Maine ( ) is a
state
State most commonly refers to:
* State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory
**Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country
**Nation state, a ...
in the
New England
New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
region of the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, and the northeasternmost state in the
Contiguous United States
The contiguous United States, also known as the U.S. mainland, officially referred to as the conterminous United States, consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the District of Columbia of the United States in central North America. The te ...
. It borders
New Hampshire
New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
to the west, the
Gulf of Maine
The Gulf of Maine is a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of North America. It is bounded by Cape Cod at the eastern tip of Massachusetts in the southwest and by Cape Sable Island at the southern tip of Nova Scotia in the northea ...
to the southeast, and the
Canadian provinces
Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North America—New Brunswick, N ...
of
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...
and
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
to the northeast and northwest, and shares a maritime border with
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...
. Maine is the largest
state
State most commonly refers to:
* State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory
**Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country
**Nation state, a ...
in New England by total area, nearly larger than the combined area of the remaining five states. Of the
50 U.S. states, it is the
12th-smallest by area, the
9th-least populous, the
13th-least densely populated, and the most rural. Maine's
capital
Capital and its variations may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital
** List of national capitals
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter
Econom ...
is
Augusta, and
its most populous city is
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
*Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon
*Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine
*Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel
Portland may also r ...
, with a total population of 68,408, as of the
2020 census.
The territory of Maine has been inhabited by
Indigenous populations for about 12,000 years, after the glaciers retreated during the
last ice age. At the time of European arrival, several
Algonquian-speaking nations governed the area and these nations are now known as the
Wabanaki Confederacy
The Wabanaki Confederacy (''Wabenaki, Wobanaki'', translated to "People of the Dawn" or "Easterner"; also: Wabanakia, "Dawnland") is a North American First Nations and Native American confederation of five principal Eastern Algonquian nations ...
. The first European settlement in the area was by the French in 1604 on
Saint Croix Island, founded by
Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons
Pierre Dugua de Mons (or Du Gua de Monts; – 1628) was a French merchant, explorer and colonizer. A Calvinist, he was born in the Château de Mons, in Royan, Saintonge (southwestern France) and founded the first permanent French settlement ...
. The first English settlement was the short-lived
Popham Colony
The Popham Colony—also known as the Sagadahoc Colony—was a short-lived English colonial settlement in North America. It was established in 1607 by the proprietary Plymouth Company and was located in the present-day town of Phippsburg, M ...
, established by the
Plymouth Company
The Plymouth Company, officially known as the Virginia Company of Plymouth, was a company chartered by King James in 1606 along with the Virginia Company of London with responsibility for colonizing the east coast of America between latitud ...
in 1607. A number of English settlements were established along the coast of Maine in the 1620s, although the rugged climate and conflict with the local
Indigenous people
There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...
caused many to fail. As Maine entered the 18th century, only a half dozen European settlements had survived.
Loyalist
Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...
and
Patriot forces contended for Maine's territory during the
American Revolution
The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
. During the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...
, the largely undefended eastern region of Maine was occupied by British forces with the goal of annexing it to
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
via the
Colony of New Ireland, but returned to the United States following failed British offensives on the northern border, mid-Atlantic and south which produced a
peace treaty
A peace treaty is an treaty, agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually country, countries or governments, which formally ends a declaration of war, state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice, which is an ag ...
that restored the pre-war boundaries. Maine was part of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
until 1820 when it voted to secede from Massachusetts to become a separate state. On March 15, 1820, under the
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise (also known as the Compromise of 1820) was federal legislation of the United States that balanced the desires of northern states to prevent the expansion of slavery in the country with those of southern states to expand ...
, Maine was
admitted to the Union
Admission to the Union is provided by the Admissions Clause of the United States Constitution in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1, which authorizes the United States Congress to admit new states into the Union beyond the thirteen states that a ...
as the 23rd state.
Today, Maine is known for its jagged, rocky
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
and bay-shore coastlines, mountains, heavily
forest
A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...
ed interior, and its cuisine, particularly
wild lowbush blueberries and
seafood
Seafood is any form of Marine life, sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including Fish as food, fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of Mollusca, molluscs (e.g., bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters, and mussel ...
such as
lobster
Lobsters are Malacostraca, malacostracans Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the family (biology), family Nephropidae or its Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on th ...
and
clam
Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve mollusc. The word is often applied only to those that are deemed edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the sea floor or riverbeds. Clams h ...
s. Coastal and
Down East Maine have emerged as important centers for the
creative economy
The creative industries refers to a range of economic activities which are concerned with the generation or exploitation of knowledge and information. They may variously also be referred to as the cultural industries (especially in Europe) or the ...
,
especially in
the vicinity of Portland, which has also brought
gentrification
Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has ...
to the city and its metropolitan area.
History

The earliest known inhabitants of the territory that is now Maine were Algonquian-speaking Wabanaki peoples, including the
Passamaquoddy
The Passamaquoddy (Maliseet-Passamaquoddy language, Passamaquoddy: ''Peskotomuhkati'', Plural: ''Peskotomuhkatiyik'') are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American/First Nations in Canada, First Nations people who live in northea ...
,
Maliseet
The Wolastoqiyik, (, also known as the Maliseet or Malecite () are an Algonquian-speaking First Nation of the Wabanaki Confederacy. They are the Indigenous people of the Wolastoq ( Saint John River) valley and its tributaries. Their terri ...
,
Penobscot
The Penobscot (Abenaki: ''Pαnawάhpskewi'') are an Indigenous people in North America from the Northeastern Woodlands region. They are organized as a federally recognized tribe in Maine and as a First Nations band government in the Atlantic p ...
,
Androscoggin, and Kennebec. During the later
King Philip's War
King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1678 between a group of indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodland ...
, many of these peoples would merge in one form or another to become the
Wabanaki Confederacy
The Wabanaki Confederacy (''Wabenaki, Wobanaki'', translated to "People of the Dawn" or "Easterner"; also: Wabanakia, "Dawnland") is a North American First Nations and Native American confederation of five principal Eastern Algonquian nations ...
, aiding the
Wampanoag
The Wampanoag, also rendered Wôpanâak, are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Northeastern Woodlands currently based in southeastern Massachusetts and forme ...
of
Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
and the
Mahican
The Mohicans ( or ) are an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe that historically spoke an Algonquian language. As part of the Eastern Algonquian family of tribes, they are related to the neighboring Lenape, whose indigenous territory was ...
of
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
. Afterwards, many of these people were driven from their natural territories, but most of Maine's tribes continued, unchanged, until the
American Revolution
The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
. Before this point, however, most of these people were considered separate nations. Many had adapted to living in permanent,
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...
-inspired settlements, while those along the coast tended to move from summer villages to winter villages on a yearly cycle. They would usually winter inland and head to the coasts by summer.
European contact with what is now called Maine may have started around 1000 CE when
Vikings
Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...
are believed to have interacted with the native
Penobscot
The Penobscot (Abenaki: ''Pαnawάhpskewi'') are an Indigenous people in North America from the Northeastern Woodlands region. They are organized as a federally recognized tribe in Maine and as a First Nations band government in the Atlantic p ...
in present-day
Hancock County, most likely through trade. If confirmed, this would make Maine the site of the earliest European discovery in the entire US. About 200 years earlier, from the settlements in
Iceland
Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
and
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...
, the Norse
first identified America and
attempted to settle areas such as
Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...
, but failed to establish a permanent settlement. Archeological evidence suggests that
Vikings in Greenland returned to North America for several
centuries after the initial discovery to trade and collect timber, with the most relevant evidence being the
Maine Penny
The Maine penny, also referred to as the Goddard coin, is a Norwegian silver coin dating to the reign of Olaf Kyrre King of Norway (1067–1093 AD). It was claimed to be discovered in Maine in 1957, and it has been suggested as evidence of ...
, an 11th-century Norwegian coin found at a Native American dig site in 1954.
The first European confirmed settlement in modern-day Maine was in 1604 on
Saint Croix Island, led by French explorer
Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons
Pierre Dugua de Mons (or Du Gua de Monts; – 1628) was a French merchant, explorer and colonizer. A Calvinist, he was born in the Château de Mons, in Royan, Saintonge (southwestern France) and founded the first permanent French settlement ...
. His party included
Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain (; 13 August 1574#Fichier]For a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see #Ritch, RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December ...
, noted as an explorer. The French named the entire area
Acadia
Acadia (; ) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. The population of Acadia included the various ...
, including the portion that later became the state of Maine. (It is possible that they named the region Maine after the
French province; however, the origin of the name is uncertain.) The
Plymouth Company
The Plymouth Company, officially known as the Virginia Company of Plymouth, was a company chartered by King James in 1606 along with the Virginia Company of London with responsibility for colonizing the east coast of America between latitud ...
established the first English settlement in Maine at the
Popham Colony
The Popham Colony—also known as the Sagadahoc Colony—was a short-lived English colonial settlement in North America. It was established in 1607 by the proprietary Plymouth Company and was located in the present-day town of Phippsburg, M ...
in 1607, the same year as the settlement at
Jamestown, Virginia
The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent British colonization of the Americas, English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the northeast bank of the James River, about southwest of present-day Willia ...
. The Popham colonists returned to
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales
* The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...
after 14 months.
The French established two
Jesuit
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
missions: one on
Penobscot Bay
Penobscot Bay () is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine and Atlantic Ocean in south central Maine, a stretch known as Midcoast Maine, in a broader Atlantic region known as Down East. The bay originates from the mouth of Maine's Penobscot River, ...
in 1609, and the other on
Mount Desert Island
Mount Desert Island (MDI; ) in Hancock County, Maine, is the largest island off the coast of Maine. With an area of it is the List of islands of the United States by area, 52nd-largest island in the United States, the sixth-largest island in th ...
in 1613. The same year,
Claude de La Tour established
Castine. In 1625,
Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour
Charles de Saint-Étienne de La Tour (1593–1666) was a Huguenot French colonist and fur trader who served as Governor of Acadia from 1631–1642 and again from 1653–1657.
