Portland, ME
Portland-South Portland, ME Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Portland-South Portland, ME Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Portland ranks 47th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 44th for income. A household earns $93,062 a year while median rent runs $1,590/mo, making it comfortably affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 2% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is health (19th of 300), while home prices is the soft spot (255th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 234th and home prices 255th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Portland, your take-home is worth about $56,469 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it less than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 44th of 300↑29.4%$93,062
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 251st of 300102 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $91,364
- Per-capita income
- $54,492
- Full-time pay
- $51,860
Housing
- Median rent
- 234th of 300↑44.3%$1,590/mo
- Home value
- 255th of 300↑66.8%$474,200
- Property tax
- $4,330/yr · 0.9%
- Sales tax
- 5.50%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 23rd of 3002.8%
- Bachelor's+
- 22nd of 30048.1%
- Avg commute
- 227th of 30026.7 min
People
- Population
- 571,534
- Population change
- +6.1%
- Median age
- 43.7 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 6%
- Broadband
- 94.9%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 52nd of 30039
- Natural-hazard loss
- 54th of 300$9/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 19th of 30014.7%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 7.2%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Affordability
- + Household income
- + Job market
- + Education
- + Air quality
- + Hazard safety
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Commute
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — portland jetport.
What jobs pay in Portland
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $237,200
- IT managers
- $167,100
- Pharmacists
- $140,620
- Financial managers
- $138,590
- Lawyers
- $129,990
- Software developers
- $128,710
- General & operations managers
- $105,390
- Civil engineers
- $102,240
- Registered nurses
- $88,470
- Accountants & auditors
- $79,790
- Secondary school teachers
- $77,470
- Elementary school teachers
- $76,770
- Police officers
- $73,600
- Electricians
- $71,660
- Plumbers
- $64,500
- Carpenters
- $64,300
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $59,900
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $52,580
- Construction laborers
- $48,470
- Customer service reps
- $47,910
- Waiters & waitresses
- $44,070
- Janitors
- $40,460
- Retail salespersons
- $37,320
- Cashiers
- $36,210
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Portland metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Maine are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Massachusetts4,248
- New Hampshire3,459
- New York1,616
- California1,004
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Portland
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Portland metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Portland metro?
- Median gross rent across the Portland-South Portland, ME Metro Area is $1,590 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Portland.
- What is the median household income in the Portland metro?
- A typical household in the Portland-South Portland, ME Metro Area earns $93,062 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Portland expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Portland-South Portland, ME Metro Area runs about 2% above the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are higher than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Portland metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $91,364 (versus its face value of $93,062). CityLedger rates the Portland-South Portland, ME Metro Area comfortably affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Portland metro?
- The median home value across the Portland-South Portland, ME Metro Area is $474,200 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Portland metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Portland-South Portland, ME Metro Area is 2.8% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).