What do you do in Maine? (Portland, Brunswick: real estate, hotels, homes)

[Sonnenwende]

I think Maine would be an interesting place to live, but I was curious what the economy is like there and what everyone does for work. What is the Maine economy based on mostly?

[jenney77]

I lived in central maine for quite a few years 1988-2002. I had several jobs operator, computer programmer, database analyst. The pay sucked, the companies laid off a lot (offer big cuts to keep jobs b/c you can't really apply anywhere else b/c there are no other places to apply, another laid off nurses and offered them cna jobs in the same units), cut hours (would expect the same work to be done though), no raises (people would quit right and left without a raise for 3 years in boston but in maine we just didn't have much of a choice), benefits cut etc.. I just never felt I had a secure, well paying job despite having two degrees. We were always in fear of layoffs. I had a lot of family and friends that lived in the area who experienced the same thing. A lot of my friends had college degrees and were working as baggers at supermarkets. My husband is a computer programmer and he couldn't find a job locally (ended up doing contract work for a place in mass). I moved to northern mass 4 years ago, my brother (electrical engineer worked in mental health b/c there were no jobs), and my parents (financial analyst, engineer 3 companies closed on them before they gave up) followed me and are all very well employed making great money. We all still own land there. I found central maine to be quite frustrating. Beautiful place to visit, great schools (I went to a great public high school and college there), great friends but hard to live. If I had to do it again I would have lived closer to Portland. Its a different world.

[Zemi]

If you mean northern Maine (Aroostook County) it's potatoes and most people own land and businesses that have been in the family for hundreds of years.

Southern Maine is as diverse as other states, but it seems to have alot of fisheries and artists, shops etc... It's economy would seem to be lobstering, although I lived in Brunswick Maine as a teenager (as my Dad was military) things have changed in southern Maine since then, so I'm sure it's grown up and out quite a bit.

Maine is very cold in the north and about average winters in the south. Northern Aroostook is great for camping, hiking, rafting, snowmobiling, 4 wheeling, skiing etc. But be prepared for long winters and deep snow. It's a great vacation destination.

Try ( http://www.maine.gov/ ) & ( http://www.visitmaine.com/region/region.php ) for more info.

I lived in Northern Maine (as an adult) for 5 years - up until last year and loved every moment of it. However the economy was not as sustainable as we thought and the school consolidation made it worse. Decided to head way south and landed in South Carolina.

Hope this helped and good luck if you decide to move to Maine.

Originally Posted by Sonnenwende

I think Maine would be an interesting place to live, but I was curious what the economy is like there and what everyone does for work. What is the Maine economy based on mostly?

[Acadianlion]

Originally Posted by Sonnenwende

I think Maine would be an interesting place to live, but I was curious what the economy is like there and what everyone does for work. What is the Maine economy based on mostly?

In one word: TOURISM.

While there is some industry in Maine, it is small, and inconsistent in terms of providing employment opportunity. Commerce and tourism are where succeeding legislatures have wanted to see Maine directed: "Get those out of state dollars to keep the welfare programs running" seems to be the message out of Augusta.

We have a lot to offer to the tourist, of course, including but by far not limited to Acadia National Park. We have great expanses of wilderness a lot of which is accessable to the public. We have scenery in abundance all year round, and winter tourism is developing although so long as people think about winter tourism as skiing alone, Maine will be hard pressed to have a flourishing winter economy. We have some great ski areas, but the local infrastucture...motels, hotels, restaurants and the like are really not large enough nor numerous enough to support a HUGE growth in those industries. In addition, even with the advent of sophisticated snow making machinery, our winters of late have not really been terribly cold so snow related industry is spotty.

We have been "enjoying" another round of sea port development speculation here, centered around a perceived need along the east coast for a large liquid natural gas seaport. Maine has several of the finest harbor points along the east coast...Eastport has a beautiful port facility already installed and hardly used. Sears Island in Searsport would make a terrific sea port, and in both cases, the boost to the entire Maine economy would be terrific. But extremely active environmental groups funded hugely by out of state interests have succeeded in killing off the Sears Island project and fifteen years before, the prospect of an oil terminal and refinery in eastern Washington County, centered in Eastport.

Frankly, I would love to see a revitilization of Maine's seacoast through modern usage. When Senator Mitchell engineered the deal to cede most of the productive portions of the George's Banks fishing grounds, the Maine fishing industry was dealt a terrible blow...one that it has not really recovered from to this date. So, if we cannot go to sea and have the traditional Maine fisheries industry, why not find a use for some of the sea coast for shipping, especially since we already have two of the best deep water ports on the eastern seaboard?

[Sonnenwende]

Thanks for the information. I kind of figured so much after looking at the job postings for the area.

There was a special on German TV here a few days ago about life in Maine. The natural beauty was impressive, but left the impression that the only people who worked there were all basically self-employed beyond a few state workers.

Playing with cost of living calculators said that it was much, much more expensive to live in Maine than almost all my other considerations. More expensive, less pay, less opportunity (at the moment). Eh, I am sure it is not all gloom and doom, but I don't think it would be the right place for my family right now. I think it would be worth a vacation though.

[East Bound]

Definitely visit Maine sometime in your lifetime......time well worth spent. I lived there for 9 years. It will always have a place in my heart. Your opinion of the cost of living in accurate though. It is a heavily taxed on state, unfortunately.

[RetiredUSN]

Just moved this past August from Mid-Coast Maine where my family and I have lived for the past 6 years. Retired from the military there to Brunswick, Maine where there was a military base only to have it go on the chopping black for closing.

Over the past 6 years the cost of living has almost doubled while the pay remained about the same. People coming from out of state to buy summer homes and such has driven the price of real estate up so high the locals can't afford to live there. Everything from Gas to food costs more and if your thinking of eating out during the tourist season, be prepared to pay those type of prices.

We did all our eating out and visiting the shops (the ones that didn't close when tourist season ended) in the off season when prices were a little more reasonable.

Maine is a great place to visit.

[GrittyMcDuffy]

Let's try to make it better in 2007!