Early life
Charles de Saint-Étienne de La Tour was born in France i ...
erected
Fort Pentagouet
Fort Pentagouët (Fort Pentagoet, Fort Castine, Fort Penobscot, Fort Saint-Pierre) was a French fort established in present-day Castine, Maine, which was the capital of Acadia (1670–1674). It is the oldest permanent settlement in New England.
...
to protect Castine. The coastal areas of eastern Maine first became the
Province of Maine
The Province of Maine refers to any of the various English overseas possessions, English colonies established in the 17th century along the northeast coast of North America, within portions of the present-day U.S. states of Maine, New Hampshire ...
in a 1622 land patent. The part of western Maine north of the
Kennebec River
The Kennebec River (Abenaki language, Abenaki: ''Kinəpékʷihtəkʷ'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed June 30, 2011 natural river within the U.S. state of Ma ...
was more sparsely settled and was known in the 17th century as the
Territory of Sagadahock. A second settlement was attempted in 1623 by English explorer and naval Captain
Christopher Levett
Captain Christopher Levett (15 April 1586 – 1630) was an English writer, explorer and naval captain, born at York, England. He explored the coast of New England and secured a grant from the king to settle present-day Portland, Maine, the firs ...
at a place called
York
York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...
, where he had been granted by
King Charles I of England.
It also failed.
The 1622 patent of the Province of Maine was split at the
Piscataqua River
The Piscataqua River (Abenaki language, Abenaki: ''Pskehtekwis'') is a tidal river forming the boundary of the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Maine from its origin at the confluence of the Salmon Falls River and Cochecho River to the Atlant ...
into the
Province of New Hampshire
The Province of New Hampshire was an English colony and later a British province in New England. It corresponds to the territory between the Merrimack and Piscataqua rivers on the eastern coast of North America. It was named after the Englis ...
to the south and
New Somersetshire
The Province of Maine refers to any of the various English colonies established in the 17th century along the northeast coast of North America, within portions of the present-day U.S. states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, and the Canadi ...
to the north. A disputed 1630 patent split off the area around present-day
Saco as
Lygonia
Lygonia was a proprietary province in pre-colonial Maine, created through a grant from the Plymouth Council for New England in 1630 to lands then under control of Sir Ferdinando Gorges. The province was named for his mother, Cicely (Lygon) Gorges ...
. Justifying its actions with a 1652 geographic survey that showed an overlapping patent, the
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around Massachusetts Bay, one of the several colonies later reorganized as the Province of M ...
had seized New Somersetshire and Lygonia by force by 1658. The
Territory of Sagadahock between the
Kennebec River
The Kennebec River (Abenaki language, Abenaki: ''Kinəpékʷihtəkʷ'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed June 30, 2011 natural river within the U.S. state of Ma ...
and
St. Croix River notionally became
Cornwall County, Province of New York under a 1664 grant from
Charles II of England
Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651 and King of England, Scotland, and King of Ireland, Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685.
Charles II was the eldest su ...
to his
brother James, at the time the
Duke of York
Duke of York is a title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of List of English monarchs, English (later List of British monarchs, British) monarchs ...
. Some of this land was claimed by
New France
New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...
as part of
Acadia
Acadia (; ) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. The population of Acadia included the various ...
. All of the English settlements in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the Province of New York became part of the
Dominion of New England
The Dominion of New England in America (1686–1689) was a short-lived administrative union of English colonies covering all of New England and the Mid-Atlantic Colonies, with the exception of the Delaware Colony and the Province of Pennsylvani ...
in 1686. All of present-day Maine was unified as
York County, Massachusetts
Yorkshire County, Massachusetts was a county in what is now the U.S. state of Maine.
Yorkshire County was established in 1652 to include the area of the proprietary province of Lygonia when the Massachusetts Bay Colony first asserted territoria ...
under a 1691 royal patent for the
Province of Massachusetts Bay
The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a colony in New England which became one of the thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III and Mary II, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of Eng ...
.
Central Maine was formerly inhabited by the
Androscoggin tribe of the
Abenaki nation, also known as Arosaguntacook. They were driven out of the area in 1690 during
King William's War
King William's War (also known as the Second Indian War, Father Baudoin's War, Castin's War, or the First Intercolonial War in French) was the North American theater of the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), also known as the War of the Grand Allian ...
. They were relocated to
St. Francis, Canada, which was destroyed by
Rogers' Rangers in 1759, and is now
Odanak
Odanak is an Abenaki First Nations reserve in the Central Quebec region, Quebec, Canada. The mostly First Nations population as of the 2021 Canadian census was 481. The territory is located near the mouth of the Saint-François River at its co ...
. The other Abenaki tribes suffered several severe defeats, particularly during
Dummer's War
Dummer's War (1722–1725) (also known as Father Rale's War, Lovewell's War, Greylock's War, the Three Years War, the Wabanaki-New England War, or the Fourth Anglo-Abenaki War) was a series of battles between the New England Colonies and the Wab ...
, with the capture of
Norridgewock
Norridgewock (Abenaki language, Abenaki: ''Nanrantsouak'') was the name of both an Indigenous village and a Band society, band of the Abenaki ("People of the Dawn") Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans/First Nations in Canada, ...
in 1724 and the defeat of the
Pequawket in 1725, which significantly reduced their numbers. They finally withdrew to
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, where they were settled at
Bécancour and
Sillery, and later at St. Francis, along with other refugee tribes from the south.
Maine was much fought over by the
French, English, and allied natives during the 17th and 18th centuries. These natives conducted raids against settlers and each other, taking captives for ransom or, in some cases, kidnapped for adoption by
Native American tribes. A notable example was the early 1692
Abenaki
The Abenaki ( Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was pred ...
raid on York, where about 100 English settlers were killed and another estimated 80 taken hostage. The
Abenaki
The Abenaki ( Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was pred ...
took captives taken during raids of
Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
in
Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) or the Third Indian War was one in a series of French and Indian Wars fought in North America involving the colonial empires of Great Britain, France, and Spain; it took place during the reign of Anne, Queen of Gr ...
of the early 1700s to
Kahnewake, a Catholic
Mohawk village near
Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
, where some were adopted and others ransomed.
After the British defeated the French in Acadia in the 1740s, the territory from the
Penobscot River
The Penobscot River (Abenaki: ''Pαnawάhpskewtəkʷ'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 22, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Maine. Including the river's W ...
east fell under the nominal authority of the
Province of Nova Scotia, and together with present-day New Brunswick formed the Nova Scotia county of
Sunbury, with its court of general sessions at Campobello. American and British forces contended for Maine's territory during the American Revolution and the War of 1812, with the British occupying eastern Maine in both conflicts via the
Colony of New Ireland. The territory of Maine was confirmed as part of Massachusetts when the United States was formed following the
Treaty of Paris ending the revolution, although the final border with
British North America
British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestown, ...
was not established until the
Webster–Ashburton Treaty
The Webster–Ashburton Treaty, signed August 9, 1842, was a treaty that resolved several border issues between the United States and the British North American colonies (the region that later became the Dominion of Canada). Negotiated in the U ...
of 1842.
Maine was physically separate from the rest of Massachusetts. Longstanding disagreements over land speculation and settlements led to Maine residents and their allies in Massachusetts proper forcing an 1807 vote in the Massachusetts Assembly on permitting Maine to secede; the vote failed. Secessionist sentiment in Maine was stoked during the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...
when Massachusetts pro-British merchants opposed the war and refused to defend Maine from British invaders. In 1819, Massachusetts agreed to permit secession, sanctioned by voters of the rapidly growing region the following year.
Statehood and Missouri Compromise
Formal secession from Massachusetts and admission of Maine as the 23rd state occurred on March 15, 1820, as part of the
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise (also known as the Compromise of 1820) was federal legislation of the United States that balanced the desires of northern states to prevent the expansion of slavery in the country with those of southern states to expand ...
, which geographically restricted the spread of
slavery
Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
and enabled the admission to statehood of
Missouri
Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
the following year, keeping a balance between
slave
Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
and free states.
Maine's original state capital was Portland, Maine's largest city, until it was moved to the more central Augusta in 1832. The principal office of the
Maine Supreme Judicial Court
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court is the highest court in the state of Maine's judicial system. It is composed of seven justices, who are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Maine Senate. Between 1820 and 1839, justices served lifetime ...
remains in Portland.
The
20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment
The 20th Maine Infantry Regiment was a volunteer regiment of the United States Army (Union Army) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), most famous for its defense of Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg in Gettysburg, Pennsylvani ...
, under the command of Colonel
Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (born Lawrence Joshua Chamberlain, September 8, 1828February 24, 1914) was an American college professor and politician from Maine who volunteered during the American Civil War to join the Union Army. He became a highl ...
, prevented the
Union Army from being flanked at
Little Round Top
Little Round Top is the smaller of two rocky hills south of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania—the companion to the adjacent, taller hill named Big Round Top. It was the site of an unsuccessful assault by Confederate troops against the Union left ...
by the
Confederate Army
The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fi ...
during the
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg () was a three-day battle in the American Civil War, which was fought between the Union and Confederate armies between July 1 and July 3, 1863, in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle, won by the Union, ...
.
Four
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...
ships have been named
USS ''Maine'', most famously the
armored cruiser
The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed like other types of cruisers to operate as a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a pre-dreadnought battles ...
, whose sinking by an explosion on February 15, 1898, precipitated the
Spanish–American War
The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...
.
Geography

To the south and east is the
Gulf of Maine
The Gulf of Maine is a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of North America. It is bounded by Cape Cod at the eastern tip of Massachusetts in the southwest and by Cape Sable Island at the southern tip of Nova Scotia in the northea ...
, and to the west is the state of
New Hampshire
New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
. The Canadian province of
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...
is to the north and northeast, and the province of
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
is to the northwest. Maine is the northernmost and largest state in New England, accounting for almost half of the region's entire land area. Maine is the only state to border exactly one other American state. Approximately half the area of Maine lies on each side of the
45th parallel north
The 45th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 45 degrees north of Earth's equator. It crosses Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean.
The 45th parallel north is often called the halfway point between the ...
in
latitude
In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at t ...
