Maine Demographics

As of 2005, Maine has an estimated population of 1,321,505, which is an increase of 6,520, or 0.5%, from the prior year and an increase of 46,582, or 3.7%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 6,413 people (that is 71,276 births minus 64,863 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 41,808 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 5,004 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 36,804 people.

Maine is a popular tourist destination, but it also experiences harsh winters and, consequently, the great temporary influx of visitors occurs during the warmer months. Many of these visitors establish an alternate secondary residence in Maine during some or all warm months and then depart for their primary residence in the off-season. These are the summer people of Maine lore. Official census figures normally count a person as a resident only once, at the place of the primary home. Therefore, there are some situations in which official census figures could be misleading for Maine. For example, some communities may have a much larger seasonal retail sector than their official, small population figure would imply.

The mean population center of Maine is located in Kennebec County, in or near the town of Mount Vernon.[5] The Greater Portland metropolitan area is the most densely populated with nearly 20% of Maine's population.[6]. As explained in detail under "Geography", there are large tracts of uninhabited land in some remote parts of the interior.

The largest ancestries in the state are: French or French Canadian (22.8%), English (21.5%), Irish (15.1%), American (9.4%) German (6.7%), Scottish (4.8%), Italian (4.6%) and Scots-Irish (2.6%).

Maine is second only to New Hampshire in the percentage of French Americans among U.S. states. It also has the largest percentage of non-Hispanic whites of any state and the highest percentage of current French-speakers. Franco-Mainers tended to settle in the industrial cities of inland Maine (especially Lewiston) whereas much of the midcoast and downeast sections remain strongly Anglo. Smaller numbers of various other groups, including Polish settled throughout the state.

The 2000 Census reported 92.25% of Maine residents age 5 and older speak English at home. Census figures show Maine has a greater proportion of people speaking French at home than any other state in the nation, a result of Maine's large French-Canadian community. 5.28% of Maine households are French-speaking, compared with 4.68% in Louisiana. In addition, French is also an administrative language in Maine. Spanish is the third most spoken language at 0.79%, followed by German at 0.33% and Italian at 0.12% [4].

The religious affiliations of the people of Maine are shown below:

• Christian – 82%
  • Protestant – 56%
    • Baptist – 16%
    • Methodist – 9%
    • Episcopalian – 8%
    • Pentecostal – 6%
    • United Church of Christ – 3%
    • Lutheran – 3%
    • Other Protestant or general Protestant – 10%
  • Roman Catholic – 25%
  • Other Christian – 1%
• Other Religions – 1%
• Non-Religious – 17%

Maine Population Density Map