Why are so many people moving to Maine? (Portland, Bangor: crime, how much)

[svband76]

The stagnant population growth is fine by me. Let all us decent, well-mannered folk there to retire. Leave us be in peace and quiet.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by zalewskimm

The stagnant population growth is fine by me. Let all us decent, well-mannered folk there to retire. Leave us be in peace and quiet.

It would be nice if rural Maine was seen as something more than a retirement community. At this point I would be happy with mere population replacement, but a little bit of growth will not kill us.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by BobTex

I don't get this. The Maine population has only grown by about 345,000 in 50 years. Seems miniscule movement to me. (1970 -2020)

For many years the Bangor Daily News has run articles about Maine's migration patterns. Young adults leave Maine seeking jobs, while older adults migrate to Maine for retirement. These two migrations balance out, so the total population remains the same.

It affects Maine's demographics. With few people in the 20yo to 40yo range, but with lots of people in the 60yo to 80yo range, Maine has the oldest resident population of any state. The highest percentage of retirees in the nation.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by Submariner

For many years the Bangor Daily News has run articles about Maine's migration patterns. Young adults leave Maine seeking jobs, while older adults migrate to Maine for retirement. These two migrations balance out, so the total population remains the same.

It affects Maine's demographics. With few people in the 20yo to 40yo range, but with lots of people in the 60yo to 80yo range, Maine has the oldest resident population of any state. The highest percentage of retirees in the nation.

That doesn't tell the whole story though. The area around Portland has grown, while much of rural Maine has seen a long steady decline in population and ability to sustain itself. Areas that once had more opportunities for working age adults. I get that the world has changed and that many of those former jobs are not coming back, but it's still possible for a rural area to thrive in 2021. Some of these areas have seen a bump due to Covid buyers from away (of different ages), we shall see if it is temporary or more long term.

[BaltimoreBruiser]

Originally Posted by massnative71

I get that the world has changed and that many of those former jobs are not coming back, but it's still possible for a rural area to thrive in 2021. Some of these areas have seen a bump due to Covid buyers from away (of different ages), we shall see if it is temporary or more long term.

One place I've been watching for the past couple years is the Millinocket area. I am hoping to see a resurgence in the area as they try to transition from a mill town to ..something else? But progress seems to be slow in reclaiming the GNP land and developing it into other business use. But, to me, it's in a prime location that I'd love to relocate to if it came around. I've only visited once, and briefly, but I thought it had potential.

[Riley.]

Originally Posted by Submariner

For many years the Bangor Daily News has run articles about Maine's migration patterns. Young adults leave Maine seeking jobs, while older adults migrate to Maine for retirement. These two migrations balance out, so the total population remains the same.

It affects Maine's demographics. With few people in the 20yo to 40yo range, but with lots of people in the 60yo to 80yo range, Maine has the oldest resident population of any state. The highest percentage of retirees in the nation.

Vermont has a very similar dynamic going on and I thought we had the oldest resident population.
The young ones leave for greener pastures because the economy here isn't what I'd call dynamic. Some come back, but they understand they will have to downgrade their expectations for good paying jobs, or so it seems.
Our state does not really encourage new economic development and seems not to be too business friendly - unless of course it's a business they 'want.' Green stuff, etc.

[mandolinman]

No one has really mentioned this yet, but Maine is one of the last states that has the combination of incredible outdoor recreation and cheap housing. There is nowhere else in the US, with the exception of maybe Alaska, where you can have semi-immediate access to both mountains and the ocean and still be able to afford a house. This isn't what brought us here (grad school did) but now that we're here we realize how amazing it is.

I also know several people my age (millenial) that moved here to farm/homestead, for what that's worth.

[homestead123]

Originally Posted by mandolinman

No one has really mentioned this yet, but Maine is one of the last states that has the combination of incredible outdoor recreation and cheap housing. There is nowhere else in the US, with the exception of Alaska.
I also know several people my age (millenial) that moved here to farm/homestead, for what that's worth.

We are in that boat of looking to homestead further that what we produce here in P.R. Of N.Y
Maine keeps popping back up.
Tossup between Maine, Virginia,coastal NC.
Maine is very affordable.
Will be up there in Sept. to take a look around.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by massnative71

... The area around Portland has grown
... it's still possible for a rural area to thrive in 2021.

I am on pension. I neither want a job, nor do I need a job.

My pension is not very much, it puts my wife and I very near the federal 'poverty level'.

Land we bought in Maine was very cheap. The house I built has been a lot less expensive than we had anticipated. Our property taxes are low. I fit in among the 47% of US Citizens who do not pay Income Taxes because we are simply not wealthy enough to be taxed. My Cost-of-living is low and my tax burden is low.

When people talk about how they want 'growth' or for a community to 'thrive', I scratch my head.

Why do we want this growth?

Is growth a good thing?

I routinely see articles written by realtors bragging about how much home prices have climbed. I understand why a realtor wants us to have higher home prices, they get a larger commission from sales [they are greedy]. But to us retirees rising home prices implies a higher hurdle to buy into a community and higher property taxes once you have landed.

I do not see growth as a good thing.

During my Active Duty career I used to visit my hometown in California every year when I was on leave. I was shocked at how much that small town grew. During my career that town tripled in population. Corn fields became shopping malls. Orchards became ticky-tack housing tracts. It broke my heart to see my small farming community turn itself into a mini city.

In my retirement, I found a nice peaceful rural area, city crime with gang turf wars has not moved to rural Maine [yet]. I would rather that it now move to Maine.

I do not wish to be forced to live in suburbia with a COL far above my pension. If I had wanted that I could have settled back in my old hometown.

Spin me a tale of why you think this growth is a good thing.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by mandolinman

No one has really mentioned this yet, but Maine is one of the last states that has the combination of incredible outdoor recreation and cheap housing. There is nowhere else in the US, with the exception of maybe Alaska, where you can have semi-immediate access to both mountains and the ocean and still be able to afford a house. This isn't what brought us here (grad school did) but now that we're here we realize how amazing it is.

I agree completely.

... I also know several people my age (millenial) that moved here to farm/homestead, for what that's worth.

UM-Orono campus is near me, they offer a 'Sustainable Ag' major. We host a monthly potluck with some of those students. They understand that a Sustainable Ag lifestyle is not going to make them wealthy. Many of them have a vision of the future wherein they will be living in yurts and milking goats.

That may seem odd for a grad student to have a goal of living so low on the totem pole, but it is what it is.

I have a friend who is a former ADA from Los Angelos, today she lives in an off-grid cabin where she bails water out of a creek, she has chickens and goats. She says that she is far happier now than she was in L.A.

I have another friend who lives in a small cabin where she chops holes in the river ice to bail water for her home. Her husband is the Fire Chief in one town and she is the town manager of another town, they have three teenage daughters attending high school. Their ideal lifestyle is to stay in that off-grid cabin, where they take weekly baths in a galvanized tub using water heated over a woodstove.

Try doing this in L.A. You can't it is illegal. But you can do it here in Maine.

Most of our nation is fraught with drought, urban planners call it 'water stress'. Homeowners see their wells going dry. Maine is not like that. I know many Mainers who whine about the 'drought', but honestly they have never seen a drought. If I dig a hole one foot deep the next day that hole will be filled with water. That is not 'drought'. To me drought is when the grass is brown and dead by the first of June, drought this when the trees are all dead from lack of water twenty foot down.

Maine is green because it has water.