.
Maine is the easternmost state in the
Contiguous United States
The contiguous United States, also known as the U.S. mainland, officially referred to as the conterminous United States, consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the District of Columbia of the United States in central North America. The te ...
both in its extreme points and its geographic center. The town of
Lubec is the easternmost organized settlement in the United States. Its Quoddy Head Lighthouse is also the closest place in the United States to Africa and Europe.
Estcourt Station is Maine's northernmost point, as well as the northernmost point in New England. (For more information see
extreme points of the United States
Extreme may refer to:
Science and mathematics Mathematics
*Extreme point, a point in a convex set which does not lie in any open line segment joining two points in the set
*Maxima and minima, extremes on a mathematical function
Science
*Extremop ...
)
Maine's
Moosehead Lake is the largest lake wholly in New England, since
Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain ( ; , ) is a natural freshwater lake in North America. It mostly lies between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and Vermont, but also extends north into the Canadian province of Quebec.
The cities of Burlington, Ve ...
is located between
Vermont
Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
, and
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
. A number of other Maine lakes, such as
South Twin Lake, are described by
Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau; July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in nat ...
in ''The Maine Woods'' (1864).
Mount Katahdin
Mount Katahdin ( ) is the highest mountain in the U.S. state of Maine at . Named Katahdin, which means "Great Mountain", by the Penobscot Native Americans, it is within Northeast Piscataquis, Piscataquis County, and is the centerpiece of B ...
is the northern terminus of the
Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian Trail, also called the A.T., is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian Tra ...
, which extends southerly to
Springer Mountain
Springer Mountain is a mountain located in the Chattahoochee National Forest on the border of Fannin and Gilmer counties. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains in northern Georgia, the mountain has an elevation of about . Springer Mountain serv ...
,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
, and the southern terminus of the new
International Appalachian Trail
The International Appalachian Trail (IAT; , SIA) was originally a hiking trail which ran from Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, in Maine, through New Brunswick, to the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec, after which it followed a ferry route ...
which, when complete, will run to
Belle Isle,
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the populatio ...
.
Machias Seal Island
Machias Seal Island is an island in disputed water between the Gulf of Maine and the Bay of Fundy, about southeast from Cutler, Maine, and southwest of Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick. Canada has had a permanent settlement on the island s ...
and
North Rock
North Rock () is an offshore rock near the boundary between the Gulf of Maine and the Bay of Fundy east of the North American continent. Its ownership is disputed between the Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick and the United States, U.S. ...
, off the state's Downeast coast, are claimed by both
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
and the Maine town of
Cutler, and are within one of
four areas between the two countries whose sovereignty is still in dispute, but it is the only one of the disputed areas containing land. Also in this easternmost area in the
Bay of Fundy
The Bay of Fundy () is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its tidal range is the highest in the world.
The bay was ...
is the
Old Sow
Old Sow (''Mocinikosk'', in Maliseet-Passamaquoddy) is the largest tide, tidal whirlpool in the Western Hemisphere, located off the southwestern shore of Deer Island (New Brunswick), Deer Island, New Brunswick, Canada, and off the northeast shore ...
, the largest
tidal whirlpool
A whirlpool is a body of rotating water produced by opposing currents or a current running into an obstacle. Small whirlpools form when a bath or a sink is draining. More powerful ones formed in seas or oceans may be called maelstroms ( ). ''Vo ...
in the
Western Hemisphere
The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the 180th meridian.- The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Geopolitically, ...
.
Maine is the least densely populated state east of the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...
. It is called the
Pine Tree State due to its largest distribution and presence of
pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae.
''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...
, including
Pinus strobus
''Pinus strobus'', commonly called the eastern white pine, northern white pine, white pine, Weymouth pine (British), and soft pine is a large pine native to eastern North America. It occurs from Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland, Canada, west ...
and
Pinus resinosa
''Pinus resinosa'', known as red pine (also Norway pine in Minnesota), is a pine native to Eastern North America.
Description
Red pine is a coniferous evergreen tree characterized by tall, straight growth. It usually ranges from in height and ...
. Over 80% of its total area is forested or unclaimed,
the most forest cover of any U.S. state. In the wooded areas of the interior lies much uninhabited land, some of which does not have formal political organization into local units (a rarity in New England). The
Northwest Aroostook unorganized territory in the northern part of the state, for example, has an area of and a population of 10, or one person for every .
Maine is in the
temperate broadleaf and mixed forests
Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions.
These ...
biome
A biome () is a distinct geographical region with specific climate, vegetation, and animal life. It consists of a biological community that has formed in response to its physical environment and regional climate. In 1935, Tansley added the ...
. The land near the southern and central Atlantic coast is covered by the mixed
oaks of the
Northeastern coastal forests
The Northeastern coastal forests are a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion of the northeast and middle Atlantic region of the United States. The ecoregion covers an area of 34,630 sq miles (89,691 km2) encompassing the Piedmont ...
. The remainder of the state, including the
North Woods, is covered by the
New England–Acadian forests.
Maine has almost of ocean coastline (and of tidal coastline).
West Quoddy Head
West Quoddy Head, in Quoddy Head State Park, Lubec, Maine, is the Extreme points of the United States, easternmost point of the contiguous United States. In 1808 a lighthouse was constructed at the site to guide ships through the Quoddy Narrows. ...
in Lubec is the easternmost point of land in the 48 contiguous states. Along the famous rock-bound coast of Maine are lighthouses, beaches, fishing villages, and thousands of offshore islands, including the
Isles of Shoals
The Isles of Shoals are a group of small islands and tidal ledges situated approximately off the east coast of the United States, straddling the border of the states of Maine and New Hampshire.
They have been occupied for more than 400 years, ...
which straddle the New Hampshire border. There are jagged rocks and cliffs and many bays and inlets. Inland are lakes, rivers, forests, and mountains. This visual contrast of forested slopes sweeping down to the sea has been summed up by American poet
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyric poetry, lyrical poet and playwright. Millay was a renowned social figure and noted Feminism, feminist in New York City during the Roaring Twenties and beyond. ...
of
Rockland and
Camden, in "Renascence":

Geologists describe this type of landscape as a "drowned coast", where a rising sea level has invaded former land features, creating bays out of valleys and islands out of mountain tops. A rise in land elevation due to the melting of heavy glacier ice caused a slight rebounding effect of underlying rock; this land rise, however, was not enough to eliminate all the effect of the rising sea level and its invasion of former land features.
Much of Maine's geomorphology was created by extended glacial activity at the end of the
last ice age. Prominent glacial features include
Somes Sound and Bubble Rock, both part of Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island. Carved by glaciers, Somes Sound reaches depths of . The extreme depth and steep drop-off allow large ships to navigate almost the entire length of the sound. These features also have made it attractive for boat builders, such as the prestigious
Hinckley Yachts
Hinckley Yachts, founded in 1928, manufactures, services and sells luxury sail and powerboats. The company is based in Maine, United States. The company has developed yacht technologies including JetStick and Dual Guard composite material, and was ...
.
Bubble Rock, a
glacial erratic
A glacial erratic is a glacially deposited rock (geology), rock differing from the type of country rock (geology), rock native to the area in which it rests. Erratics, which take their name from the Latin word ' ("to wander"), are carried by gla ...
, is a large boulder perched on the edge of Bubble Mountain in
Acadia National Park
Acadia National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located along the mid-section of the Maine coast, southwest of Bar Harbor, Maine, Bar Harbor. The park includes about half of Mount Desert ...
. By analyzing the type of granite, geologists discovered that glaciers carried Bubble Rock to its present location from near
Lucerne
Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...
, away. The
Iapetus Suture
The Iapetus Suture is one of several major Fault (geology), geological faults caused by the collision of several ancient land masses forming a suture (geology), suture. It represents in part the remains of what was once the Iapetus Ocean. Iapet ...
runs through the north and west of the state, being underlain by the ancient
Laurentian terrane, and the south and east underlain by the
Avalonian terrane.
Acadia National Park is the only national park in New England. Areas under the protection and management of the
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...
include:
*
Acadia National Park
Acadia National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located along the mid-section of the Maine coast, southwest of Bar Harbor, Maine, Bar Harbor. The park includes about half of Mount Desert ...
near
Bar Harbor
Bar Harbor () is a resort town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population is 5,089. The town is home to the College of the Atlantic, Jackson Laboratory, and MDI Biological Laboratory. ...
*
Appalachian National Scenic Trail
The Appalachian Trail, also called the A.T., is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian T ...
* Maine Acadian Culture in
St. John Valley
*
Roosevelt Campobello International Park
Roosevelt Campobello International Park preserves the house and surrounding landscape of the summer retreat of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt and their family. It is located on the southern tip of Campobello Island in the Canadian prov ...
on
Campobello Island
Campobello Island (, also ) is the largest and only inhabited island in Campobello Parish in southwestern New Brunswick, Canada, near the border with Maine, United States. It is the site of the Roosevelt Campobello International Park, Head Ha ...
in
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...
, Canada, operated by both the U.S. and Canada, just across the
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Bridge
The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Bridge is an international bridge which connects the community of Lubec, Maine in the United States with Campobello Island in the Canadian province of New Brunswick across the Lubec Narrows. The decked st ...
from Lubec
*
Saint Croix Island International Historic Site
Saint Croix Island (), long known to locals as Dochet Island (), is a small uninhabited island in Maine near the mouth of the St. Croix River (Maine-New Brunswick), Saint Croix River that forms part of the Canada–United States border separati ...
at
Calais
Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...
*
Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument
Lands under the control of the state of Maine include:
*
Maine State Parks
*
Maine Wildlife Management Areas (WMA)
Climate

Maine has a humid continental climate (
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
''Dfb''), with warm and sometimes humid summers, and long, cold and very snowy winters. Winters are especially severe in the northern and western parts of Maine, while coastal areas are moderated slightly by the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
, resulting in marginally milder winters and cooler summers than inland regions. Daytime highs are generally in the range throughout the state in July, with overnight lows in the high 50s°F (around 15°C). January temperatures range from highs near on the southern coast to overnight lows averaging below in the far north.
