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State of Maine
Flag of Maine State seal of Maine
Flag of Maine Seal
Nickname(s): The Pine Tree State
Motto(s): Dirigo
Map of the United States with Maine highlighted
Official language None (English de facto)
Capital Augusta
Largest city Portland
Area Ranked 39th
 - Total 33,414 sq mi
(86,542 km2)
 - Width 210 miles (338 km)
 - Length 320 miles (515 km)
 - % water 13.5
 - Latitude 43°4'N to 47°28'N
 - Longitude 66°57'W to 71°7'W
Number of people Ranked 40th
 - Total 1,274,923
 - Density 41.3/sq mi  (15.95/km2)
Ranked 38th
Height above sea level
 - Highest point Mount Katahdin[1]
5,268 ft (1,606 m)
 - Average 591 ft  (180 m)
 - Lowest point Atlantic Ocean[1]
sea level
Became part of the U.S. March 15, 1820 (23rd)
Governor Paul LePage (R)
U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R)
Angus King (I)
Time zone Eastern: UTC-5/-4
Abbreviations ME, US-ME
Website www.maine.gov

Maine is the northeast-most state in the United States. The capital is Augusta, although the city of Portland, farther south, is the largest in the state. Maine became a state on March 15, 1820,[2] making it the 23rd state. It was previously part of Massachusetts. Commercial Fishing, including lobster trapping, is a traditional and still vital part of the coastal economy. Tourism is a large industry in southern Maine because of its many beaches and picturesque coastal villages. Southern Maine is the part of the state that has the most people. Many other areas, to the North, are far more rural.


A map of Maine.

To the south and east is the Atlantic Ocean and to the north and northeast is New Brunswick, a place of Canada. The Canadian place of Quebec is to the northwest. Maine is both the northernmost state in New England and the largest, accounting for nearly half the region's whole land area. Maine also has the distinction of being the only state to border just one other state (New Hampshire to the west). The municipalities of Eastport and Lubec are the easternmost city and town in the United States. Estcourt Station is Maine's northernmost point and also the northernmost point in the New England region of the United States.

Maine's "Moosehead Lake" is the biggest lake that is completely in New England (Lake Champlain is located between Vermont and New York, which is not considered part of New England). A number of other Maine lakes, like as South Twin Lake, are said by Thoreau. Mount Katahdin is both the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, which to Springer Mountain, Georgia, and the southern of the new "International Appalachian Trail" which, when finished, will run to "Belle Isle", Newfoundland and Labrador.


Maine has a humid climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb), with warm (although mostly not hot), humid summers. Winters are cold and snowy all over the state, and are mostly more severe in the northern parts of Maine. Coastal areas are moderated somewhat by the Atlantic Ocean. Daytime highs are mostly in the 75–80 °F (24–27 °C) range all over the state in July, with overnight lows in the high 50s°F (around 15 °C). January temperatures range from highs near 32 °F (0 °C) on the southern coast to overnight lows below 0 °F (−18 °C) in the far north.

Maine is mostly safe from hurricanes and tropical storms. By the time they reach the state, many have become and few hurricanes have made landfall in Maine. Maine has fewer days of thunderstorms than any other state east of the Rockies, with most of the state with less than 20 days of thunderstorms a year. Tornadoes are rare in Maine, about two per year, mostly happening in the southern part of the state.

In January 2009, a new record low temperature for the state was set at −50 °F, tying the New England record. The state's record high temperature is 105 °F, set in July 1911.

Monthly Normal High and Low Temperatures (°F) For Various Maine Cities
Caribou 19/0 23/3 34/15 47/29 63/41 72/50 76/55 74/53 64/44 51/34 37/24 25/8
Portland 31/12 34/16 42/25 53/35 63/44 73/53 79/59 77/57 69/48 58/37 47/30 36/19


A population map of Maine.
Cape Neddick Light

As of 2008, Maine has an estimated population of 1,321,504, which is an increase of 6,520, or 0.5%, from the past year and an increase of 46,582, or 3.7%, since the year of 2000. This has a natural increase since the last census of 6,413 people (that is 71,276 births minus 64,863 deaths) and an increase because of "net migration" of 41,808 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States made a net increase of 5,004 people, and migration within the country made a net increase of 36,804 people. The population density of the state is 41.3 people per square mile.


The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that Maine's total gross state product for 2007 was $48 billion. Its per capita personal income for 2007 was $33,991, 34th in the country.

People in Maine produce agricultural goods like poultry, eggs, dairy products, cattle, wild blueberries (the state makes 25% of all blueberries in North America, making it the largest blueberry maker in the world), apples, maple syrup and maple sugar. "Aroostook County" is known for its potato crops. Commercial fishing, once a mainstay of the state's economy, maintains a presence, mostly lobstering and groundfishing. Western Maine and springs are a big source of bottled water. Maine's company outputs make paper, lumber and wood products, electronic stuff, leather things, food products, textiles, and bio-technology. Naval shipbuilding and building remain key as well, with Bath Iron Works in Bath and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery. Naval Air Station Brunswick is also in Maine, and serves as a large support base for the U.S. Navy. However, the BRAC campaign recommended Brunswick's closing, despite a new government-funded effort to upgrade its facilities.


Public Schools

Maine has four types of school departments: the first is a "local school." It serves only one municipality, and is headed by a . Normally, it serves kindergarten through grade 12, although some only go to grade 8. Normally, lone school districts which do not have a high school are not totally lone; they are part of a "school union", which is the second type of school.

A "school union" is two or more school departments that share a superintendent but nothing else; each town has a lone school board. Normally, only one of the schools in the school union has a high school, but unlike MSADs (talked about below), students in the whole school union are not forced to be at that school. School union students are given a choice of bordering school districts, and the school union pays for the student's tuition.

The third type is a "MSAD" (Maine School Administrative District). This is a school district that has two or more towns into one school department with one high school and middle school. These towns do not have lone school boards, but instead have one central board governing the entire district. Students are forced to be at the central high school. Normally, a MSAD comprises one larger town and one or more smaller towns. The larger town has a high school and middle school, while the bordering towns have elementary schools as well, but no secondary schools. The elementary schools normally cut off after grade 5 or grade 6. Sometimes, towns in a MSAD do not have an elementary school but a high school and/or middle school, but the bordering towns have the elementary schools.

The last type of school is a "CSD" (Community School District, sometimes called a Consolidated School District). This mostly happens in school districts with such a small student population between many towns that the school district cannot justify an elementary school outside the largest town in the district. In not common cases, a CSD refers to only a high school of a school union. Sometimes, in towns that do not have other towns bordering it for miles and miles (such as island towns), the entire student population gos to one school grades PK–12.

Students can choose to go to a school in another district if the parents agree to pay the school .

Private schools

"Private schools" are less common than public schools. A big number of private elementary schools with under 20 students exist, but most private high schools in Maine are actually semi-private high schools. This means that while it costs money to send children there, towns will make a contract with a school to take children from a town or MSAD at a slightly downed rate. Often this is done when it is seen cheaper to subsidize private tuition than make a whole new school when a private one already exists.

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