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Maine

Summary Demographic State Data (and Source)
Population (2008 CB estimate):	1,316,456
Population (2000 Census):	1,274,923
Foreign-Born Population (2008 FAIR est.):	44,515
Foreign-Born Population (2000 Census):	36,691
Share Foreign-Born (2008 FAIR est.):	3.4%
Share Foreign-Born (2000):	2.9%
Immigrant Stock (2000 CB estimate):	139,000
Share Immigrant Stock (2000 estimate):	10.9%
Naturalized U.S. Citizens (2006 CB est.):	20,915
Share Naturalized (2006):	49.8%
Legal Immigrant Admission (DHS 1996-2005):	11,565
Refugee Admission (DHS 1996-2006)	1,735
Illegal Alien Population (2008 FAIR est):	5,000
Projected 2050 Population (2006 FAIR):	1,488,008

While Maine's statewide population growth has been relatively slow, its rural communities are experiencing a population explosion. In 1950, 48 percent of Maine residents lived in rural areas; by 2000, 59 percent did. As a result, Maine's small towns are concerned about losing their character to growth.

Maine: General Data

STATE POPULATION

Using the Current Population Survey, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that in July 2008 Maine’s population had increased to 1,316,456 residents, i.e., an annual average increase of about 5,005 residents since 2000. That is a rate of increase of about 0.4 percent per year.

NET INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION (NIM)

Based on the Current Population Survey, the Census Bureau estimated that between the 2000 Census and July 2008 the state’s population increased by about 5,370 residents from net international migration (more foreign-born arriving than leaving). That was an annual average increase of about 645 residents, i.e., about one-eighth (12.9%) of the total increase (not including the children born to the immigrants after their arrival in the United States).

CENSUS DATA

The 2000 Census found 1,274,923 persons resident in Maine. This was an increase of 46,995 persons above the 1990 Census. The rate of increase (3.8%) was considerably lower than the national average of 9.9 percent population increase.

The 2000 population was about 15,000 more persons than the Census Bureau had expected to find in the state in 2000 when it issued its most recent state population projections in 1996. The significance of this is that the Census Bureau has concluded that much of the shortfall in their population estimates during the 1990s was due to an underestimation of the illegal alien population.

Maine had the 34th greatest rate of population increase in the country between 1960-2000.

The population of Maine increased by 9.1 percent from 1980 to 1990 (from 1,125,043 to 1,227,928 residents).

FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION

Based on the American Community Survey (ACS), the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that the foreign-born population of Maine was 42,559 persons in 2006. The ACS is a large-scale, continuous sampling process designed to replace the need for a long-form in the 2010 Census. However, because the ACS does not have the same follow-up procedures as the Census to include non-respondents, it may underestimate the foreign-born population.

FAIR estimates that the foreign-born population of Maine was about 44,515 residents in July 2008. This meant a foreign-born population share of 3.4 percent. The amount of change since the 2000 Census indicates an average annual rate of increase in the foreign-born population of about 945 people, which is more than one-sixth (18.8%) of the state’s annual average population increase. Since 2000, the foreign-born population has increased by 21.3 percent compared to a 2.7 percent increase in the native-born population.

Immigration also contributes to population growth through the children born to immigrants in this country. Nationally the share of births to the foreign-born is about double their share of the population. A 6.8 percent share of the state’s current births is large enough to account for about 940 births a year. Combining the increase in the foreign-born population and estimated immigrant births suggests that immigration may account for nearly 1,880 persons added to the state’s population annually, i.e., more than one-third (37.6%) of the state’s overall population increase.

The 2000 Census found that 28.3 percent of Maine's foreign-born population had arrived in the state since 1990, a much lower share than the national average (43.7%).

An indicator of the change in the immigrant population may be seen in data on the share of the population that speaks a language other than English at home. Between 1990 and 2000 the share in Maine of non-English speakers at home decreased slightly from 9.2 percent to 7.6 percent. About one-quarter (25.6%) of those who said they spoke a language other than English at home in 2000 also said they spoke English less than very well.