The state's record high temperature is , set in July 1911, at North Bridgton.
Precipitation in Maine is evenly distributed year-round, but with a slight summer maximum in northern/northwestern Maine and a slight late-fall or early-winter maximum along the coast due to "
nor'easter
A nor'easter (also northeaster; see below) is a large-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast. Typically, such storms originate as a low ...
s" or intense cold-season rain and snowstorms. In coastal Maine, the late spring and summer months are usually driest—a rarity across the Eastern United States. Maine has fewer days of thunderstorms than any other state east of the
Rockies, with most of the state averaging fewer than twenty days of
thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustics, acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorm ...
s a year.
Tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...
es are rare in Maine, with the state averaging two per year, although this number is increasing. Most severe thunderstorms and tornadoes occur in the southwestern interior portion of the state,
NOAA National Climatic Data Center. Retrieved on October 24, 2006. where summer temperatures are often the warmest and the atmosphere is thus more unstable compared to northern and coastal areas. Maine rarely sees the direct landfall of
tropical cyclone
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...
s, as they tend to recurve out to sea or are rapidly weakening by the time they reach the cooler waters of Maine.
In January 2009, a new record low temperature for the state was set at
Big Black River of , tying the New England record.
Annual precipitation varies from in
Presque Isle to in Acadia National Park.
Flora and fauna
Maine exhibits a diverse range of flora and fauna across its varied landscapes, including forests, coastline, and wetlands. Forested areas consist primarily of coniferous and deciduous trees, such as
balsam fir,
sugar maple
''Acer saccharum'', the sugar maple, is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is native to the hardwood forests of eastern Canada and the eastern United States. Sugar maple is best known for being the ...
, and its state tree, the
Eastern white pine
''Pinus strobus'', commonly called the eastern white pine, northern white pine, white pine, Weymouth pine (British), and soft pine is a large pine native to eastern North America. It occurs from Newfoundland, Canada, west through the Great Lake ...
. Coastal regions are characterized by hardy
sea milkwort,
sea-blight,
bayberry, and the invasive
rugosa rose
''Rosa rugosa'' (rugosa rose, beach rose, Japanese rose, Ramanas rose, or letchberry) is a species of rose native to eastern Asia, in northeastern China, Japan, Korea and southeastern Siberia, where it grows on beach coasts, often on sand dunes. ...
.
Maine's terrestrial fauna comprises mammals such as
moose
The moose (: 'moose'; used in North America) or elk (: 'elk' or 'elks'; used in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is also the tal ...
,
black bears, and
white-tailed deer
The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known Common name, commonly as the whitetail and the Virginia deer, is a medium-sized species of deer native to North America, North, Central America, Central and South America. It is the ...
, along with smaller species like
red squirrel
The red squirrel (''Sciurus vulgaris''), also called Eurasian red squirrel, is a species of tree squirrel in the genus ''Sciurus''. It is an arboreal and primarily herbivorous rodent and common throughout Eurasia.
Taxonomy
There have been ...
s,
snowshoe hare
The snowshoe hare (''Lepus americanus''), also called the varying hare or snowshoe rabbit, is a species of hare found in North America. It has the name "snowshoe" because of the large size of its hind feet. The animal's feet prevent it from sink ...
s, and
raccoon
The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the North American, northern or common raccoon (also spelled racoon) to distinguish it from Procyonina, other species of raccoon, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest ...
s. Maine has the largest populations of moose and black bears in the contiguous United States. Avian diversity is evident with migratory birds like
piping plover
The piping plover (''Charadrius melodus'') is a small sand-colored, Passerellidae, sparrow-sized wader, shorebird that nests and feeds along coastal sand and gravel beaches in North America. The adult has yellow-orange-red legs, a black band acro ...
s,
American oystercatcher, and
northern harrier
The northern harrier (''Circus hudsonius''), also known as the marsh hawk or ring-tailed hawk, is a bird of prey. It breeds throughout the northern parts of the northern hemisphere in Canada and the northernmost United States, USA.
The northern ...
, as well as resident species like
black-capped chickadee
The black-capped chickadee (''Poecile atricapillus'') is a small, nonmigratory, North American passerine bird that lives in deciduous and mixed forests. It is a member of the Paridae family (biology), family, also known as tits. It has a distin ...
s,
blue jays, and
barred owl
The barred owl (''Strix varia''), also known as the northern barred owl, striped owl or, more informally, hoot owl or eight-hooter owl, is a North American large species of owl. A member of the true owl family, Strigidae, they belong to the genus ...
s. Wetlands provide habitat for amphibians such as
spotted salamander
The spotted salamander (''Ambystoma maculatum''), also known commonly as the yellow-spotted salamander, is a species of mole salamander in the family Ambystomatidae. The species is native to the eastern United States and Canada. It is the sta ...
s,
wood frog
''Lithobates sylvaticus'' or ''Rana sylvatica'', commonly known as the wood frog, is a frog species that has a broad distribution over North America, extending from the boreal forest of the north to the southern Appalachians, with several nota ...
s, and toads. Freshwater habitats support fish species like
brook trout
The brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus ''Salvelinus'' of the salmon family Salmonidae native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada. Two ecological forms of brook trout h ...
,
landlocked salmon, and multiple
gamefish
Game fish, sport fish or quarry refer to popular fish species pursued by recreational fishers (typically anglers), and can be freshwater or saltwater fish. Game fish can be eaten after being caught, preserved as taxidermy (though rare), or ...
, while marine life in offshore waters includes
Atlantic puffin
The Atlantic puffin ('), also known as the common puffin, is a species of seabird in the auk family (biology), family. It is the only puffin native to the Atlantic Ocean; two related species, the tufted puffin and the horned puffin being found ...
s,
harbor seal
The harbor (or harbour) seal (''Phoca vitulina''), also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. The most widely distributed species of pinniped (walruses, eared sea ...
s,
minke whale
The minke whale (), or lesser rorqual, is a species complex of baleen whale. The two species of minke whale are the common (or northern) minke whale and the Antarctic (or southern) minke whale. The minke whale was first described by the Danish na ...
s, and
lobster
Lobsters are Malacostraca, malacostracans Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the family (biology), family Nephropidae or its Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on th ...
. Maine's abundance of lobster makes the state the largest producer of lobster in the United States.
Demographics
Population

The
U.S. Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...
estimates that the population of Maine was 1,344,212 on July 1, 2019, a 1.19% increase since the
2010 United States census.
At the
2020 census, 1,362,359 people lived in the state. The state's population density is 41.3 people per square mile, making it the
least densely populated state east of the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...
. As of 2010, Maine was also the most rural state in the Union, with only 38.7% of the state's population living within urban areas. As explained in detail under "Geography", there are large tracts of uninhabited land in some remote parts of the interior of the state, particularly in the
North Maine Woods
The North Maine Woods is the northern geographic area of the state of Maine in the United States. The thinly populated region is overseen by a combination of private individual and private industrial owners and state government agencies, and is di ...
.
The mean population center of Maine is located in
Kennebec County, just east of Augusta.
The
Greater Portland metropolitan area is the most densely populated with nearly 40% of Maine's population.
This area spans three counties and includes many farms and wooded areas; the 2016 population of Portland proper was 66,937.
Maine has experienced a very slow rate of population growth since the 1990 census; its rate of growth (0.57%) since the 2010 census ranks 45th of the 50 states. In 2021 and 2022, however, Maine had the highest proportion of arriving residents to departing residents of any state in the country, with 1.8 arrivals for every departure. The modest population growth in the state has been concentrated in the southern coastal counties; with more diverse populations slowly moving into these areas of the state. However, the northern, more rural areas of the state have experienced a slight decline in population from 2010 to 2016.
As of 2020, Maine has the highest population age 65 or older in the United States.
According to the
2010 census, Maine has the highest percentage of non-Hispanic
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
of any state, at 94.4% of the total population. In 2011, 89.0% of all births in the state were to non-Hispanic White parents. Maine also has the second-highest residential senior population.
According to
HUD's 2022
Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 4,411
homeless
Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...
people in Maine.
The table below shows the racial composition of Maine's population as of 2016.
According to the 2016
American Community Survey
The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the United States census, decennial census ...
, 1.5% of Maine's population were of
Hispanic or Latino origin (of any race):
Mexican (0.4%),
Puerto Rican (0.4%),
Cuban (0.1%), and other Hispanic or Latino origin (0.6%).
The six largest ancestry groups were:
English (20.7%),
Irish (17.3%),
French (15.7%),
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
(8.1%),
American (7.8%) and
French Canadian
French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French people, French colonists first arriving in Canada (New France), France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of ...
(7.7%).
People citing that they are
American are of overwhelmingly English descent, but have ancestry that has been in the region for so long (often since the 17th century) that they choose to identify simply as Americans.
Maine has the highest percentage of
French Americans
French Americans or Franco-Americans () are citizens or nationals of the United States who identify themselves with having full or partial French or French-Canadian heritage, ethnicity and/or ancestral ties. They include French-Canadian ...
of any state. Most of them are of
Canadian
Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
origin, but in some cases have been living there since prior to the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
. There are particularly high concentrations in the northern part of Maine in
Aroostook County, which is part of a cultural region known as
Acadia
Acadia (; ) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. The population of Acadia included the various ...
that goes over the border into
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...
. Along with the
Acadian
The Acadians (; , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, most descendants of Acadians live in either the Northern American region of Acadia, ...
population in the north, many French-Canadians came from
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
as immigrants between 1840 and 1930.
The upper
Saint John River valley area was once part of the so-called
Republic of Madawaska
The Republic of Madawaska () was a putative republic in the northwest corner of Madawaska County, New Brunswick (also known as the "New Brunswick Panhandle") and adjacent areas of Aroostook County in the US state of Maine and of Quebec.
T ...
, before the frontier was decided in the
Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842. Over a quarter of the population of Lewiston,
Waterville, and
Biddeford are Franco-American. Most of the residents of the
Mid Coast
MidCoast Council is a local government area located in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. The council was formed on 12 May 2016 through a merger of the Gloucester Shire, Great Lakes and City of Greater Taree Councils.
