Manchester is the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, the tenth largest city in New England, and the largest city in northern New England, an area comprising the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. It was first named by the merchant and inventor Samuel Blodget (after whom the Samuel Blodget Park in Manchester North is named). Blodget’s vision was to create a great industrial center similar to that of Manchester in England, which was the world’s first industrialized city.[1] It is in Hillsborough County along the banks of the Merrimack River, which divides the city into eastern and western sections. Manchester is near the northern end of the Northeast megalopolis. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 109,565, and its 2013 population estimate was 110,378.[3] The Manchester-Nashua metropolitan area, with an estimated population in 2013 of 403,985, is home to nearly one-third of the population of New Hampshire.
Manchester often appears favorably in lists ranking the affordability and livability of American cities. In 2009, CNNMoney.com rated Manchester 13th in a list of the 100 best cities to live and launch a business in the United States.[5] In addition, Kiplinger voted Manchester the second most tax-friendly city in the United States, second only to Anchorage, Alaska.[6] Also in 2009, Forbes magazine ranked the Manchester region first on its list of “America’s 100 Cheapest Places to Live.” According to the Equality of Opportunity Project, released in 2013, Manchester ranked as the seventh best metropolitan area in terms of upward income mobility in the United States.