Maine by the numbers
In Maine, the median worker earns $49,440 a year, the typical home is worth $266,400 and carries $2,926 of property tax, and the average household pays $155 a month for electricity at 28.63¢ per kilowatt-hour.
Northeast ISO New England Retail choice statewide
Energy
Maine's problem is not generation. It is geography. The state has more distribution line per customer than almost anywhere else in the Northeast, with long rural feeders running through heavy forest to serve a handful of houses each. Those poles, wires and vegetation crews cost the same whether they serve four customers or four hundred, and the bill lands on a small ratepayer base.
On top of that sits the regional problem every New England state shares. The grid leans on natural gas for marginal generation, and the pipelines into the region run out of headroom in winter. When a cold snap arrives, gas that would otherwise reach power plants is contractually committed to heating customers. Generators switch to oil or imported LNG, and the wholesale price sets a regional clearing price that everyone pays.
Maine has also been rebuilding transmission, including the contested corridor meant to move Québec hydropower south. Those capital costs recover through delivery rates over decades rather than showing up as a single visible line item.
Averaged across the twelve months to May 2026, Maine households used 537 kilowatt-hours a month and paid $155. At the state median wage that is about 6.5 hours of work a month to keep the lights on. For heating, gas is still cheaper to run than a heat pump here, by about $7.67 per million BTU.
Work and pay
The median Maine worker earned $49,440 in 2024, 0.1% below the national median. What distinguishes a state's labour market is rarely its biggest occupations, which are retail and food service everywhere, but what it has disproportionately.
| Occupation | Concentration | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Logging Equipment Operators | 9.94× | $45,480 |
| Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood | 4.23× | $42,900 |
| Helpers--Electricians | 4.14× | $45,230 |
| Lodging Managers | 3.66× | $64,280 |
| Engineering Technologists and Technicians, Except Drafters, All Other | 3.42× | $101,500 |
Property tax
The median Maine homeowner pays $2,926 a year on a home worth $266,400, an effective rate of 1.10% against a national 0.98%. Nobody sets that rate. It is what falls out of county, city, school district and special district levies applied to an assessed value, so the state figure is a weighted average of 16 counties rather than a posted number.
Cost of living
Prices in Maine run at 97.1 where the national average is 100, ranking it #25 of 51. Goods sit at 97.2, which is close to national almost everywhere because most goods are shipped and priced nationally. Rents sit at 78.9, and that is where states actually separate from one another. A median wage of $49,440 therefore buys what $50,917 buys nationally.
Metro areas priced separately: Portland-South Portland (101.9) , Bangor (96.5) , Lewiston-Auburn (94.7) .
Housing
House prices in Maine rose 1% over the year to 2026 Q2, against a median across all states of +2.7%. Over ten years the index is +132.4%. Prices are at or near their record level.
Who supplies the power
5 utilities report residential service in Maine, together serving 638,115 customers. Retail choice statewide.
Maine: common questions
What does it cost to live in Maine?
Prices overall run at 97.1 against a national average of 100, with rents at 78.9. The typical home is worth $266,400 and carries $2,926 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 1.10% against a national 0.98%. Electricity averages $155 a month at 28.63¢ per kilowatt-hour. Against that, the median wage is $49,440.
What is the property tax rate in Maine?
The effective rate is 1.10% of home value, from a median bill of $2,926. It is set locally rather than by the state, so the figure is a weighted outcome across 16 counties. County by county rates.
Does a salary go further in Maine?
The median wage of $49,440 buys what $50,917 buys nationally, once local prices are taken out. A state paying above the national median while charging above it for housing can leave a household no better off, and this is the arithmetic that shows which side of that line Maine falls on.
Is Maine expensive for electricity?
It ranks #6 of 51 jurisdictions on price at 28.63¢ per kilowatt-hour, +55.3% against the U.S. average. On the actual bill it ranks 26 of 51, because households there use 537 kWh a month against a national 871.
What is the median salary in Maine?
$49,440 across all occupations, about $23.77 an hour, covering 635,460 wage and salary workers as of 2024.
Who supplies electricity in Maine?
5 utilities report residential service, the largest being Central Maine Power Co with 519,295 customers. Retail choice statewide.
Electricity May 2026, gas 2024, utilities 2024, wages 2024. All figures from federal statistical agencies. Methodology · Sources