to retain early-career attorneys is not simply an internal problem, Johnson notes, but also an access-to-justice issue, adding that the Granite State has a low number of attorneys in proportion to residents.
According to the American Bar Association, in 2024, New Hampshire had 2.47 attorneys per 1,000 residents, the lowest in New England, behind Maine, which has 2.65.
Budget constraints have compounded the pressures for NHPD.
“Young lawyers are on a step-increase scale, but the budget last year didn’t allow us to provide pay raises,” Johnson says. “People at the top of the pay scale won’t get a raise for two years.”
According to Johnson, starting salaries at the public defender hover around $65,000. In a state where rent alone can absorb more than a third of that, even passionate attorneys struggle.
The NHPD is also feeling new pressure as Massachusetts expands its indigent defense staff and hires early-career attorneys with higher starting salaries.
“Massachusetts is increasing the size of its public defender corps, and they’re hiring some of our lawyers,” says Johnson, noting that the pay gap makes it “challenging to compete in the labor market for first- and second-year attorneys.”
The losses come as New Hampshire faces rising living costs, higher taxes, and a worsening housing shortage, conditions that already make recruitment difficult. The shortage now extends beyond the NHPD to private attorneys who handle indigent cases, Johnson notes.
Affordability Matters
Bethany Hartt, a second-year law student at UNH Law, came to the state from the Virginia and DC metro area for its quality of life. In her mid-30s and married, she and her husband, a medical resident, live in Sullivan County and commute long distances for work and school.
“I never thought I’d end up in New Hampshire,” Hartt says. “We would like to stay, but the state hemorrhages young talent. People come here and don’t stay. New Hampshire doesn’t make it easy; you have to be tough.”
Finding housing near Concord for Hartt and her husband wasn’t feasible.
“If you’re looking to buy a house in New Hampshire, forget it,” she says. “Especially on the Seacoast … people are priced out.”
Hartt, who has plans to intern for Orr & Reno next summer and to pursue work with a private firm where she can make more money after law school, says many classmates look out of state or toward higher-paying firms simply to afford life and student debt.
“I’m okay with taking somewhat of a pay cut to have the lifestyle here,” she says, “but people are concerned with paying off their loans. With housing, childcare … that’s going to affect a lot of women.”
UNH Law Assistant Dean for Career Services Neil Sirota says the school is deeply aware of the affordability barriers.
“We know it’s getting more expensive to live in New Hampshire,” he says. “Salaries for entry-level attorneys start anywhere from the $60,000s to $100,000s. It’s all over the map in both public and private sectors.”
Sirota says he hasn’t seen clear evidence that students are declining jobs solely because of cost of living, but the pressures are growing.
“We think of ourselves as part of the legal community,” he says. “We take that responsibility seriously. We’re committed to increasing the number of lawyers practicing in New Hampshire.”
Still, he acknowledges that affordability is becoming a defining factor in students’ planning.
“For many, exposure to New Hampshire’s legal community inspires them to stay,” he says.
Between Calling and Cost
New Hampshire’s affordability challenges may be felt across professions, but for young attorneys, especially those drawn to public-interest or indigent defense work, the gap between wages and basic expenses is narrowing the paths they can realistically take.
Attilli says she is grateful – and fortunate – for finding a job after law school that she loves and which helps pay the bills.
“I feel like I won the career lottery,” Attilli says. “But I want to see the state become more affordable.”
At the NHPD, Johnson says rising caseloads and competition from Massachusetts both compound cost-of-living challenges.
“People are providing great service at a very efficient cost,” Johnson says. “But I worry about sustainability.”
He says the NHPD remains “a terrific place to work,” but acknowledges that Massachusetts can be attractive to young lawyers seeking higher salaries and more urban amenities. The result, he warns, is shrinking capacity at a time when the state can least afford it.