Speakers of Foreign Languages (at home in Maine in the 2000 Census)
French	63,610
Spanish	9,610
German	4,005
Italian	1,475
Chinese	1,090
Mon-Khmer, Cambodian	1,085
Vietnamese	910
Russian	895
Passamaquoddy	885
Tagalog	770
(Source: Census Bureau report: Language Spoken at Home for the Population 5 Years and Over, April 2004)

The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey found that in 2006, the state’s foreign born population was 41,956 residents, an increase of 14.3 percent since 2000. In comparison, the foreign-born population changed from 36,296 to 36,691 residents between 1990 and 2000, an increase of 1.1 percent.

The ten countries below constituted 60.2% of the foreign-born population in Maine in 2006. Canada accounted for approximately one third (31.4%) alone.

Foreign-Born Change Since 1990: Top Ten Countries 1990-2006
Rank	Country	1990		Country	1990		Country	2000
1	Canada	18,729		Canada	15,199		Canada	13,155
2	United Kingdom	2,877		United Kingdom	2,856		Germany	1,884
3	Germany	2,355		Germany	2,150		China	1,841
4	Philippines	724		China	1,108		England	1,718
5	Poland	722		Philippines	1,095		Philippines	1,700
6	Vietnam	679		Vietnam	909		India	1,323
7	Cambodia	645		Soviet Union	757		Korea	1,108
8	Japan	489		Cambodia	709		Russia	1,107
9	Korea	469		India	590		Poland	741
10	Italy	468		Korea	565		El Salvador	660
	All Others	8,139		All Others	10,753		All Others	16,719
	Total	36,296		Total	36,691		Total	25,237

Connect To Legal Immigration Admission Data

THE IMMIGRANT STOCK

The Census Bureau estimated that there were about 139,000 people in Maine in 2000 who were "immigrant stock." That is a term that refers to immigrants and their children born here after their arrival. Based on that estimate and the population of 1,274,923, the immigrant stock share of the state's population was 10.9 percent.

As the graph below shows, the amount and share of Maine’s population change due to the increase in the foreign stock is rising rapidly. Over the past 34 years the new immigrants and children born to them have added about 44,200 people to the population. Over this period, the increase in the foreign stock has accounted for 13.6 percent of the state’s population increase.

NATURALIZATION

Data from the 2006 American Community Survey indicate that 20,915 residents, or 49.8 percent, of the foreign-born population in Maine were citizens, compared to 20,522 residents, or 55.2 percent, in 2000.

Nationally, 40.3 percent of the foreign-born population was citizens in 2000, and 42.0 percent in 2006

SOCIAL ISSUES

Maine loggers have learned that foreign workers displacing Americans is not just a problem in agriculture and high technology fields. With the Canadian currency depressed in relation to the U.S. dollar, Canadians are eager to work in the upper Maine forests under a temporary program. At present there are 668 Canadian loggers in upper Maine. Unemployed Maine loggers have decided to fight for their jobs, and have blockaded border entry points where the Canadian loggers traditionally cross. (Source: Bangor Daily News)

Refugee Settlement

Maine has received 1,735 refugees over the most recent ten fiscal years (FY'97-'06) including 143 persons in FY’06.

Under the Office of Refugee Resettlement's (HHS/ORR) assistance funding for FY'02 $278,330 is available for refugee employment training and other services programs in Maine based on a three-year refugee settlement program covering 1,109 refugees (an average of $251 per refugee). This allocation does not include a larger share (55%) of funding programs for communities heavily affected by recent Cuban and Haitian entrants, communities with refugees whose cultural differences make assimilation especially difficult, communities impacted by federal welfare reform changes, educational support to schools with significant refugee students, and discretionary grants. ORR grants for FY’05 and FY’06 respectively were $1,317,327 and $832,299.

LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY STUDENTS

Data are not available nationally on immigrant students (either legally or illegally resident in the United States) who are enrolled in primary and secondary schools (K-12). However, many of these students are enrolled in Limited English Proficiency/English Language Learning (LEP/ELL) instruction programs. Many may be U.S.-born, but the majority of these students may be assumed to be either immigrants or the children of immigrants, with the exception being areas with native Americans who speak a native language other than English.

In Maine, overall enrollment in 2002 (211,461) was 4 percent below enrollment in 1993. By contrast, LEP enrollment (3,000 - 1.4% of all enrollment) was 64.8 percent higher than a decade earlier.

Data on enrollment in LEP/ELL programs are collected by the federal government from school systems that receive Title VII funds for these special instruction programs. The data on LEP/ELL enrollment are understated because data from private schools that do not apply for Title VII assistance are sketchy.

