Report Finds Maine May Not Be the Place to Make a Great Paycheck, but Has Other Benefits

For the second year, Maine was ranked second-worst place, after Hawaii, in the United States for making a living. The report said Maine’s below-average income, higher cost of living and tax rates in the nation combined to put Maine near the bottom. But, what we do have is a higher quality of life!

We have cleaner environments and safer communities in the New England region. But the author of the report did something I found unique; they left all the other factors the same and adjusted down the tax rate and Maine was still in the top ten for the worst place to make a living. Why? Well, lower incomes, higher cost of living and an unemployment rate that seems to be creeping up again are bigger problems. And like Hawaii, Maine is, geographically speaking an extreme. We are out on the edge of the nation with only one neighboring state. That can drive up the cost of getting what we need here so we can live.

So it seems to me, that as Mainers and our elected officials look at how to make the Great State of Maine even greater, there needs to be more creative solutions. Some things we can change, but something’s, like where Maine is located, well, that is not changing anytime soon.