Tech companies in Southern New Hampshire pull partially from the same talent pool as Boston. A lot of people commute to Boston every day and the other way. Those people sacrifice almost two hours a day which isn't great from a work-life balance standpoint.

If you do get a job in New Hampshire itself, the high tech companies that have to hustle to make enough money to keep up with Boston salaries or risk losing people to the commute.

I live in New Hampshire and I love it but I can't say my work life balance is any better than when I lived in Boston. But my quality of life is quite a bit better. I have a house here, I could never have that in Boston.

I imagine it depends heavily on whether you actually work in Southern New Hampshire, or you live there and commute to Boston. There isn't a huge tech scene in Manchester/Nashua/Portsmouth, but there is a healthy number of jobs - more in the 9-5 corporate or lifestylish vein, than in the nose-to-the-grindstone startup type scene.

Lots of people do head down to the greater Boston area, though, and that commute is pretty brutal.