FOREIGN STUDENTS

The 2006/07 annual report of the Institute of International Education (IIE) lists the number of foreign students attending post-secondary school in Maine as 1,388. Below, a chart illustrates the sharp increase of foreign students attending school in Maine from 1960-2007.

For information on foreign student issues see: Foreign Students in the United States. 

ILLEGAL ALIENS

FAIR Estimate - FAIR estimates the state’s illegal alien population as of 2008 is as many as 5,000 persons. This is part of an overall estimate of the U.S. illegal alien population of about 13 million persons.

INS/DHS Estimate - The INS (now dissolved into the Dept. of Homeland Security) estimated in February 2003 that the resident illegal population in Maine was 3,000 as of January 2000. This number was 3,000 lower than the INS' 1996 estimate.

Other Estimates - The Pew Hispanic Center estimates the illegal alien population of the state at less than 10,000 2005.

COSTS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS

Incarceration Costs - Maine has received partial compensation under the federal State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) that was established in 1994 to compensate the states and local jurisdictions for incarceration of "undocumented," aliens who are serving time for a felony conviction or at least two misdemeanors.

The recent SCAAP amounts that Maine has received were:

The amount of SCAAP awards has been declining in both total distributions and even more as a share of the state’s expenses. In FY’99 the state received 38.6% of its costs for 15 prisoner years of detention. By FY’02, the state’s reported illegal alien detention more than tripled to 50 prisoner years, while compensation increased by 49 percent but then fell off sharply.

Medical Costs - Under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, hospitals with emergency rooms are required to treat and stabilize patients with emergency medical needs regardless whether or not they are in the country legally or whether they are able to pay for the treatment. Congress in 2003 enacted an appropriation of $250 million per year (for 4 years) to help offset some of the costs due to use of this service by illegal aliens. This amount has been allocated among the states based upon estimates of the illegal alien population and data on the apprehension of illegal aliens in each state. This amount compensates only a fraction of the medical outlays. For Maine, the proposed payment in fiscal year 2004 is $11,923.

Educational Costs - In our study Breaking the Piggy Bank: How Illegal Immigration is Sending Schools into the Red, we estimated based on 2004 data that educational expenditures for illegal immigration were costing the Maine taxpayer $29.8 million dollars annually. This cost was partially for educating students who were themselves illegally in the country ($12.4 million) and in part for the education of their siblings born in the United States to illegal residents ($17.4 million).

Projected Fiscal Costs - In 2006 we estimated that Maine taxpayers are currently burdened with annual costs of about $5 million because of illegal aliens residing in the state. That estimate was based on only expenditures for education, emergency medical care and incarceration. We projected that those costs will rise unless we gain control over our borders and our worksites. If a new amnesty and increases in immigrants and guest workers were enacted, as proposed by business and ethnic advocacy groups, we project that the cost to the state’s taxpayers for those same programs would rise to $8 million per year in 2010 and to $14 million per year in 2020.

LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS

View a listing of local immigration reform organizations here.

STATE CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION VOTING RECORD

You can view the voting record of your representatives in Congress regarding immigration issues in our voting report section.

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Maine: Immigrant Admissions

Recent immigrant admissions have slightly increased since just after adoption of the current immigration system in 1965. During the 1965-'69 period, annual admissions averaged about 1,425 immigrants. During the 2002-'06 period, admissions averaged about 1,430 immigrants.

The charts below show recent immigrant admissions and the cumulative immigrant admissions data since 1965. The number of annual admissions has ranged from 650 in FY'75 to 1,908 in FY'05. The cumulative total of admissions to Maine between fiscal years 1965 and 2002 was 41,840 immigrants.

The data for fiscal years 1989-91 were artificially raised by the inclusion of former illegal aliens who were amnestied in 1986. According to INS data (1991) the number of amnesty applicants from Maine was 296 (82 pre-1982 residents and 214 agricultural workers).

The data for FY'95 and FY'97-'99 were artificially low because the INS did not issue green cards to all the eligible applicants for adjustment of status who were already in the United States. In those four years, new immigration could have registered as much as 30 percent higher, if the INS had kept up with its workload.

Beginning with FY'01, the INS began to increase admissions as a result of reducing the size of the backlog of Section 245(i) adjustment of status cases, i.e., amnesty, for illegal aliens.

