Where in Maine should you actually live?
Maine is not one place. The difference between Greater Portland and Aroostook County is larger than the difference between many states, in cost, climate, job market, and how far you are from a hospital.
A rough map of the regions people actually choose between:
- Greater Portland. The most jobs, the most to do, the highest prices, and the shortest commutes to an airport and real hospitals. If you need a professional job market or you are nervous about isolation, start here.
- Midcoast. Brunswick through Camden and Belfast. Beautiful, walkable towns, a working waterfront, and an economy that swings hard between summer and winter. Popular with people retiring or working remotely. This is where I do most of my work, and I have written a town by town guide to the midcoast.
- Downeast and Acadia. Spectacular and genuinely remote. Thin year-round job market, long drives for ordinary errands, and a winter that empties out. Wonderful if that is what you want and difficult if you were not expecting it.
- Lakes Region and the western mountains. Skiing, lakes, four real seasons. Heavily seasonal, with a lot of second homes and short-term rentals shaping the market.
- Bangor, Augusta and central Maine. More affordable, more year-round, less tourism pressure. Often the best value in the state if you do not need to be on the coast. My office is in Augusta, and there is a guide to Kennebec County here.
- Aroostook County. Very rural, very affordable, very far from everything. People who love it really love it.
The question I ask everyone relocating: what is the longest drive you are willing to make for groceries, for a hospital, and for an airport? Answer those three honestly and the map narrows fast.
What it costs to heat a house in Maine
Roughly 60% of Maine homes heat with oil, the highest share of any state, because natural gas lines mostly do not exist outside the larger cities. Budget somewhere between $2,000 and $4,000 a year for heat, depending on the house and the fuel.
Rough annual ranges for a typical Maine home, which vary enormously with house size, insulation and the winter itself:
- Heating oil. Around $2,100 to $3,600, on 600 to 900 gallons.
- Propane. Around $2,500 to $4,500. Check whether the tank is owned or leased, because a leased tank locks you to one supplier.
- Wood pellets. Around $1,500 to $2,300. Cheaper, more handling.
- Cordwood. Around $1,200 to $2,400 if you buy it. Less if you have woodlot and a chainsaw, more if you value your weekends.
- Heat pumps. Around $1,800 to $3,500 in added winter electricity.
About heat pumps specifically
Cold climate heat pumps have gotten genuinely good and they work in Maine, running down to around -15°F. Two caveats that matter. They lose efficiency in deep cold, exactly when you need them most. And they do not run in a power outage, which in rural Maine is not a hypothetical.
The setup I look for on behalf of buyers is two heat sources, typically heat pumps for most of the year plus oil, propane or a woodstove for the coldest stretches and outages. A house with heat pumps and nothing else is not disqualifying, but you should plan to add backup and price that in.
These are 2026 ranges and fuel prices move. Treat them as a planning budget, not a quote, and ask any seller for a year of actual fuel delivery records. That single document tells you more about a Maine house than the inspection will.
Property taxes and the homestead exemption catch
Maine property taxes are set at the town level and vary a great deal, so a rate from one town tells you almost nothing about the next one over. Ask for the specific mil rate and the assessed value, not a regional average.
Maine's Homestead Exemption reduces your home's assessed value by up to $25,000, but you must have owned a home in Maine for at least twelve months before you can apply. Relocating buyers do not get it in year one.
The details worth knowing:
- The $25,000 is adjusted by your town's certified ratio, so if the town assesses at 80% the exemption is effectively $20,000.
- It applies only to a permanent primary residence. Camps and second homes do not qualify.
- Applications are filed with your municipality on or before April 1. Miss it and you wait a year.
- Once approved it continues automatically while your ownership and residency are unchanged.
Put a reminder in your calendar for the March after your first full year. A surprising number of people simply never file and quietly overpay for years.
Buying from out of state
A good share of my relocation clients buy before they have spent a full season here, sometimes without standing in the house. That can work, and there are specific things that make it work.
Walk it on video, live
Not a produced tour. A live call where you tell me where to point the camera, including the basement, the sill, the electrical panel and the road outside. Recorded so you can rewatch it when you are deciding at 11pm.
Do not waive the inspection
In competitive stretches buyers get pressured into waiving inspections. For an out of state buyer on an older Maine house, with a septic system, a well, and possibly knob and tube wiring, that is a genuinely bad trade. Old Maine housing stock has expensive secrets.
Visit in the off season if you possibly can
If you can only make one trip, make it between November and March. Every town in Maine is lovely in August. The question is what it is like when it is dark at 4pm and the nearest open restaurant is twenty minutes away.
Understand the seasonal market
Inventory and competition swing hard with the calendar here. The right time to buy is often not the time most people are looking.
Living in Maine, the channel
I make a YouTube channel called Living in Maine about exactly this. What the winters demand, what houses cost to run, how the towns actually differ, and the things people wish they had known before they signed.
Watch a few before you call anyone, including me. It is the fastest way to work out whether Maine is right for you and whether I am the right person to help.
Relocation questions I get most
What are winters in Maine actually like?
Cold, long, and less dramatic than people fear. The snow is well managed because the state is built for it. The harder adjustment for most transplants is the darkness in December and January, and the length of the season rather than its severity. Mud season in late March and April surprises people more than winter does.
Is Maine expensive?
It depends entirely on where. Greater Portland and the desirable coastal towns are expensive by any measure. Central and northern Maine are among the more affordable places in the Northeast. The costs people underestimate statewide are heating, vehicle wear, and the cost of distance from services.
Can I work remotely from Maine?
In most populated areas yes, but verify the actual internet at the actual address before you commit. Service varies street by street, and a listing saying high speed internet is available is not the same as it being connected. Ask for the provider name and speed tier, and check the address directly with the provider.
How far will I be from a hospital?
This is the question I most wish relocating buyers asked earlier, especially retirees. In parts of Maine the nearest full service hospital is over an hour away in good weather. Map it from any address you are seriously considering, in winter driving terms.
Should I rent first?
If you can, yes, and for a winter rather than a summer. Rental inventory is genuinely tight in much of the state, which is why many people buy directly. If you do buy first, buy somewhere with broad appeal so that a change of mind is not financially painful.
What about septic systems and wells?
Very common outside town centers, and completely manageable once you know what you own. Get the septic inspected and pumped, get the well water tested including for arsenic and radon, which occur naturally in parts of Maine, and find out the age of both systems. None of this should scare you off. All of it should be known before closing.
Talk it through, no obligation
Most of these conversations start with a question, not a listing. If you are trying to work out what your options are, call and ask.
- Phone
- (207) 837-9463
- [email protected]
- Office
- 351 Water St, Augusta, ME 04330
- Serving
- The midcoast and Kennebec County