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If you’ve ever been to Maine, you know how beautiful it is. You know how the leaves change from green to that perfect shade of red each fall, only to drop away in the winter only to be replaced by inches of snow, creating a wonderland fit for a postcard.
But for all its gorgeous splendor, how much entertainment can watching the seasons change actually provide you? Come on, is there anything else to do in Maine?
Well, according to our research here at the Movoto Real Estate Blog, there’s plenty of excitement in the Pine Tree State—especially in the 10 places below, starting with our clear winner, Portland.
1. City of Portland
2. City of Rockland
3. Town of Orono
4. Village of Gorham
5. Town of Old Orchard Beach
6. City of Bangor (tie)
6. City of Bath (tie)
8. Town of Brunswick
9. City of Biddeford
10. City of Westbrook
What’s that, you say? Where is the capital city on our list? Well, Augusta residents, you can take a look at the table at the end of the post to see just where you ranked (hint: you may need to scroll down). First, though, we’ll go over why these 10 made the cut, and how we came up with this list.
Our Methodology
In order to create this list, we started by gathering up the 25 largest places in Maine, by total population. From there, we used the 2010 U.S. Census and business listings to research each place according to the following eight criteria:
- Nightlife per capita (bars, clubs, comedy, etc.)
- Live music venues per capita
- Active life options per capita (parks, outdoor activities, etc.)
- Arts and Entertainment per capita (movie theaters, festivals, galleries, theaters, etc.)
- Fast Food restaurants per capita (the fewer the better)
- Percentage of restaurants that are not fast food (the higher the better)
- Percentage of young residents ages 18 to 34 (the higher the better)
- Population density (the higher the better)
Next, we ranked each of our 25 places with scores from one to 25, where the lower the number, the more exciting the place.
We averaged these numbers into an overall Big Deal Score for each place, again, where the lowest number was our winner and most exciting place, Portland.
If you can’t handle the excitement, feel free to jump down to the bottom of the post to see how each of the 25 places we looked at ranked. Otherwise, we’ll take a closer look at our top 10 in the following paragraphs.
1. Portland
With a population of over 66,000 residents, Portland is easily Maine’s largest city, but more people doesn’t always mean more excitement—just look at Lewiston, which is the second-largest city and only ranked 12th.
No, what makes Portland truly exciting is how it’s populated. First of all, it is the most densely populated place in the state, with 3,107 people per square mile, and it’s also the fourth youngest, with 30.58 percent of residents being between 18 and 34.
It may come as no surprise—what with places like Blue, Port City Music Hall, Empire, State Theater, and so many more—that Portland ranked No. 1 for its music venues and No. 3 for its nightlife per capita.
2. Rockland
Rockland may not have quite the young population that Portland and some of the others in our top 10 did, but that certainly doesn’t stop residents from having a good time—or even partying the night away, as it ranked No. 2 for nightlife per capita.
Aside from late nights at Fog Bar & Cafe, Rockland has plenty of excitement to offer during daylight hours as well.
For instance, it ranked No. 1 for both its active life and arts listings per capita, with tons of gyms, fitness centers, and, of course, sailing options; and for arts, places like Farnsworth Art Museum.
3. Orono
If Orono isn’t a college town, We don’t know what is. Out of about 10,000 residents, 67.17 percent are between the ages of 18 and 34. That’s… well, that’s a lot of people (University of Maine students, you can do the math).
And what comes with any good college town? Well, in this one, it’s not the bars or music venues you might expect. In fact, it seems as though the young residents of Orono have a more sophisticated palate—it ranked (tied) first in both its number of restaurants and its lack of fast food.
Of course, quantity doesn’t always mean quality, but residents here seem to have both covered, with places like Woodman’s Bar & Grill, Verve, and Pat’s Pizza, just to name a few.
4. Gorham
Similar to Orono before it, Gorham didn’t wow us with its number of bars (in fact, it ranked 23rd here), but rather with its young population and its restaurant scene.
Gorham ranked third in this category for the 32.86 percent of its population who are between 18 and 34. And the food scene really couldn’t get much better. Gorham tied for first in both its number of restaurants per capita and its lack of fast food.
5. Old Orchard Beach
Old Orchard Beach’s name is quite fitting, in that the population, while not exactly old per se, was not exactly young, either. Well, at least not year-round.
During the summer, all that changes, when tourists and part-time dwellers flock to the area for the beach, the pier, and—according to the number of listings—the nightlife, music venues, and restaurants, where it ranked first, fourth, and fourth, respectively.
Of course locals know that Hoss & Mary’s is reason enough to live here year-round.
6. Bangor
How could a city that was home to Cosmopolitan’s 1993 Bachelor of the Month not be one of the most exciting places in Maine? Oh, come on—Chris Greeley? Former representative in the Maine state legislature? C’mon!
Okay, perhaps you’re too young to remember this—which would make sense seeing as though a good 30.52 percent of Bangor’s population was between 18 and 34.
Aside from this large young population (and Cosmo rankings, of course), Bangor ranked well for the fifth most music venues and sixth most nightlife listings per capita.
6. Bath
With a name like Bath, this city sounds more like a relaxing, sleep-inducing fairyland, somewhere between the Land of Nod and wherever Puff the Magic Dragon lived (Honah Lee?). Anyway, with such a name, it may come as something of a surprise that Bath is so exciting.
First of all, it ranked sixth overall for its high number of restaurants per capita. There are places like Solo Bistro if you’re looking for something a bit on the snazzier side, Beale Street Barbeque to get your Cajun fix, and of course, for some of good Maine seafood, there’s JR Maxwell & Co.
Bath also did well for its lack of fast food, ranking seventh in this category.
8. Brunswick
Seeing as it’s home to Bowdoin College and the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, it may come as no surprise that Brunswick ranked among the best in both the categories of young population and its number of arts listings per capita (the fifth most in the state).
What may come as a surprise, though, was the Brunswick excelled the most in its active life listings—the second most in the state. From gyms and yoga studios to sporting goods stores and even some bowling alleys, Brunswick had plenty of active excitement to offer—presumably for all those artistic, young residents.
9. Biddeford
Another relatively young place, this city, home to the University of New England, is made up of 27.69 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 34. And in the case of Biddeford, that means one thing: nightlife and live music. Okay, two things.
Starting with nightlife, there are sports bars like Champions, dives like Coasters, and, if you feel like lounging with a cigar in one hand and a scotch in the other, there’s Bar Piano. And for music venues, well, you can’t really go wrong with The Oak + The Ax.
10. Westbrook
Westbrook is the hometown of Kevin Eastman, creator of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”. Believe it or not, this is not actually what makes Westbrook so exciting (well, it’s not the only thing, anyway).
Westbrook ranked well in our analysis for its fifth place in the active life category, sixth for music venues, and ninth for a population density of 1,022 people per square mile.
To put that into perspective for you, just take a look at another in our top 10, Rockland, where there were only 568 people per square mile, or better still, Ellsworth where there were only 98.
Your Maine Source Of Excitement
Yes, spellcheck, we know that we used the incorrect form of “main” there; it’s supposed to be punny—either way, though, according to our numbers, your main source of excitement in this state is none other than Portland, followed by the rest of our top 10.
If you happen live anywhere else but one of these places—perhaps in one of the remaining places below, where there really is nothing more exciting to do than watch the seasons change—fear not; we can help you change that. See, in addition to creating illuminating rankings like this one, we sell houses. So get in touch.
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