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Place dossier plate
SheetME-SOUTH-PORTLAND-ME · South Portland, ME 26,780 pop · income 66th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around South Portland
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest South Portland on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Bangor · lowest
58,096
Bangor · lowest
58,096 median HH income
41.5% of the leader · rank #1
Pocasset · near
84,544
Pocasset · near
84,544 median HH income
60.4% of the leader · rank #2
Wallingford C… · near
84,554
Wallingford C… · near
84,554 median HH income
60.4% of the leader · rank #3
South Portland · this city
84,563
South Portland · this city
84,563 median HH income
60.4% of the leader · rank #4
Lodi · near
84,570
Lodi · near
84,570 median HH income
60.4% of the leader · rank #5
Buckner · near
84,572
Buckner · near
84,572 median HH income
60.4% of the leader · rank #6
Camas · highest
140,053
Camas · highest
140,053 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for South Portland on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 26,780.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
South Portland - the verdict
South Portland ranks in the 66th percentile for household income and the 48th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
66th
percentile, household income
78th
percentile, home value
69th
percentile, median rent
48th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: South Portland, ME
South Portland is a small city in Maine, home to 26,780 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $84,563 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 2.3%. Home values in South Portland run a median of $405,800, and the median resident age is 40.7 years. 49.3% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 70.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 33 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 85% from five years earlier. South Portland reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 1433.3 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Maine tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: the state registers 97.1 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Near Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,448 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Maine run around $273, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 56.7 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of South Portland's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from housing and income to population change to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to reported crime to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For South Portland, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in South Portland?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Is South Portland growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +431 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 33 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Which cities make useful reference points for South Portland?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Maine, the closest population matches are Auburn (24,294 residents, $66,552 income); Biddeford (22,463 residents, $69,794 income); Sanford (22,095 residents, $70,570 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Camas, WA (26,779 residents); Vernon Hills, IL (26,772 residents); Ewa Gentry, HI (26,738 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
What does the journey to work look like in South Portland?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 71.9%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in South Portland?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1433.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 37% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
Total reported rate
1433.3
Violent rate
63.1
Property rate
1370.2
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the education layer cover for South Portland?
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 9 public schools within the city match. 49.3% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Poverty estimate
2.3%
Bachelor's degree+
49.3%
Matched public schools
9
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Poverty rate A-
2.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share A-
49.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime A-
63 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income C+
$84,563
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Cost of living C-
97.1 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
South Portland profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 84/100 (A-) · 2.3%
Bachelor's+ share: 83/100 (A-) · 49.3%
Violent crime: 80/100 (A-) · 63 /100k
Household income: 64/100 (C+) · $84,563
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Where South Portland sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
South Portland's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - South Portland highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
South Portland, ME (this city): home $405,800, crime 1,433/100k
Camas, WA : home $656,100, crime 781/100k
Vernon Hills, IL : home $384,800, crime 1,525/100k
Cabot, AR : home $197,000, crime 1,668/100k
Batavia, IL : home $358,000, crime 843/100k
Auburn, ME : home $254,600, crime 2,644/100k
Biddeford, ME : home $349,300, crime 2,663/100k
Sanford, ME : home $257,200, crime 2,784/100k
Bangor, ME : home $206,300, crime 4,399/100k
Saco, ME : home $370,300, crime 1,159/100k
Westbrook, ME : home $341,800, crime 1,330/100k
How does South Portland compare to other US cities?
South Portland measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income66% higher than other cities
Home value78% pricier than other cities
Median rent69% pricier than other cities
Safety48% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Maine and the picture shifts: South Portland ranks #51 of 73 Maine cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares South Portland against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Maine only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Maine-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places South Portland near the bottom of Maine's cities
Among the 154 Maine cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, South Portland ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares South Portland only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#26 of 145
82nd percentile in Maine
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 154
0th percentile in Maine
Median Home Value
#24 of 151
84th percentile in Maine
Poverty Rate
#118 of 154
23rd percentile in Maine
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#26 of 154
83rd percentile in Maine
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Maine only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
66th percentile nationally for median household income · 48th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
South Portland's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
South Portland's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How South Portland's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$405,80022nd percentilemore affordable than 22% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
South Portland's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#12,553 of 15,516
More affordable than 19% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,515 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.8×, South Portland sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,553 of 15,516 and #2,515 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$84,563South Portland, ME median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context South Portland, ME median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for South Portland, ME.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)49.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)70.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
26,780
Median Income
$84,563
Median Home Value
$405,800
Median Age
40.7
Poverty Rate
2.3%
Labor force participation
70.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
49.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1433.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
63.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1370.2
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
9
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
South Portland's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
26,576 residents
2021
27,072 residents
2022
27,056 residents
2023
26,953 residents
2024
27,035 residents
2025
27,007 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
33
housing units authorized
Single-Family
22
detached homes
Multifamily
11
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
222
18
204
$22.9M
2020
275
15
260
$36.3M
2021
85
22
63
$13.3M
2022
20
17
3
$6.9M
2023
40
31
9
$11.8M
2024
33
22
11
$8.6M
Permit volume decreased 85% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
71.9%
Carpool
4.5%
Public Transit
1.1%
Walk
4.0%
Work from Home
15.9%
Other
2.6%
Based on 16,040 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Maine statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $273
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Maine at $273 (electricity about $130 , water and sewer about $48 ).
These are Maine statewide averages, not a meter reading for South Portland. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Maine's BEA cost-of-living index is 97.1 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around South Portland is $1,448/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Maine statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 56.7 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Maine statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county South Portland sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How South Portland compares to similar-size Maine cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.