How do people make money in northern Oxford, and northern maine (Presque Isle: rental, insurance)

[TheKezarWoodsman]

I do have another thread about all of Maine, and what jobs are common, but this one is more in line were I want to live, as Maine is a BIG state. I would assume these areas would be high unemployment, and high poverty, but people do need to make money, so how do they do this.

[Brodels]

I can speak to Northern Maine:

- Work in healthcare. Hospitals are the largest employers in many communities. The hospital in Presque Isle, for example, employs about 1000 people.

- Do many different seasonal and/or semi-permanent jobs to string together a living. You will find that there are people who plow snow in the winter, do landscaping or construction in the summer, work at a local store in between, and prepare and sell firewood for extra income.

- Teach. Although there a many fewer kids than there used to be, as long as there are still children around, there will be teaching jobs. There are also colleges and universities in some places that employ people in various roles.

- Look to the outdoors. There are still some farming and forestry jobs and some people supplement their income by doing guide work. There are also businesses that exist to take advantage of the small amount of seasonal tourism that exists.

There are pockets of other industries here and there as well in different communities that may be of interest.

You will find that many people scrape by with service industry jobs...Walmart, restaurants, etc.

[TheKezarWoodsman]

Farming/forestry/logging is good (being a farmer is on my list, but small farmers have it bad, so ill probally end up raising some chickens rabbits ect, maybe even grow some stuff, if i matched that w/ hunting i might be able to cut my food bill heavily 1 deer = alot of meat)healthcare is definitly a no-go, just not my thing personality, would lawyers be a good option, as i would assume people would need them for various reasons...

[TheKezarWoodsman]

Guide work would also be another good job for my personality, i hike, caneo, ect, it could do well to bring in that extra $5 figurativly, and lots of people i know head to northern maine hunting, granted they dont use guides.


Now, what would be a good income to live in these areas, basically own my house, 1000 sq' is more than enough, and raise a family.

Were i am in ma, its a high amount....

[maineguy8888]

House or rental costs in western, northern or downeast maine are half what they are in the rest of the state (and probably a third of Mass.) The exception is anything on the water.

Unemployment in Aroostook is 7% right now and dropping slowly. So it's not doing too bad. There are many different ways to earn a living.

[TheKezarWoodsman]

Thats not to bad to hear, 7% unemployment isnt that bad, alittle high, but not substancially high.

[maineguy8888]

No, it's been alot higher than 7% in the past, so we aren't really complaining. With low gas prices I think things will keep getting a bit better up here.

[TheKezarWoodsman]

Starting to think this is wrong area, being diabetic, my meds are like 6k a year with insurance (20kish without) so ill need a job with insurance, or really good pay.

[399083453]

Very few salaried jobs, they simply dicker....

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Hard way to make a living but you are your own boss.

[AustinB]

What do you do?