INS DATA BY NATIONALITY: FY'93 - FY'02

The INS data below are furnished for nationals of the countries with the largest number of immigrants admitted or adjusted to legal residence each year since 1993. The absence of data means that the total number of admissions to the United States by nationals of that country was not enough to merit detailed reporting in that year.

The nationalities may change each year, so the totals in some cases will not reflect all the immigrants of that nationality who have become legal immigrants in Wyoming during this period.

The Department of Homeland Security website has detailed data on immigrant admissions since FY’03 by year and by country. (See http://www.dhs.gov/ximgtn/statistics/data/dslpr.shtm).

Immigrant settlement from the 31 countries above accounted for more than two-thirds (68.5%) of all immigrant settlement and adjustment in Maine during this period. Immigrants from Canada accounted for about one-eighth (15.1%) of the total. Those, plus immigrants from China, the former Soviet Union and Vietnam accounted for more than one-third (36.5%) of all immigrant admissions during the period.

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Maine: Immigration Impact

Immigration Impact: Maine
State Population (2006 CB estimate)	1,321,574
State Population in 2000	1,277,483
Average Annual Change 2000-2006	0.6%
Foreign Born Population 2006 1	40,805
Foreign Born Share 2006	3.0%
Foreign Born Population 2000	36,691
Foreign Born Share 2000	2.9%
Average Annual Change 2000-2006	1.8%
Population Projection 2010	1.36 million
Population Projection 2025	1.41 million
Population Projection 2050 (FAIR)	1.48 million

All numbers are from the U.S. Census Bureau unless otherwise noted.Additional Census Bureau, INS, and other immigration-related data are available for Maine.

Population Change

Maine’s population increased by 4 percent between 1990 and 2000, and by 3.5 percent between 2000 and 2006, bringing Maine’s total population to approximately 1.3 million.

Approximately 9.3 percent of the total population increase between 2000 and 2006 in Maine was directly attributable to immigrants.

FAIR estimates the illegal alien population in 2005 at 4,000. The INS estimated that there were less than 2,500 in 1990 and 2000.

Population Profile

Foreign-Born Population

Spotlight: Lewiston

In the fall of 2002, Lewiston Mayor Larry Raymond drafted an open letter to Somali leaders, pleading with them to help stop the influx of immigrants to the small town. “The large number of new arrivals cannot continue without negative results for all. The Somali community must exercise some discipline and reduce the stress on our limited finances and generosity,” he wrote. “Only with your help will we be successful in the future—please pass the word: We have been overwhelmed and have responded valiantly. Now we need breathing room. Our city is maxed out financially, physically, and emotionally.”

The letter came after more than 1,000 Somalis moved to the small city—population 36,000—in an 18-month period. (Most had been placed in Atlanta by the federal government as refugees, but then chose to move to Lewiston, drawn by its safety and smaller size.)

Lewiston quickly became overwhelmed by the needs of the newcomers: City officials said the influx strained social services such as welfare, job training, and language classes. Somalis make up a third of all tenants at the city’s largest public housing complex. More than a quarter of the families on the waiting list for public housing are Somali. Only about half the adults have found jobs. The city has doubled its general assistance budget (which provides food, housing, utilities, and medicine), has earmarked about one percent of its budget for services for the Somalis, and has cobbled together federal and state grants.

Lewiston’s assistant city administrator said that the property tax rate has now grown so high that every dollar spent must receive careful scrutiny. The city also worries what may happen if state and federal aid shrinks in upcoming years.

Governor Angus King Jr. has since announced the formation of a task force on immigration and refugee issues, noting that Lewiston faces a situation that “would be difficult for any community.”

Environmental and Quality of Life Profile

Traffic: As population growth put more traffic on the roads, the average commute for Maine residents increased 16 percent during the 1990s, to 23 minutes in 2000, ³,⁴ and to 23.3 in 2005. ⁵ In some towns, it’s substantially higher; in Bradford, where the population has increased more than 33 percent since 1980, the average commute is 41 minutes, up from 31 minutes a decade ago.⁶ 21 percent of commuters in Maine have a commute that is 45 minutes or longer, a figure that ranks 21st in the U.S. ⁷