T ...
and
Down East sections are chiefly of British heritage. Smaller numbers of various other groups, including
Irish,
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
,
Swedish and
Polish, have settled throughout the state since the late 19th and early 20th century
immigration
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...
waves.
Today there are four
federally recognized
This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes are legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United States. tribes in Maine, including the
Mi'kmaq Nation
The Mi'kmaq Nation (formerly the Aroostook Band of Micmacs) is a US federally recognized tribe of Mi'kmaq people, based in Aroostook County, Maine. Their autonym is Ulustuk. Of the 28 bands of Mi'kmaq people, the Mi'kmaq Nation is the only one i ...
. In 2020, 7,885 identified as being Native American alone, and 25,617 did in combination with one or more other races.
Birth data
''Note: Births in table do not sum to 100% because Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race.''
* Since 2016, data for births of
White Hispanic origin are not collected, but included in one ''Hispanic'' group; persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.
In 2018, the top countries of origin for Maine's immigrants were
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
and
Korea
Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...
.
Language
Maine does not have an official language,
but the most widely spoken language in the state is English. The 2010 census reported 92.91% of Maine residents aged five and older spoke only English at home. French-speakers are the state's chief linguistic minority; census figures show that Maine has the highest percentage of people speaking French at home of any state: 3.93% of Maine households are French-speaking, compared with 3.45% (including Cajun and
Creole) in
Louisiana
Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
, which is the second highest state.
Spanish is the third-most-common language in Maine, after English and French.
Religion
According to the
Pew Research Center
The Pew Research Center (also simply known as Pew) is a nonpartisan American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the world. It ...
in 2014, the religious affiliations of Maine were:
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
37% (in particular:
Evangelical Protestant
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of the Christian ...
14%,
Mainline Protestant
The mainline Protestants (sometimes also known as oldline Protestants) are a group of Protestantism in the United States, Protestant denominations in the United States and Protestantism in Canada, Canada largely of the Liberal Christianity, theolo ...
21%,
Historical Black Protestant 2%),
Atheism
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the Existence of God, existence of Deity, deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the ...
or
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer t ...
6%, Nothing in Particular 26%,
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
21%, other Christians 5%, non-Christian religions including
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...
,
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
,
Buddhism
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
and
Baháʼí 7%, and
Pagans and
Unitarians 5%.
In 2014, the Roman Catholic Church was the largest religious denomination and the
Baptists
Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
(7% Evangelical and 5% Mainline) were the state's largest Protestant denomination, followed by the
Methodists (6%) and the
Congregationalists
Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently a ...
(5%). The atheists and the agnostics are only 6% of the state, but 26% of Mainers said that they "Believe in God but they are Unaffiliated." Eighty-one percent of Mainers believed in God, while 3% did not know and 16% did not believe in God. Thirty-four percent of Mainers thought that religion was "very important" and 29% said that it was "important", while 21% said that religion was not important.
According to a survey through the
Public Religion Research Institute
The Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) is an American nonprofit, nonpartisan research and education organization that conducts public opinion polls on a variety of topics, specializing in the quantitative and qualitative study of politic ...
in 2020, approximately 62% of the population were Christian; the religiously unaffiliated slightly increased to 33% from the separate 2014 study by the Pew Research Center. In a 2022 study by the Public Religion Research Institute, 63% of the population were Christian, and 30% were religiously unaffiliated. Among the non-Christian population in 2022, 1% were
Unitarian Universalist, 5%
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
, and 1%
New Age
New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...
r.
According to the
Association of Religion Data Archives
The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) is a free source of online information related to American and international religion. One of the primary goals of the archive is to democratize access to academic information on religion by making t ...
in 2020, with Christianity as the dominant faith, the largest denominations by number of adherents were Catholicism (219,233 members), non-denominational Protestantism (45,364), and United Methodists (19,686). According to the same study, there were an estimated 16,894
Muslims
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
in the state.
Economy
Total employment (May 2024):
* 674,900
Total employer establishments (2021):
* 42,519
Maine's total
gross state product
Gross regional domestic product (GRDP), gross domestic product of region (GDPR), or gross state product (GSP) is a statistic that measures the size of a region's economy. It is the aggregate of gross value added (GVA) of all resident producer unit ...
was $91.1 billion in 2023.
The state's
per capita personal income for 2023 was $63,117, ranking 30th in the nation, and its median gross income was $69,543.
, Maine's unemployment rate is 3.2%. , Maine's
minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. List of countries by minimum wage, Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation b ...
is $14.65.

Maine's
agricultural
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...
outputs include poultry, eggs, dairy products, cattle, wild blueberries, apples,
maple syrup
Maple syrup is a sweet syrup made from the sap of maple trees. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in late winter and early spring. Ma ...
, and
maple sugar
Maple sugar is a traditional sweetener in Canada and the Northeastern United States, prepared from the sap of the maple tree ("maple syrup, maple sap").
Sources
Three species of maple trees in the genus ''Acer (plant), Acer'' are predomina ...
.
Aroostook County is known for its
potato
The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...
crops. Potatoes make the state $166,672,000 a year.
Commercial fishing
Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for Commerce, commercial Profit (economics), profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice ...
, once a mainstay of the state's economy, maintains a presence, particularly
lobstering and
groundfishing
Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of ocean, seas or lakes (the demersal zone).Walrond Carl . "Coastal fish - Fish of the open sea floor"Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2 March 2009 T ...
. While lobster is the main seafood focus for Maine, the harvest of both oysters and seaweed are on the rise. In 2015, 14% of the Northeast's total oyster supply came from Maine. In 2017, the production of Maine's seaweed industry was estimated at $20 million per year. The shrimp industry of Maine is on a government-mandated hold. With an ever-decreasing Northern shrimp population, Maine fishermen are no longer allowed to catch and sell shrimp. The hold began in 2014, but a pilot program allowing limited shrimp fishing began in 2025. Western Maine aquifers and springs are a source of bottled water for companies like
Poland Spring.
Maine's industrial outputs consist chiefly of paper, lumber and wood products, electronic equipment, leather products, food products, textiles, and bio-technology. Naval shipbuilding and construction remain key as well, with
Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works (BIW) is a major United States shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, founded in 1884 as Bath Iron Works, Limited. Since 1995, Bath Iron Works has been a subsidiary of General Dynamics, one of the world's largest ...
in Bath and
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNS), often called the Portsmouth Navy Yard, is a United States Navy shipyard on Seavey's Island in Kittery, Maine, bordering Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The naval yard lies along the southern boundary of Maine on ...
in Kittery.
Brunswick Landing, formerly
Naval Air Station Brunswick, is also in Maine. Formerly a large support base for the U.S. Navy, the
BRAC campaign initiated the Naval Air Station's closing, despite a government-funded effort to upgrade its facilities. The former base has since been changed into a civilian business park, as well as a new satellite campus for
Southern Maine Community College.
Maine is the top U.S. producer of
low-bush blueberries. Preliminary data from the
USDA
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commerc ...
for 2012 also indicate Maine was the largest blueberry producer of the major blueberry producing states, with a total production of 91,100,000 lbs.
This data includes both low (wild) and
high-bush (cultivated) blueberries.
Historically, Maine ports played a key role in national transportation. Beginning around 1880, Portland's rail link and
ice-free port made it Canada's principal winter port, until the aggressive development of
Halifax, Nova Scotia in the mid-20th century. In 2013, 12,039,600
short tons
The short ton (abbreviation: tn
or st), also known as the US ton, is a measurement unit equal to . It is commonly used in the United States, where it is known simply as a ton; however, the term is ambiguous, the single word "ton" being variously ...
passed into and out of Portland by sea, which places it 45th of U.S. water ports.
Portland International Jetport
Portland International Jetport , locally known as the Jetport, is a public airport two miles (3 km) west of downtown Portland, Maine, Portland, Maine, United States. It is owned and operated by the City of Portland. A portion of the Jetpo ...
has been expanded, providing the state with increased air traffic from carriers such as
JetBlue
JetBlue Airways Corporation, stylized as jetBlue, is an American major airline headquartered in Long Island City, in Queens, New York City. Primarily a point-to-point carrier, JetBlue's network features six focus cities including its main hub ...
and
Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines Co., or simply Southwest, is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States that formerly operated on a low-cost carrier model. It is headquartered in the Love Field, Dallas, Love Field neighborhood ...
.
Maine has very few large companies that maintain headquarters in the state, and that number has fallen due to consolidations and mergers, particularly in the
pulp and paper industry
The pulp and paper industry comprises companies that use wood, specifically pulpwood, as raw material and produce pulp, paper, paperboard, and other cellulose-based products.
Manufacturing process
In the manufacturing process, pulp is intr ...
. Some of the larger companies that do maintain headquarters in Maine include
Covetrus
Covetrus, Inc. is an American company providing animal health products and related services. Until 2019, it was the animal health business of VetsFirstChoice, and Henry Schein, before being divested. In 2021, the company ranked 593 on the Fortune ...
in Portland;
Fairchild Semiconductor
Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. was an American semiconductor company based in San Jose, California. It was founded in 1957 as a division of Fairchild Camera and Instrument by the " traitorous eight" who defected from Shockley Semi ...
in South Portland;
IDEXX Laboratories
IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. is an American multinational corporation engaged in the development, manufacture, and distribution of products and services for the companion animal veterinary, livestock and poultry, water testing, and dairy markets. I ...
in Westbrook;
Hannaford Bros. Co.
Hannaford is an American supermarket chain based in Scarborough, Maine. Founded in Portland, Maine, in 1883, Hannaford operates stores in New England and New York (state), New York. The chain is part of the Ahold Delhaize group based in the Neth ...
in Scarborough;
L.L.Bean
L.L.Bean is an American privately held retail company that was founded in 1912 by Leon Leonwood Bean. The company, headquartered in Freeport, Maine (where it was founded), specializes in clothing and outdoor recreation equipment.
