Maine Population 2024

At the very northeastern tip of the United States is the state of Maine: a land known for its mountainous terrain and rocky coastline on which there is perhaps the one thing that Maine is famous for outside of its own country (other than Stephen King of course) -- the Maine Lobster. Maine is also the 41st most populated state in the US.

The varying landscape results in a very sparsely populated territory but in terms of pure numbers, the 2010 Census revealed that there were 1,328,361 people living in Maine. A further estimate in 2011 suggested that those numbers had decreased slightly to 1,328,188, making Maine the 41st most populous state in the country.

As a result of that fluctuation, the population of Maine in 2016 is a little hard to pinpoint, but current estimates show there are now 1,329,328 people living in the state, a slight rise from the last Census. Maine currently has one of the slowest population growth rates in the country of only 0.03%, which ranks 48th out of 50.

Maine Area and Population Density

Maine has a current population density of just 43.1 people per square mile, over an area consisting of 35,380 square miles, which makes it the least densely populated state in New England, the American northeast and the eastern seaboard, as well as all states with an Atlantic coastline and all of those states east of the Mississippi River.

The Greater Portland metropolitan area is the most densely populated in the state and claims 40% of Maine's total population. Much of Maine is comprised of uninhabited lands in remote parts of its interior.

The largest county in Maine by population size is Cumberland County. The most populated city in Maine is Portland with a population of over 67,000 individuals.

Maine Gender and Religion Statistics

The median age of the population in Maine is 44 years of age, and the states male to female ratio is approximately 51% female to 49% male.

When it comes to religious preferences, Maine has 60% of its population affiliated with a Christian based faith, 7% affiliated with a non-Christian based faith, and 31% unaffiliated with any faith.

Maine Boundary, Census, and Statehood History

Although geographically separate, Maine was legally part of Massachusetts from early Colonial times until March 15, 1820, when it was admitted as a separate State. The far northern portion of Maine was in dispute with Canada until the present boundary was agreed to in 1842.

Census coverage included virtually all settled portions of Maine from 1790 on, with the Maine counties reported separately from those of Massachusetts Proper.

There are approximately 38,695 native French speakers in Maine, about 3.06% of the state's population and one-third of the French speakers in New England as a whole. In fact, nearly 24% of the state’s native residents put their ancestry down as French Canadian or French. Maine also has the highest percentage of non-Hispanic Whites of any state in the country, with 89% of all births in Maine to two non-Hispanic white parents. Maine's population of non-Hispanic whites is estimated to be over 96%. Only two other states have white populations this high. Just 10 states in total, including Maine, have non-Hispanic white populations that exceed 90%.

The most common ancestries in the state are:

• 23.9% French or French-Canadian
• 21.6% English
• 17.8% Irish
• 9.4% American
• 8.5% German
• 5.8% Italian

It's believed that most people who cite American as their ancestry are of primarily English descent, although they may have ancestry that has been in the area for so long, sometimes since the 1600s, that they choose to identify as just American.