New Hampshire, 93%, Manchester is over 100k population, Boston is a couple hours away. Southern NH doesn’t have many really big hills but it doesn’t really have hollers either. Most of the population is in the lower third of the state but the northern half has some really real mountains over 4,000 feet.
A 5,000’ mountain in NH has the same climate as a 12,000’ mountain out west.
Trees are really short over 4,000’ in NH.
Most job opportunities will be in the southeast part of the state.
The area of Maine that is near NH is a nice place also. Most of the jobs in Maine are near the southern coast.
Maine 94%
You’ll have really real winters in Maine and NH but near the coast it isn’t horrible.