Disappearing open space: Each year, Maine loses 38,000 acres due to development.⁸ Between 1982 and 1997, the amount of farm and forest land converted to urban uses in metropolitan Portland increased by 108 percent. Only eight other metropolitan areas in the nation saw a greater increase than Portland.⁹

Sprawl: Local and state officials involved in regional planning say that Maine will be a very different state by 2050. Southern Maine, according to the State Planning Office, will become so urbanized that it will become an extension of Boston. ¹⁰

Air pollution: As population increases, air pollution is on the rise in the state. In 2001, Maine recorded more bad air days, with ozone at dangerously high levels, than at any time in the past 13 years, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.¹¹

Cumberland, Penobscot, Knox, and Hancock, and York counties all received a grade of “F” from the American Lung Association in their “State of the Air 2005” report. Kennebec County received a grade of “D”. ¹²

Water: Between 2000 and 2006, Maine’s foreign-born population increased by 14.3 percent.¹³That compares with a 3.3 percent increase in the native-born population and that includes the children born to immigrants. When the U.S-born children of immigrants are included, immigration accounts for 22.6 percent of the state’s overall growth during that time.¹⁴By 2050 the state’s population is expected to rise from 1.3 million in 2006 to 1.5 million.¹⁵Maine has a daily, per-capita water demand of 80.0 gallons.¹⁶This means that by 2050 public water usage will have increased by 16 million gallons each day.

Poverty: In 2005 17.6 of immigrants living in Maine had incomes below the poverty level, an increase of 38.1 percent since 2000. Among non-citizens, the poverty rate is 26.9 percent.¹⁷

Solid Waste: Maine generates 1.03 tons of solid waste per capita.¹⁸

Schools: Between 1990 and 2000, Maine’s elementary and high school enrollment increased seven percent to 220,785. ¹⁹,²⁰ If this trend continues, communities may find themselves struggling with the overcrowding plaguing many other states.

Immigration and Employment Issues

Maine businesses employ up to 8,000 migrant and foreign workers at any given time.²¹ The state Department of Labor is supposed to certify that companies seeking to bring in foreign workers under the federal H2B program (for nonskilled, non-agricultural workers) have made a genuine effort to hire U.S. citizens. The number of H2Bs in Maine has grown in the last six years from 50 to 1,200. An application has never been denied.²²

Endnotes:

1. FAIR estimate based on the 2006 Current Population Survey.
2. “Sprawl Communities,” Maine Sunday Telegram, July 29, 2001.
3. Table DP-1-4, Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2000,” Census 2000, U.S. Census Bureau.
4. Table DP-1-4, Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 1990,” 1990 Census, U.S. Census Bureau.
5. Selected Economic Characteristics: 2005 Data Set - 2005 American Community Survey, American Fact Finder, U.S. Census Bureau.
6. Susan Young, “More Maine Commuters Drive Farther, Dodge Car Pools to Satisfy Lifestyles, Jobs,” BangorDaily News, May 25, 2002.
7. “U.S. Population 2007 Data Sheet,” Population Reference Bureau.
8. “State Rankings by Acreage and Rate of Non-Federal Land Developed,” Natural Resources Conservation Service, United States Department of Agriculture.
9. “Sprawl Rate Among Worst in U.S.,” Portland Press Herald, July 24, 2001.
10. Shawn O’Leary, “State Foresees Major Sprawl by 2050,” Bangor Daily News, March 16, 2001.
11. Susan Young, op. cit.
12. “State of the Air 2005: Maine”, American Lung Association.
13. U.S. Census Bureau 2006.
14. Jack Martin. “Issue Brief: Estimation of Foreign Born Birthrate.” FAIR. 2008.
15. Jack Martin and Stanley Fogel. “Projecting the U.S. Population to 2050.” FAIR. March 2006.
16. U.S. Geological Survey 2000.
17. “Maine State Factsheet,” Migration Information Source, Migration Policy Institute.
18. Report Card for America's Infrastructure 2005," American Society of Civil Engineers
19. Table DP-1-4, Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2000,” Census 2000, U.S. Census Bureau.
20. “Table DP-1-4, Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 1990,” 1990 Census, U.S. Census Bureau.
21. Edward D. Murphy, “Migrants Indispensable to State’s Economy,” Maine Sunday Telegram, September 22, 2002.
22. Bruce Kyle, “Sometimes Even and Inverted Pyramid Misses the Point,” Bangor Daily News, October 5, 2002.

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