Planning the Next Great Migration

[Regarding Maine, note my previously expressed concern about the current population and limited agricultural productivity of this entire region. Not many people should move here.] Mainers have traditionally been a special breed. Many do very hard work in harsh environments on land or sea. The region is poor and insular, with a distinctive culture and accent (notwithstanding the recent “Southernification” of rural areas), and outsiders stick out. If you’re going to move to Maine from anyplace farther away than New Hampshire, show up wearing Carhartts and be ready to work hard without complaining for a long time to fit in. The biggest city is Portland, which at 68,000 people is hardly a teeming metropolis. I exclude ridiculously expensive suburbs of Portland from consideration, but housing is pricey in the state in general, and anyplace that’s farther south and has ocean views is substantially costlier than inland towns. The options that might seem most reasonable to the middle or working classes include the following, which are mostly well above sea level except as noted.