Five out of the region's six states now endorse gay couples after New Hampshire legalized equal marriage on Wednesday, leaving Rhode Island as the sole holdout.

The spread of equal marriage could serve as a recruiting tool for universities, health care companies and financial services firms that dominate the region's economy, experts said.

"It will be a selling point when it comes to trying to lure people with same-sex partners who are being wooed for a job," said M.V. Lee Badgett, a University of Massachusetts economist who studies gay and lesbian issues.