• Overview
• National Data
• State and Local Data
• Public Opinion
• Immigration 101
• Historical Perspective
• Suggested Reading
• Quotes Library
• Glossary

Page Tools

• Email to a Friend
• Print this Page

Maine

 

Summary Demographic State Data (and Source)
Population (2009 CB est):	1,318,301
Population (2000 Census):	1,238,232
Foreign-Born Population (2009 CB est.):	43,948
Foreign-Born Population (2000 Census):	36,691
Share Foreign-Born (2009):	3.3%
Naturalized U.S. Citizens (2009 CB est.):	24,388
Share Naturalized (2009):	55.5%
Legal Immigrant Admission (DHS 2000-2009):	14,258
Refugee Admission (HHS 2000-2009)	1,774
Illegal Alien Population (2008 FAIR est.):	5,000
Costs of Illegal Aliens (2010 FAIR):	$41,000,000
Projected 2050 Population (2006 FAIR):	1,480,000

 

Maine: General Data

STATE POPULATION

Using the American Community Survey (ACS), the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that in July 2009 Maine’s population had increased to 1,318,301 residents, i.e., an annual average increase of about 3,885 residents since 2000. That is a rate of increase of about 0.3 percent per year.

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 (0.4%) was considerably lower than the national average of 1.2 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.

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 ACS, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that the foreign-born population of Maine was 43,948 persons in 2009. This meant a foreign-born population share of 3.3 percent.

NET INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION (NIM)

Based on the Current Population Survey, the Census Bureau estimated that between the 2000 Census and July 2009 the state’s population increased by about 8,080 residents from net international migration (more foreign-born arriving than leaving). That was an annual average increase of about 880 residents, i.e., about one-sixth (16.6%) of the total increase (not including the children born to the immigrants after their arrival in the United States).

 

 

Foreign-Born Change

The ACS estimate indicates the amount of change since the 2000 Census was an average annual rate of increase in the foreign-born population of about 780 people, which is more than one-sixth (16.8%) of the state’s annual average population increase. Since 2000, the foreign-born population has increased by 19.8 percent compared to a 2.9 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 6.6 percent share of the state’s current births is large enough to account for about 920 births a year. Combining the increase in the foreign-born population and estimated immigrant births suggests that immigration may account for nearly 1,700 persons added to the state’s population annually, i.e., more than one-third (36.5%) 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. This demonstrates the effects of the current mass immigration, but it is a much lower share than the national average (43.7%). In the 2009 CPS estimate, more than one-seventh (15.8%) had arrived since 2000. That is lower than the less than one-third (31.6%) share of new arrivals nationally.

 

FOREIGN-BORN Characteristics

An indicator of the change in Maine's immigrant population may be seen in data on the share of the population over five years of age that speaks a language other than English at home. Between 1990 and 2000, the share of non-English speakers decreased from 7.8 percent to 7.3 percent. More than one-fourth (25.6%) of those persons in 2000 also said they spoke English less than very well. In the 2009 ACS, the share had decreased to 25.5 percent. Spanish speakers were 13.4 percent of those who spoke other than English at home, and 11.8 percent of those who 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 chart above shows the foreign-born population increasing by 19.8 percent since 2000 and the share of that population from Asia and Oceania increasing by 23.8 percent. That region’s share of the state’s immigrant population grew from 19.6 percent to 23.8 percent in 2009.

NATURALIZATION

Data from the 2009 ACS indicate that 24,388 residents, or 55.5 percent, of the foreign

Nationally, 40.3 percent of the foreign-born were U.S. citizens in 2000, and 43.7 percent in 2009.

 

REFUGEES

Maine received 1,774 refugees over the most recent ten fiscal years (FY'00-'09).

LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY STUDENTS

In Maine overall enrollment in 2008 (196,105) was 7.4 percent below enrollment in 1999. LEP enrollment was 52.6 percent higher than a decade earlier.

FOREIGN STUDENTS

The 2009/2010 annual report of the Institute of International Education (IIE) lists the number of foreign students attending post-secondary school in Maine as 1,233. Five schools in Maine are listed as having a major concentration of these students:

• U. Maine-Orono. – 374
• U. Maine-Presque Isle – 262
• U. Maine-Ft. Kent. – 115
• Colby Col. – 109
• U. So. Maine – 83

Those schools represented more than three-fourths (76.5%) of the total foreign students in the state.

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

ILLEGAL ALIENS

FAIR Estimate - FAIR estimated the state’s illegal alien population as of 2010 is as many as 5,000 persons. This is part of an overall estimate of the U.S. illegal alien population of about 12 million persons.

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

Other Estimates - The Pew Hispanic Center estimated the illegal alien population of the state at less than 10,000 in 2010.