History
L.L. ...
in
Freeport; and
Puritan Medical Products in
Guilford. Maine is also the home of the
Jackson Laboratory
The Jackson Laboratory (often abbreviated as JAX) is an independent, non-profit biomedical research institution which was founded by Clarence Cook Little in 1929. It employs over 3,000 employees in Bar Harbor, Maine; Sacramento, California; F ...
, the world's largest non-profit mammalian genetic research facility and the world's largest supplier of genetically purebred mice.
Tourism
Tourism and outdoor recreation play a major and increasingly important role in Maine's economy. In 2023, 15,267,000 visitors spent more than $9 billion in Maine. Summer visitors and tourism began before the Civil War. After the Civil War, the number of visitors increased significantly. This was when a growing urban middle class wanted to leave cities in the summer to seek Maine's coast, lakes, woods, and mountains. Maine's fresh air, pure water, and local food were additional attractions. In the late 19th century, artist colonies developed in
Oqunquit and on
Monhegan
Monhegan () is an island in the Gulf of Maine. A plantation, a minor civil division in the state of Maine falling between unincorporated area and a town, it is located approximately off the mainland and is part of Lincoln County, Maine, United S ...
. The state is a popular destination for sport
hunting
Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...
(particularly deer, moose, and bear),
sport fishing
Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is occupational fishing activities done for profit; or subsistence fishing, ...
,
snowmobiling
A snowmobile, also known as a snowmachine (chiefly Alaskan), motor sled (chiefly Canadian), motor sledge, skimobile, snow scooter, or simply a sled is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow.
Their engines normally ...
,
skiing
Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...
, boating,
camping
Camping is a form of outdoor recreation or outdoor education involving overnight stays with a basic temporary shelter such as a tent. Camping can also include a recreational vehicle, sheltered cabins, a permanent tent, a shelter such as a Bivy bag ...
and
hiking
A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time.
"Hi ...
, among other activities. Along with the tourist and recreation-oriented economy, Maine has developed a burgeoning
creative economy
The creative industries refers to a range of economic activities which are concerned with the generation or exploitation of knowledge and information. They may variously also be referred to as the cultural industries (especially in Europe) or the ...
, most notably centered in the
Greater Portland vicinity.
Taxation
Maine has an
income tax
An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...
structure containing two brackets, 6.5 and 7.95 percent of personal income. Before July 2013, Maine had four brackets: 2, 4.5, 7, and 8.5 percent. Maine's general
sales tax
A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a govern ...
rate is 5.5 percent. The state also levies charges of nine percent on lodging and prepared food and ten percent on short-term auto rentals. Commercial sellers of blueberries, a Maine staple, must keep records of their transactions and pay the state 1.5 cents per pound ($1.50 per 100 pounds) of the fruit sold each season. All
real and tangible
personal property
Personal property is property that is movable. In common law systems, personal property may also be called chattels or personalty. In civil law (legal system), civil law systems, personal property is often called movable property or movables—a ...
located in the state of Maine is taxable unless specifically exempted by statute. The administration of property taxes is handled by the local assessor in incorporated cities and towns, while property taxes in the unorganized territories are handled by the State Tax Assessor.
Shipbuilding
Maine has a long-standing tradition of being home to many shipbuilding companies, such as
Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works (BIW) is a major United States shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, founded in 1884 as Bath Iron Works, Limited. Since 1995, Bath Iron Works has been a subsidiary of General Dynamics, one of the world's largest ...
and the
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNS), often called the Portsmouth Navy Yard, is a United States Navy shipyard on Seavey's Island in Kittery, Maine, bordering Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The naval yard lies along the southern boundary of Maine on ...
. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Maine was home to many shipyards that produced wooden sailing ships. The main function of these ships was to transport either cargos or passengers overseas. One of these yards was located in
Pennellville Historic District in what is now
Brunswick, Maine
Brunswick is a New England town, town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. Brunswick is included in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area. The population was 21,756 at the 2020 United States Census. Part o ...
. This yard, owned by the Pennell family, was typical of the many family-owned shipbuilding companies of the time period. Other such examples of shipbuilding families were the Skolfields and the Morses. During the 18th and 19th centuries, wooden shipbuilding of this sort made up a sizable portion of the economy.
Transportation
Airports

Maine receives
passenger jet service at its two largest airports, the
Portland International Jetport
Portland International Jetport , locally known as the Jetport, is a public airport two miles (3 km) west of downtown Portland, Maine, Portland, Maine, United States. It is owned and operated by the City of Portland. A portion of the Jetpo ...
in Portland, and the
Bangor International Airport
Bangor International Airport is a joint civil-military public airport on the west side of the city of Bangor, in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. Owned and operated by the City of Bangor, the airport has a single runway measuring . ...
in Bangor. Both are served daily by many major
airline
An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...
s to destinations such as New York,
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
, and
Orlando
Orlando commonly refers to:
* Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States
Orlando may also refer to:
People
* Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name
* Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...
.
Essential Air Service
Essential Air Service (EAS) is a U.S. government program enacted to guarantee that small communities in the United States, which had been served by certificated airlines prior to deregulation in 1978, maintain commercial service. Its aim is ...
also subsidizes service to a number of smaller airports in Maine, bringing small
turboprop
A turboprop is a Gas turbine, gas turbine engine that drives an aircraft Propeller (aeronautics), propeller.
A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction drive, reduction gearbox, gas compressor, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propellin ...
aircraft to regional airports such as the
Augusta State Airport
Augusta State Airport is a public use airport located one nautical mile (2 km) west of the central business district of the state capital of Augusta, a city in Kennebec County, Maine, United States. The airport is owned by the state ...
,
Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport,
Knox County Regional Airport, and the
Northern Maine Regional Airport at Presque Isle. These airports are served by regional providers such as
Cape Air
Hyannis Air Service Inc., operating as Cape Air, is an airline headquartered at Cape Cod Gateway Airport in Hyannis, Massachusetts, United States. It operates scheduled passenger services in the Northeast, the Caribbean and Eastern Montana.
...
with
Cessna 402
The Cessna 401 and 402 are a series of 6 to 10 seat, light twin-piston engine aircraft.Montgomery, MR & Gerald Foster: ''A Field Guide to Airplanes, Second Edition'', page 108. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992. All seats are easily removable so ...
s, and
CommutAir
CommuteAir is a regional airline of the United States founded in 1989. Today, CommuteAir operates more than 1,600 weekly flights, exclusively on behalf of United Express, serving over 75 U.S. destinations and 3 in Mexico. CommuteAir's fleet of E ...
with
Embraer ERJ-145 aircraft.
Many smaller airports are scattered throughout Maine, serving only
general aviation
General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...
traffic. The
Eastport Municipal Airport
Eastport Municipal Airport is a city-owned public-use airport located one nautical mile (1.85 km) west of the central business district of Eastport, a city in Washington County, Maine, United States.
Although most U.S. airports use the same ...
, for example, is a city-owned public-use airport with 1,200 general aviation aircraft operations each year from single-engine and ultralight aircraft.
Highways
Interstate95 (I-95) travels through Maine, as well as its easterly branch
I-295
Interstate 295
is the designation for the following eight Interstate Highways in the United States, all of which are related to I-95:
*Interstate 295 (Delaware–Pennsylvania), a bypass of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
* Interstate 295 (Florida), a be ...
and spurs
I-195,
I-395 and the unsigned
I-495
Interstate 495 (I-495)
is the designation for the following five Interstate Highways in the United States, all of which are related to I-95:
* The Capital Beltway, a beltway around Washington, D.C., running through Virginia, Maryland, and a sliver ...
(the Falmouth Spur). In addition,
U.S. Route1 (US1) starts in
Fort Kent and travels to
Florida
Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
. The eastern terminus of the eastern section of
US2 starts in Houlton, near the New Brunswick, Canada border to
Rouses Point, New York, at
US11.
US2A connects Old Town and Orono, primarily serving the
University of Maine
The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...
campus.
US201 and
US202 flow through the state. US2,
Maine State Route 6 (SR6), and
SR9 are often used by truckers and other motorists of the
Maritime Provinces
The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of ...
''en route'' to other destinations in the United States or as a short cut to
Central Canada
Central Canada (, sometimes the ''Central Provinces'') is a Canadian region consisting of Ontario and Quebec, the largest and most populous provinces of the country. Geographically, they are not at the centre of Canada but instead overlap wi ...
.
Rail
Passenger

The ''
Downeaster'' passenger train, operated by
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
, provides passenger service between Brunswick and Boston's
North Station
North Station is a commuter rail and intercity rail terminal station in Boston, Massachusetts. It is served by four MBTA Commuter Rail lines – the Fitchburg Line, Haverhill Line, Lowell Line, and Newburyport/Rockport Line – and the Amtr ...
, with stops in Freeport, Portland,
Old Orchard Beach, Saco, and
Wells. The ''Downeaster'' makes five daily trips.
Freight
Freight service throughout the state is provided by a handful of regional and shortline carriers:
Pan Am Railways
Pan Am Railways, Inc. (PAR) is a subsidiary of CSX Corporation that operates Class II regional railroads covering northern New England from Mattawamkeag, Maine, to Rotterdam Junction, New York. Pan Am Railways is primarily made up of former C ...
(formerly known as Guilford Rail System), which operates the former
Boston and Maine
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and financial center of New England, a region of the Northeastern United States. It has an area of and a ...
and
Maine Central railroads;
St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad;
Maine Eastern Railroad;
Central Maine and Quebec Railway
The Central Maine and Québec Railway was a Class II railroad, Class II freight railroad operating in the United States, U.S. states of Maine and Vermont and the Canada, Canadian province of Quebec with headquarters in Bangor, Maine. It was own ...
; and
New Brunswick Southern Railway.
