I lived 18 years in Illinois, although none as a tax paying citizen so that is one experience I never had. I will say Cook County is beyond evil, and I prefer rural Illinois especially the Driftless Area in NW area and the stark fields of Central Illinois. I might be young but I don't feel any need to move to an urban area like many in my age group, too little freedom and its honestly too cramped for me. I'm not 100% convinced about the NWO but if it does go down, I'd also rather not be in a city.
I also had an opportunity to visit NH before, but I was only in Middle School. Concord was nice, Manchester was meh and the rural areas were to my liking; I never made it N. of Concord but I just did a little background Geography of areas north of there and I like what I see. Perhaps I misjudged?