COSTS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS

FAIR’s 2010 fiscal cost study, “The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States Taxpayers” estimated the following cost outlays and tax receipts:

Maine Fiscal Costs In 2009
Due to Illegal Aliens ($M)		(Pct.)
K-12 educ.	$18.7	45.2%
LEP educ.	$3.8	9.2%
Medicaid	$2.0	4.8%
SCHIP	$0.9	2.2%
Justice	$3.5	8.5%
Welfare+	$4.5	10.9%
General	$8.0	19.3%
Total	$41.4
Tax Receipts	$1.3
Net Cost	$40.1

Source: “The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States Taxpayers,” FAIR 2010.

Population Projection

We projected Maine’s population in 2050 likely would be between 1.46 million and 1.48 million depending on what happens with immigration policy. See “Projecting the U.S. Population to 2050: Four Immigration Scenarios,” FAIR 2006.

Back to Top

Maine: Immigrant Admissions

Recent immigrant admissions have jumped about 20% since the level of admissions just after adoption of the current immigration system in 1965. During the 1965-'69 period, annual admissions averaged about 1,420 immigrants. During the most recent five years, admissions averaged about 1,680 persons.

The charts below show recent immigrant admissions and the cumulative immigrant admissions data since 1965. The number of annual admissions has ranged from 568 in FY'99 to 1,908 in FY’05. The cumulative total of admissions to Maine between fiscal years 1965 and 2009 was nearly 45,000 immigrants.

 

 

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.

Back to Top

Poll Data

Maine

 

Rasmussen Poll: Arizona Law SB 1070
July 2010

Suppose the new Arizona immigration law was being considered for your state. Would you favor or oppose passage of that law in your state?

 

Back to Top

Maine: Immigration Impact

Population Profile

Maine's small towns are concerned about losing their character to growth. Eliot, population 6,000, is feeling the pressure of spreading development from Portsmouth, N.H. to the south and Biddeford/Saco and Portland to the north. In response, Eliot was one of the first Maine towns to adopt a building cap limiting the number of new homes that can be built in a year. Towns throughout southern Maine are now following Eliot's example.¹

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."

Some recent press coverage has taken a more positive stance toward the influx of Somali immigrants that is not justified by economic data. Most notable is a Newsweek article that highlights the dramatic increase in English language learners and the emergence of Somali-oriented businesses as evidence that immigration had "saved" the town.² A broader look at Lewiston's economic situation demonstrates that this is clearly not the case. In April 2008, the Maine Department of Labor issued a report finding that less than 10 percent of Somali immigrants to the town had stable employment, and that most earned extremely low wages. About 30 percent find part-time employment, leaving the majority without any type of job.³ The massive influx of cheap, unutilized workers creates a golden opportunity for corporations that thirst for opportunities to lower wages and exploit cheap labor, something that Newsweek failed to mention in highlighting a business-oriented magazine's designation of Lewiston as a good place to do business.

The drain on public coffers by Somali immigrants in Lewiston is not a new issue in the state. Indeed, a study conducted at Bates College reports that the influx of Somalis arriving in Lewiston started because "Portland's public housing...could not meet demand from the newcomers.⁴ Even by 2003, before the largest influxes, Somali immigrants made up two-thirds of the Hillview public housing complex, Lewiston's largest.⁵ Somali immigration peaked in 2005, when Somali Bantu immigrants who tend to be even less educated than their predecessors began settling in Lewiston.⁶

Environmental and Quality of Life Profile

Crowded Housing: An estimated 6,123 of Maine's housing units were classified as crowded in 2008, defined as units with more than one occupant per room. This amounted to 1.1 percent of the state's housing units. In addition, 1,504 units were severely crowded, with at least 1.5 occupants per room.⁷ 4 percent of the state's children live in crowded housing.⁸ Nationwide, children in immigrant families were three times as likely to live in crowded conditions as children in native families (27 percent to 9 percent).⁹

Maine's crowded housing problem is most severe in the Lewiston-Auburn metropolitan area, whose rate of crowding more than doubles the state average. It is the state's only metropolitan area that ranks in the top half of crowded areas nationwide. In fact, all of Maine's other metro areas rank among the 100 least crowded in the nation, out of more than 800 with at least 20,000 people.¹⁰

Disappearing open space: The amount of developed land in Maine increased by 344,300 acres from 1982 to 2007, growing at a pace of 14,640 acres per year over the last ten years of that period.¹¹ 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.¹²

