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Compare Maine and Portland, Maine · readings as of September 16, 2026

Maine vs Portland

Portland rents for $2,342 a month; Maine has no current rent reading, unemployment is 3.1% against 2.5%, and 50% of 12 Maine locals would move there again against 100% of 2 in Portland.

By The Honest Local · the same public series for both places, side by side · locals’ verdicts from each thread
Maine
State

Maine

50%of 12 locals would move here again
23 in the thread · 1 open question
Portland, Maine
City

Portland, Maine

100%of 2 locals would move here again
3 in the thread · 0 open questions
The numbers source and period under each reading; the better reading is marked
MainePortland
Median rentno reading$2,342 /mo
Listing price$450,000$649,000
Typical home value$415,552$539,862
Unemployment3.1%2.5%
Cost of living, US = 100112.9112.9
Violent crime, per 100k9595
Property crime, per 100k962962
Regular gas$4.32$4.32
Air right nowno readingAQI 25
Temperature right nowno reading68°F
Net domestic migration, latest year+5,329+1,545
Income tax5.8% to 7.15%, plus 2% surcharge over $1M from tax year 2026 (9.15%)not in the guide yet
Sales tax5.5%, no localnot in the guide yet
Property tax~0.98% effective / ~$1,500 per yrnot in the guide yet

How to read this

Both columns come from the same public series read on the same day, so the comparison is fair even where the numbers are imperfect. Rent is Zillow’s observed rent index for the metro. Listing price is realtor.com’s median via FRED. Unemployment is the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ metro rate for the latest month. Crime is the FBI’s state rate until agency-level data is wired in, so two cities in one state read the same there. Taxes come from each guide’s sourced figures and are missing where a guide hasn’t been refreshed yet.

The verdict line at the top is written from these readings by a template, not by a model, and it changes only when the readings do.

Missing here. median_rent, aqi_now, temp_now, income_tax, sales_tax, property_tax. We leave a gap rather than estimate.
Sources and method
  1. Median rent: Zillow · 2026-08
  2. Listing price: FRED · 2026-08; FRED · 2026-08
  3. Typical home value: Zillow Home Value Index (state) · 2026-08; Zillow · 2026-08
  4. Unemployment: BLS · 2026-07; BLS · 2026-07
  5. Cost of living, US = 100: MERIC · 2026Q2; MERIC · 2026Q2
  6. Violent crime, per 100k: FBI · 2025; FBI · 2025
  7. Property crime, per 100k: FBI · 2025; FBI · 2025
  8. Regular gas: AAA · 2026-09-16; AAA · 2026-09-16
  9. Air right now: AirNow · 09/15/26
  10. Temperature right now: NWS · 2026-09-16
  11. Net domestic migration, latest year: Census PEP vintage 2024 · 2024; Census PEP vintage 2024 · 2024
  12. income tax: Maine Revenue Services 2026; supplemental budget Apr 2026 · 2026-09-04
  13. sales tax: Tax Foundation 2026 · 2026-09-04
  14. property tax: Tax Foundation 2026 / MoneyGeek-Insure.com 2026 · 2026-09-04

Compare pages are built from the tape and each place’s sourced guide figures and refreshed nightly. Pairs people actually search for are indexed; the rest are served but not indexed.