Disconnected in the Granite State: Fewer residents feel a sense of community 

In the Granite State, the foundations of community might be starting to crack. 

A report released last month from the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey School of Public Policy, called the 2024 New Hampshire Civic Health Report, reveals that New Hampshire residents are feeling less connected, with dwindling civic engagement shaping a quieter, lonelier state.

Key findings reveal sharp declines in the feeling of “mattering”—a sense of belonging and significance within the community. In 2019, 76% of residents said they felt they mattered to their communities. By 2023, that figure had plummeted to 43%. Similarly, the share of people performing favors for their neighbors dropped by half, now sitting at 5%

Although 62% of residents say they feel emotionally connected to where they live, about 20% explicitly do not. 

“People were connecting less with others in general,” said Quixada Moore-Vissing, a Carsey faculty fellow at UNH. “Folks who were doing favors for their neighbors fell, folks who were spending time with friends and family fell, people who were doing positive things in their community fell.”

Moore-Vissing pointed to several national events as potential contributors to these declines, like the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 presidential election, and the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

“We had disputes over who won the election, so there’s been a lot of things at the national level I think that could affect people’s feelings about their community,” she said.

Regional disparities also emerged in the report. In New Hampshire’s North Country, the sense of mattering fell sharply from 85% to 34%, although Moore-Vissing noted the small sample size for this region. “As researchers, you want a big sample size to know for sure that that’s something you want to fully stand behind,” she explained. “So we say, ‘take it with a grain of salt.’”

These trends align with a national study by The Cigna Group, which found that people are twice as lonely today as they were in the 1980s. Younger adults report feeling particularly isolated—42% of those aged 18–34 say they “always” feel left out, compared to just 16% of adults 55 and older.

“Youth loneliness is just off the charts,” Moore-Vissing said. “We’ve seen an epidemic of mental health, but also of loneliness, where people are really feeling less and less connected with others, more and more alone. When I look at the mattering, I feel like this is all interrelated.”

The rise of digital communication may be compounding these feelings. 

“We’re in this dystopian reality,” Moore-Vissing said.

Trust in institutions and neighbors has also declined over the decades. Only 1% of residents trust the national government “all the time,” and nearly half “almost never” trust it. While trust in local government and news remains steady compared to pre-pandemic levels, interpersonal trust has waned.

Older adults are interacting less frequently with people of different racial, ethnic, or cultural backgrounds—only 30% of those aged 65 and older report such interactions, compared to 53% statewide. Voting behavior also varies: 76% of rural residents voted in the 2020 presidential election, compared to 57% of urban residents

Despite these challenges, New Hampshire performs better than national averages on some civic health indicators. Discussions of political, societal, or local issues with family or friends, for example, declined from 39% to 37% between 2019 and 2023 in NH, but it remains slightly above the national average of 35%.  

Moore-Vissing said addressing these issues will require concerted effort.

“We’re in this dark age in the United States where we’re a very divided country,” she said. “There’s a lot of volatility, and I think it’s hard for people to know who to trust in their community. I think it’s hard for people to know if they’re safe in their community and that is making us feel lonely. It’s making us feel like, ‘I’m just going to stay in and stay in my immediate social bubble and not connect.’”