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.¹³

Traffic: Traffic on Maine highways increased by 21 percent between 1990 and 2008.¹⁴ 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, and to 23.3 in 2005.¹⁵ In some towns, it's substantially higher; in Bradford, where the population has increased more than 33 percent since 1980, the average commute was 41 minutes in 2000, up from 31 minutes in 1990.¹⁶ About 13 percent of Maine commuters had a commute of 45 minutes or longer in 2008.¹⁷

Over one fourth (27%) of the state's major roads are in poor or mediocre condition, and 33 percent of its bridges are considered structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. Motorists pay the price of overdue road maintenance. The typical Maine driver pays $245 in extra maintenance and operational costs each year due to road conditions.¹⁸

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.¹⁹

Of the 11 Maine counties included in the American Lung Association's 2010 assessment of the frequency of high ozone days, six received a "D" or "F" and four were graded "C."²⁰

Water: By 2050 the state's population is expected to rise from 1.3 million in 2006 to 1.5 million.²¹ Maine has a daily, per-capita water demand of 80.0 gallons.²² This means that by 2050 public water usage will have increased by 16 million gallons each day.

Poverty: Maine's immigrants are much more likely to be poor than natives. In 2007, 18.4 percent of the state's foreign-born households were poor, compared to just 11.8 percent of natives. An additional 10.1 percent of the foreign-born and 8.4 percent of native households were not in poverty, but had incomes less than 1.5 times the poverty level.²³

Solid Waste: Maine generates 1.03 tons of solid waste per capita each year.²⁴

Schools: From 1990 and 2008, public school enrollment in Maine's public schools increased by 18 percent, surpassing 250,000.²⁵ 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.²⁶ 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.²⁷

Endnotes:

1. "Sprawl Communities," Maine Sunday Telegram, July 29, 2001.
2. Newsweek, "The Refugees who Saved Lewiston," January 16 2009.
3. "Employment Patterns of Somali Immigrants," Center for Workforce Research and Information, Maine Department of Labor, April 2008.
4. "Perceived Barriers to Somali Immigrant Employment in Lewiston", Bates College, Fall 2008
5. Somali Community Services of Maine, "Preliminary Needs Assessment and Action Plan," October 15, 2003.
6. "Employment Patterns of Somali Immigrants," Op.cit (peak influx). "Perceived Barriers to Somali Immigrant Employment in Lewiston," Op.cit (trend toward Bantu immigrants).
7. American Community Survey, Three-Year Estimates 2006-2008. Data retrieved using ACS Custom Table tool.
8. Kids Count Data Center, 2008 American Community Survey Data.
9. Kids Count Data Center, 2008 American Community Survey Data.
10. American Community Survey, 2006-08 Three Year Estimates. Data retrieved using custom data too.
11. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, "Summary Report: 2007 National Resources Inventory."
12. "State Rankings by Acreage and Rate of Non-Federal Land Developed," Natural Resources Conservation Service, United States Department of Agriculture.
13. "Sprawl Rate Among Worst in U.S.," Portland Press Herald, July 24, 2001.
14. The Road Information Project (TRIP), "Key Facts about Maine's Surface Transportation System and Federal Funding," May 2010.
15. Table DP-1-4, Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2000," Census 2000, U.S. Census Bureau. "Table DP-1-4, Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 1990," 1990 Census, U.S. Census Bureau. "Selected Economic Characteristics: 2005" Data Set - 2005 American Community Survey, American Fact Finder, U.S. Census Bureau.
16. Susan Young, "More Maine Commuters Drive Farther, Dodge Car Pools to Satisfy Lifestyles, Jobs," BangorDaily News, May 25, 2002.
17. American Community Survey, 2008 Estimates, Custom Data Table.
18. The Road Information Project (TRIP), "Key Facts about Maine's Surface Transportation System and Federal Funding," May 2010.
19. Shawn O'Leary, "State Foresees Major Sprawl by 2050," Bangor Daily News, March 16, 2001.
20. American Lung Association, "State of the Air 2010."
21. Jack Martin and Stanley Fogel. "Projecting the U.S. Population to 2050." FAIR. March 2006.
22. U.S. Geological Survey 2000.
23. Migration Information Source, Migration Policy Institute
24. Report Card for America's Infrastructure 2005," American Society of Civil Engineers
25. "Enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools, by state or jurisdiction: Fall 1988 to fall 2002", National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, 2003 figures, Table 37. "Maine - S1401. School Enrollment", American Community Survey, 2006-08 Three-Year Estimates.
26. Edward D. Murphy, "Migrants Indispensable to State's Economy," Maine Sunday Telegram, September 22, 2002.
27. Bruce Kyle, "Sometimes Even and Inverted Pyramid Misses the Point," Bangor Daily News, October 5, 2002.

 

Other Resources  

State Local Reform Organizations

State Representatives Voting Record

 

Updated January 2012

Back to Top

Back to Top