Shipping
Cargo
The International Marine Terminal in
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
*Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon
*Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine
*Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel
Portland may also r ...
provides shipping container transport. In 2021 an estimated 36,700 shipping containers moved through the terminal. In 2017, a total of 17,515 shipping containers were transported. The Icelandic shipping company
Eimskip
Eimskipafélag Íslands hf. (, ), trading as Eimskip (, ), is an international shipping company with 56 offices in 20 countries and four continents; Europe, North America, South America and Asia. Eimskip specialises in worldwide freight forwarding ...
opened its United States headquarters in Portland in 2013. Its ships stop in Portland once a week in a route that includes Atlantic Canada and Iceland with connections to northern Europe and Asia. In 2015, the terminal moved 10,500 containers. The Maine Port Authority in 2016 began a $15.5 million expansion and improvement of the terminal. The Maine Port Authority leased the International Marine Terminal from the city of Portland in 2009.
Law and government
The
Maine Constitution
The Constitution of the State of Maine established the "State of Maine" in 1820 and is the fundamental governing document of the state. It consists of a Preamble and ten Articles (divisions), the first of which is a "Declaration of Rights".
Th ...
structures Maine's state government, composed of three co-equal branches—the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The state of Maine also has three Constitutional Officers (the Secretary of State, the State Treasurer, and the State Attorney General) and one Statutory Officer (the State Auditor).
The
legislative branch
A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the authority, legal authority to make laws for a Polity, political entity such as a Sovereign state, country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with th ...
is the
Maine Legislature
The Maine State Legislature is the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Maine. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral body composed of the lower house Maine House of Representatives and the upper house Maine Senate. ...
, a bicameral body composed of the
Maine House of Representatives
The Maine House of Representatives is the lower house of the Maine Legislature. The House consists of 151 voting members and three nonvoting members. The voting members represent an equal number of districts across the state and are elected via ...
, with 151 members, and the
Maine Senate
The Maine Senate is the upper house of the Maine Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Maine. The Senate currently consists of 35 members representing an equal number of districts across the st ...
, with 35 members. The Legislature is charged with introducing and passing laws.
The
executive branch
The executive branch is the part of government which executes or enforces the law.
Function
The scope of executive power varies greatly depending on the political context in which it emerges, and it can change over time in a given country. In ...
is headed by the
Governor of Maine
The governor of Maine is the head of government of the U.S. state of Maine. Before Maine was admitted to the Union in 1820, Maine was part of Massachusetts and the governor of Massachusetts was chief executive.
The current governor of Maine is J ...
(currently
Janet Mills
Janet Trafton Mills (born December 30, 1947) is an American politician and lawyer serving since 2019 as the 75th governor of Maine. She previously served as Maine Attorney General.
A member of the Democratic Party, Mills was first elected a ...
). The Governor is elected every four years; no individual may serve more than two consecutive terms in this office. The current
attorney general of Maine
The Maine Attorney General is the chief legal advisor and prosecutor of the State of Maine. The constitutional basis of the office is Article IX, Section 11 of the Maine Constitution, and the holder of the position is chosen biennially by the Mai ...
is
Aaron Frey
Aaron M. Frey (born c. 1978) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 58th Maine Attorney General, Attorney General of Maine since 2019. He formerly served as a Democratic Party (United States), Democratic representative in the Maine Ho ...
. As with other
state legislatures, the Maine Legislature can by a two-thirds majority vote from both the House and Senate override a gubernatorial veto. Maine is one of seven states that do not have a lieutenant governor.

The highest court in the state's
judicial branch
The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...
is the
Maine Supreme Judicial Court
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court is the highest court in the state of Maine's judicial system. It is composed of seven justices, who are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Maine Senate. Between 1820 and 1839, justices served lifetime ...
. The lower courts are the District Court,
Superior Court
In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...
and Probate Court. All judges except for probate judges serve full-time, are nominated by the Governor, and confirmed by the Legislature for terms of seven years. Probate judges serve part-time and are elected by the voters of each county for four-year terms.
In a 2020 study, Maine was ranked as the 14th easiest state for citizens to vote in. In 2012, Maine became one of the first U.S. states to establish
marriage rights for same-sex couples.
Politics
Maine politics are dynamic in nature, with parties loosely hung together, governors often winning by pluralities rather than majorities, and significant turnover both in members and parties in
legislative districts. In his 2010 article ''Maine's Paradoxical Politics'', Kenneth Palmer suggests that "Maine's political leaders find themselves as
centrists, primarily because they want to find practical solutions to difficult problems."
The results of the elections are often
varied. Maine is seen as a blue-leaning
swing state
In United States politics, a swing state (also known as battleground state, toss-up state, or purple state) is any state that could reasonably be won by either the Democratic or Republican candidate in a statewide election, most often refe ...
, with unusually high support for
independent candidates.
The Republican Party have won Maine in 11 out of the past 20 presidential elections, and the governorship has been won by
Democrats and independents three times each, and Republicans four times, since 1974.
Maine uses
ranked choice voting in primary elections for state and federal offices, as well as in general elections for federal offices. Ranked choice voting was adopted by voters in a
2016 referendum.
Counties
Maine is divided into political jurisdictions designated as
counties
A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
. Since 1860 there have been 16 counties in the state, ranging in size from .
Law enforcement
Municipalities
Organized municipalities
An organized municipality has a form of elected local government which administers and provides local services, keeps records, collects licensing fees, and can pass locally binding
ordinances, among other responsibilities of self-government. The governmental format of most organized towns and
plantations
Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tobacco ...
is the town meeting, while the format of most cities is the council-manager form. the organized municipalities of Maine consist of 23
cities
A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
, 430
towns
A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city.
The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...
, and 30
plantations
Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tobacco ...
. Collectively these 483 organized municipalities cover less than half of the state's territory. Maine also has three Reservations:
Indian Island, Indian Township Reservation, and Pleasant Point Indian Reservation.
* The largest municipality in Maine, by population, is the city of Portland (pop. 68,408).
* The smallest city by population is Eastport (pop. 1,288).
* The largest town by population is Brunswick (pop. 21,756).
* The smallest town by population is
Frye Island, a resort town which reported zero year-round population in the 2000 Census; one plantation,
Glenwood Plantation, also reported a permanent population of zero.
* In the 2000 census, the smallest town aside from Frye Island was
Centerville with a population of 26, but since that census, Centerville voted to disincorporate and therefore is no longer a town. The next smallest town with a population listed in that census is
Beddington
Beddington is a suburban settlement in the London Borough of Sutton on the boundary with the London Borough of Croydon. Beddington is formed from a village of the same name which until early the 20th century still included land which became ...
(pop. 60 at the 2020 census).
* The largest municipality by land area is the town of
Allagash, at .
* The smallest municipality by land area is
Monhegan Island, at . The smallest municipality by area that is not an island is
Randolph, at .
Unorganized territory
Unorganized territory (UT) has no local government. Administration, services, licensing, and ordinances are handled by the state government as well as by respective county governments who have townships within each county's bounds. The unorganized territory of Maine consists of more than 400 townships (in Maine, towns are incorporated, townships are unincorporated), plus many coastal islands that do not lie within any municipal bounds. The UT land area is slightly over half the entire area of the State of Maine. Year-round residents in the UT number approximately 9,000 (about 1.3% of the state's total population), with many more people staying there only seasonally. Only four of
Maine's sixteen counties (Androscoggin, Cumberland, Waldo and York) are entirely incorporated, although a few others are nearly so, and most of the unincorporated area is in the vast and sparsely populated
Great North Woods of Maine.
Most populous cities and towns
Throughout Maine, many municipalities, although each separate governmental entities, nevertheless form portions of a much larger population base. There are many such population clusters throughout Maine, but some examples from the municipalities appearing in the above listing are:
* Portland, South Portland,
Cape Elizabeth, Westbrook, Scarborough, and
Falmouth
* Lewiston and Auburn
* Bangor,
Orono,
Brewer
Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer, ...
,
Old Town
In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...
, and
Hampden
* Biddeford, Saco and
Old Orchard Beach
* Brunswick and
Topsham
*
Waterville,
Winslow,
Fairfield, and
Oakland
Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...
*
Presque Isle and
Caribou
The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only represe ...
Education

There are thirty institutions of
higher learning
Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education.
The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...
in Maine. These institutions include the
University of Maine
The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...
, which is the oldest, largest and only
research university
A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are "the key sites of Knowledge production modes, knowledge production", along with "intergenerational ...
in the state. UMaine was founded in 1865 and is the state's only
land grant
A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...
and
sea grant
The National Sea Grant College Program is a program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the U.S. Department of Commerce. It is a national network of 34 university-based Sea Grant programs involved in scientific r ...
college. The University of Maine is located in the town of
Orono and is the flagship of Maine. There are also branch campuses in
Augusta,
Farmington,
Fort Kent,
Machias, and
Presque Isle.
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College ( ) is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. It was chartered in 1794.
The main Bowdoin campus is located near Casco Bay and the Androscoggin River. In a ...
is a liberal arts college founded in 1794 in Brunswick, making it the oldest institution of higher learning in the state.
Colby College
Colby College is a private liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine, United States. Founded in 1813 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, it was renamed Waterville College in 1821. The donations of Christian philanthropist Gardner ...
in Waterville was founded in 1813 making it the second oldest college in Maine.
Bates College
Bates College () is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian ...
in Lewiston was founded in 1855 making it the third oldest institution in the state and the oldest
coeducational
Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...
college in New England.
The three colleges collectively form the
Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium
The Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium (CBB) is an athletic conference and Consortium, academic consortium between three private Liberal arts college, liberal arts colleges in the U.S. State of Maine. The group consists of Colby College in Waterville ...
and are ranked among the best colleges in the United States; often placing in the top 10% of all liberal arts colleges.
Maine's per-student public expenditure for elementary and secondary schools was 21st in the nation in 2012, at $12,344.
The collegiate system of Maine also includes numerous
baccalaureate colleges such as: the
Maine Maritime Academy
Maine Maritime Academy (Maine Maritime or MMA) is a public college focused on maritime training and located in Castine, Maine. The academy was established by the 90th Maine Legislature on March 21, 1941. Unlike federal service academies, a cong ...
(MMA),
College of the Atlantic
College of the Atlantic (COA) is a private liberal arts college in Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island, Maine. Founded in 1969, it awards bachelors and masters ( M.Phil.) degrees solely in the field of human ecology, an interdisciplinary approa ...
