Concord itself is somewhat urban, has young professionals and good opportunities for a social life. It also has a great professional community and a strong hometown sense of pride. Concord is more family-oriented than Manchester and Portsmouth (see below), but there's a critical mass of young professionals in town and a lot of social opportunities as well. The social life in Concord is more laid-back - no trendy clubs to speak of, although there are a lot of nice bars. If you're into outdoorsy and/or artistic stuff and may have been a hippie if born 50 years earlier, you'll find plenty to do in town. A lot of young professionals also live in Manchester, which is about 20-25 minutes from Concord. Traffic between Concord and Manch has never been an issue for me. (I work and live in Concord, but often go down to Manch for business). I'm not terribly familiar with Manchester from a resident's POV, but it's a much larger city (100,000); parts of it are nice, and other parts are considered gritty and unsafe. The neighborhoods east of the river and north of Bridge Street are all considered to be desirable, and I believe this part of town has the densest concentration of young professionals, although there are plenty of other desirable neighborhoods in Manchester as well. Finally, Portsmouth is an hour away from Concord, but it's basically what would happen if you relocated the hippest, trendiest urban neighborhood in the country to the prettiest historic seaside community imaginable. I know young professionals who commute from Boston to Portsmouth (1.5 hours each way, in perfect weather and with no traffic) and think it would be crazy NOT to endure that commute for the privilege of living in Portsmouth.