Maine brings to mind images of Augusta, beautiful landscapes, and some of the best people you’ll find in the good ole US of A.
However, like all states, Maine has certain places that are going on hard times. These Maine places have an above average percent of people that are living in poverty, out of work, or not making as much as they should be.
With all the talk about income inequality going on around the country, we thought it prudent to take a look at the places in each state that are struggling to make it even as the economy continues to improve. So we set our sites on bringing attention to the poorest places in Maine.
To do so, we analyzed the newest Census data from the American Community Survey for the 21 places in Maine with more than 2,000 people.
Here are the ten poorest places in Maine for 2023:
Again, this isn’t a commentary on the people that live there or the vibrant culture and traditions of these places. Instead, it’s just a look at the facts.
What’s the poorst city in Maine? According to the facts, Calais is the poorest place in Maine for 2023.
Rich people more your cup of tea? Feel free to check out the best places in Maine or the most dangerous.
For more on how we calculated the top ten, and for more information about these places, read on.
If you’re looking for something more national, check out the poorest states in America or the poorest cities in America.
For more Maine reading, check out:
Article Table Of Contents
The 10 Poorest Cities In Maine For 2023
1. Calais
Calais, unfortunately, ranks as the poorest place in Maine thanks to combination of low pay and and a lack of jobs.
The city of 3,010 people averages the lowest median household income in Maine and the 5th highest poverty rate. At the very least, the cost of living ranks in the bottom 15% of place in the state, so things like housing are relatively affordable.
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2. Augusta
The second poorest city in Maine is Augusta.
The city ranks as having the 3rd highest incidence of poverty and 2nd lowest median household income. However, the unemployment rate ‘only’ ranks as the 3rd highest in the Pine Tree State.
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3. Waterville
Placing as the third poorest city, Waterville’s median income ranks as the 3rd lowest.
And that’s a sign that there’s a relatively substantial jump in the quality of the economy from second to third place on our list. The poverty rate is 23.06295839082129% and ranks near the bottom of places in the state.
But what makes up for the relatively low incomes of the city is its low cost of living. The income you do make here goes further than in most parts of the Pine Tree State.
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4. Belfast
Belfast ranks as the fourth poorest place in Maine.
The town ranks as having the 12th lowest median household income and the 4th highest incidence of poverty in the state.
That being said, there’s still a ton of cultural diversity in the city as it hosts many events throughout the year.
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5. Lewiston
The fifth poorest city in Maine is Lewiston.
The city ranks as having the 7th lowest median income in the state. However, an extremely low cost of living prevents a good number of folks from living in poverty as the poverty rate only ranks as the 6th highest in Maine.
Still not the best news for Lewiston.
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6. Rockland
Rockland ranks as the sixth poorest place in the Pine Tree State.
It ranks as having the 10th highest incidence of poverty and the 5th highest unemployment rate.
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7. Bangor
Bangor places as the seventh poorest city in Maine.
The city of over 31,920 ranks as having the 7th highest incidence of poverty in the state. However, it has a very low cost of living which helps to pay the bills each month.
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8. Presque Isle
Presque Isle ranks as the eighth poorest city in Maine.
The big issue for the town is the unemployment rate which ranks as the 11th highest in the state.
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9. Old Town
Old Town couldn’t stay out of the top ten poorest places in Maine; it ranks number 9.
While the median income is the 4th lowest, there are a substantial number of people that live below the poverty line. Overall, Old Town ranks as having the 2nd most people living in poverty of all the places we analyzed in Maine.
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10. Gardiner
And rounding out the top ten poorest cities in Maine is Gardiner.
The city of 5,944 people ranks in the bottom 20% for both median income and poverty rate in the Pine Tree State.
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Methodology: How We Determined The Poorest Places In Maine for 2023
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the poorest places is to simply the poverty rate. That is, the number of people living below a federally established level of income for a household of a certain size.
However, we don’t think that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “poorest places”. So we looked at this set of criteria from the newly released 2017-2021 American Community Survey:
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income adjusted for the cost of living
- Unemployment Rate
The “median household income adjusted for the cost of living” attempts to gauge how expensive it is to live in a place and how that impacts the quality of life. For example, a town might have fewer people living below the official poverty line, but the cost of living is so high they’d still feel poor.
The unemployment rate tries to capture the prospects for improvement in the city or town. If more people are employed, the brighter the future looks and vice versa.
After we collected the data for all 21 places with more than 2,000 people in Maine, we ranked each place from 1 to 21 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the poorest.
We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Poor Score” with the place having the lowest overall Poor Score, Calais, crowned the “Poorest Place In Maine For 2023”.
Summary: The Poorest Places In Maine For 2023
Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the poorest places in Maine, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Maine.
When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very bottom of the income ladder for everyone that lives there.
If you’re curious enough, here are the richest cities in Maine, according to data:
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Richest: Saco
2nd Richest: Ellsworth
3rd Richest: South Portland
For more Maine reading, check out:
- Richest Cities In Maine
- Safest Places In Maine
- Worst Places To Live In Maine
- Most Expensive Places To Live In Maine
Detailed List Of The Poorest Places To Live In Maine
| Rank | City | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Calais | 3,010 |
| 2 | Augusta | 18,895 |
| 3 | Waterville | 15,872 |
| 4 | Belfast | 6,890 |
| 5 | Lewiston | 36,615 |
| 6 | Rockland | 6,977 |
| 7 | Bangor | 31,920 |
| 8 | Presque Isle | 8,859 |
| 9 | Old Town | 7,415 |
| 10 | Gardiner | 5,944 |
| 11 | Caribou | 7,448 |
| 12 | Auburn | 23,790 |
| 13 | Brewer | 9,606 |
| 14 | Biddeford | 22,331 |
| 15 | Portland | 68,063 |
| 16 | Hallowell | 2,542 |
| 17 | Bath | 8,718 |
| 18 | Westbrook | 20,074 |
| 19 | South Portland | 26,428 |
| 20 | Ellsworth | 8,340 |
| 21 | Saco | 20,203 |
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