,
Unity Environmental University
Unity Environmental University (formerly Unity College) is a private university in New Gloucester, Maine, United States. It offers in-person and online Associate degree, associate, Bachelor's degree, baccalaureate, and master's degree programs on ...
, and
Thomas College
Thomas College is a private college in Waterville, Maine, United States. It offers undergraduate and graduate degrees and is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. As of fall 2019 Thomas College enrolled 1,949 students; ...
. There is only one medical school in the state, (
University of New England's
College of Osteopathic Medicine) and only one law school (The
University of Maine School of Law
The University of Maine School of Law (UMaine Law or Maine Law) is a Public university, public law school in Portland, Maine. It is accredited by the American Bar Association and is Maine's only law school. It is also part of the University of Ma ...
). There is one art school in the state,
Maine College of Art
Maine College of Art & Design (MECA&D) is a Private college, private art school in Portland, Maine. Founded in 1882, Maine College of Art & Design is the oldest arts educational institution in Maine. Roughly 32% of MECA&D students are from Maine. ...
, along with a private graduate school,
Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, which offers a
Doctor of Philosophy
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...
to visual artists.
The
Maine Community College System
The Maine Community College System is Maine
Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of M ...
, founded in 1985 also serves "to provide associate degree, diploma and certificate programs directed at the educational, career and technical needs of the State's citizens and the workforce needs of the State's employers." This system includes
Southern Maine Community College (SMCC),
York County Community College
York County Community College (YCCC) is a Public college, public community college in Wells, Maine. YCCC is part of the Maine Community College System.
History
York County Community College was established in 1994 as York County Technical Colleg ...
(YCCC),
Central Maine Community College
Central Maine Community College (abbreviated CMCC) is a public community college in Auburn, Maine. It is part of the Maine Community College System.
Former names
Founded in 1963 as Androscoggin State Vocational Institute, later changed to Centra ...
(CMCC),
Eastern Maine Community College (EMCC),
Kennebec Valley Community College
Kennebec Valley Community College is a Public college, public community college in Fairfield, Maine, Fairfield and Hinckley, Maine. It is one of the seven colleges in the Maine Community College System.
Overview
The college was organized in 1 ...
(KVCC),
Northern Maine Community College (NMCC), and
Washington County Community College
Washington County Community College (WCCC) is a public community college in Calais in Washington County, Maine. The college is on a hillside overlooking the St. Croix River Valley at the edge of a campus of mature woods and fields.
WCCC is part ...
(WCCC).
Private schools in Maine are funded independently of the state and its furthered domains. Private schools are less common than public schools. A large number of private elementary schools with under 20 students exist, but most private high schools in Maine can be described as "semi-private".
Maine also has Vocational Schools, such as the
Biddeford Regional Center of Technology and Sanford Regional Technical Center that teach trades such as welding, construction and vehicle repair to students.
Culture
Agriculture
Maine was a center of agriculture before it achieved statehood. Prior to colonization,
Wabanaki nations farmed large crops of corn and other produce in southern Maine.
Maine was a center of grain production in the 1800s, until grain production moved westward. However, in the early 2000s the local food movement spurred renewed interested in locally grown grains. In 2007, the Kneading Conference was founded. In, 2012, the
Skowhegan grist mill Maine Grains opened. The revival of grain farming and milling in Maine has led to the creation of other businesses, including bakeries and malthouses.
Maine has many vegetable farms and other small, diversified farms. In the 1960s and 1970s, the book "
Living the Good Life
Living or The Living may refer to:
Common meanings
*Life, a condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms
** Living species, one that is not extinct
*Personal life, the course of an individual human's life
* ...
" by
Helen Nearing
Helen Knothe Nearing (February 23, 1904 – September 17, 1995) was an American author, advocate of simple living and a lifelong vegetarian.
Biography
Helen Knothe was born on February 23, 1904, in Ridgewood, New Jersey, the daughter of Fran ...
and
Scott Nearing
Scott Nearing (August 6, 1883 – August 24, 1983) was an American radical economist, educator, writer, political activist, pacifist, vegetarian and advocate of simple living.
Biography
Early years
Nearing was born in Morris Run, Tioga County ...
caused many young people to move to Maine and engage in small-scale farming and homesteading. These
back-to-the-land migrants increased the population of some counties.
Maine is home to the
Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association
The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) organic certification, certifies organic food and products throughout the State of Maine. It is a voluntary organization whose office is located in Unity, Maine. As of 2016, MOFGA certifie ...
and had 535 certified organic farms in 2019.
Festivals
Maine has multiple fairs and festivals that are held annually, which include
La Kermesse, a celebration of the state's
French and
French Canadian
French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French people, French colonists first arriving in Canada (New France), France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of ...
heritage, the
Fryeburg Fair, the
Cumberland Fair, the
Union Fair, the
Common Ground Country Fair, a number of
Old Home Days festivals, and a number of
Portland Food Festivals.
Food
Along with the growth of the local food movement over the last several decades, Maine has received national recognition for its food and restaurant scene.
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
*Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon
*Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine
*Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel
Portland may also r ...
was named ''
Bon Appetit
Bon or Bön (), also known as Yungdrung Bon (, ), is the indigenous Tibetan religion which shares many similarities and influences with Tibetan Buddhism.Samuel 2012, pp. 220–221. It initially developed in the tenth and eleventh centuries but ...
'' magazine's Restaurant City of the Year in 2018. In 2018, HealthIQ.com named Maine the 3rd most vegan-friendly state.
Biddeford was selected by
Food & Wine
''Food & Wine'' is an American monthly magazine published by Dotdash Meredith. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine pairings and sea ...
in 2022 as one of America's next great food cities.
Maine food shares many ingredients with
Wabanaki cuisine, including corn, beans, squash, wild blueberries, maple syrup, fish, and seafood. By 1902, the
Maine Italian sandwich had been invented in Portland. Sandwich shops across Maine serve the sandwiches. Baked beans are a common dish in Maine, served at community suppers where the beans are sometimes cooked underground in a bean hole. In New England, Maine baked beans are one of two well-known regional styles of baked beans, the other being
Boston baked beans
Boston baked beans are a variety of baked beans, sweetened with molasses, and flavored with salt pork or bacon.
History
Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans had made corn bread and baked beans. The Pilgrim (Plymouth Colony), ...
. Maine baked beans use thicker skinned, native bean varieties such like Marafax, soldier, and yellow-eye beans. From 1913 until 2021, baked beans were canned on the Portland waterfront at the
B&M Baked Beans factory.
Sports teams
Professional
*
Maine Celtics,
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
,
NBA G League
The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the Minor league#Basketball, developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of ...
*
Portland Sea Dogs
The Portland Sea Dogs are a Minor League Baseball team based in Portland, Maine, playing in the Eastern League (1938–present), Eastern League. Established in 1994, the Sea Dogs are the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red ...
,
minor league baseball
Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...
,
Eastern League
*
Maine Mariners,
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...
,
ECHL
The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...
*
Portland Hearts of Pine,
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
,
USL League One
USL League One (USL1) is a professional men's association football, soccer league in the United States that had its inaugural season in 2019 USL League One season, 2019. The United States soccer league system, Division III league is operated ...
Non-professional
*
Portland Phoenix FC
GPS Portland Phoenix was an American association football, soccer team based in Portland, Maine. Founded in 2009, the team played in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conferen ...
,
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
,
Premier Developmental League
USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will feature ...
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Maine Roller Derby, roller derby,
Women's Flat Track Derby Association
The Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) is the international governing body for the sport of women's flat track roller derby. It sets the international standards for rankings, rules, and competition in the sport, and provides guidance and ...
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NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
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Maine Black Bears
The Maine Black Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of Maine. A member of the America East Conference, the University of Maine sponsors teams in eight men's and nine women's NCAA sanctioned sports. The men's and women's Col ...
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Husson Eagles
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Maine Maritime Mariners
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Bates Bobcats
The Bates Bobcats are the athletic teams of Bates College largely based in Lewiston, Maine and the surrounding areas. The college's official mascot has been the bobcat since 1924, and maintains garnet as its official color. The school sponsors 3 ...
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Colby Mules
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Bowdoin Polar Bears
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New England Nor'easters
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USCAA
The United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) is a national organization for the intercollegiate athletic programs of 72 mostly small colleges, including community/junior colleges, across the United States. The USCAA holds 15 national ...
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York County Community College
York County Community College (YCCC) is a Public college, public community college in Wells, Maine. YCCC is part of the Maine Community College System.
History
York County Community College was established in 1994 as York County Technical Colleg ...
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University of Maine at Augusta
Terminology
Maine maintains some vernacular and terminology that is unique in comparison to the rest of the country. Some of these include:
* "From away" - A non-native person of Maine.
* "Upta camp" - Going to a more out-of-the-way, rustic place.
Popularized by
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, he fused elements of reggae, ska and rocksteady and was renowned for his distinctive voca ...
after his special of the same name.
* "Ayuh" - An affirmative response, like "Yes".
People from Maine
Citizens of Maine are often known as Mainers.
The term Downeaster may be applied to residents of the northeast coast of the state. The term Mainiac is considered by some to be derogatory, but is embraced with pride by others, and is used for a variety of organizations and for events such as the YMCA Mainiac Sprint Triathlon & Duathlon.
See also
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Index of Maine-related articles
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Outline of Maine
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References
Notes
Citations
External links
State government
Maine governmentMaine Office of TourismSearch for tourism-related businesses
Visit Maine (agriculture)Maine fairs, festivals, etc.—Agricultural Dept.
U.S. government
U.S. EIAEnergy Profile for Maine—economic, environmental and energy data
U.S. Geological SurveyReal-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Maine
U.S. Dept. of AgricultureMaine State Facts—agricultural
Quick facts on Maine
Portland MagazineEditorial on Maine news, events, and people
Information
Maine Historical Society1860 Map of Maineby Mitchell.
1876 Panoramic Birdseye View of Portlandby Warner at LOC.,
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States of the United States
New England states
Northeastern United States
States and territories established in 1820
States of the East Coast of the United States
1820 establishments in the United States
Contiguous United States