Ranked 103rd of 387 metropolitan areas in the United States, Portland, ME counts 562,843 residents. Here is what the public data says about the households, the business base and what that means for advertising locally.
Its principal cities are Portland and South Portland.
Housing: a median home value of $420,000, 26 percent above the national figure. A $92,175 median household income puts Portland, ME 14 percent above the national figure.
Age and education shape how people search and who answers the phone. The unemployment rate stands at 3.3%, 2 points below the US share. A older-than-average population: median age 43.7, 4.8 years above the national median. The share of adults with a bachelor's or above is 45.9%, 10 points above the US share. Owners occupy 73.2% of homes, 8 points above the US share.
Set against the state as a whole (Maine), household income here is 23 percent higher than the Maine figure, the median home value is 42 percent higher than the Maine figure, and the business base per resident is 9 percent denser than the Maine figure.
There are 19,167 employer businesses in Portland, ME. Set against the population that is 34.1 per 1,000 residents, 36 percent above the national figure, against 25 nationally. Home-services contractors make up 1,307 of those establishments, 6.8% of the total, 2 points above the US share. The table breaks out the categories that spend the most on local advertising; restaurants is the biggest of them at 1,429.
| Trade (NAICS) | Count | Per 100,000 | Index vs US |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurants and other eating places | 1,429 | 253.9 | 1.01× |
| Landscaping services | 467 | 83 | 1.73× |
| Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors | 347 | 61.7 | 1.36× |
| Legal services | 335 | 59.5 | 0.81× |
| Child day care services | 306 | 54.4 | 1.62× |
| Electrical contractors | 297 | 52.8 | 1.55× |
| Lessors of real estate (all) | 294 | 52.2 | 0.94× |
| Personal care services (all) | 289 | 51.3 | 0.78× |
| Physicians' offices | 268 | 47.6 | 0.54× |
| General automotive repair | 219 | 38.9 | 1.13× |
| Dentists | 214 | 38 | 0.69× |
| Grocery and convenience retailers | 195 | 34.6 | 0.85× |
| Beauty salons | 146 | 25.9 | 0.76× |
| Other specialty trade contractors (paving, asphalt, fencing) | 103 | 18.3 | 1.05× |
| General freight trucking | 101 | 17.9 | 0.38× |
| Automobile dealers | 99 | 17.6 | 0.92× |
| Concrete foundation and structure contractors | 54 | 9.6 | 1.01× |
| Self-storage facilities | 43 | 7.6 | 1.01× |
| Roofing contractors | 39 | 6.9 | 0.67× |
| Highway, street and bridge construction | 22 | 3.9 | 1.04× |
Reading the index: 1.00 matches the national mix, 1.50 means half again as common here, 0.50 half as common.
Crowded categories in Portland, ME: landscaping services, child day care services, electrical contractors and plumbing and HVAC contractors. Landscaping services stand out with 467 locations, 1.7 times what the national mix would predict. Thinner than the national mix are general freight trucking, physicians' offices, roofing contractors and dentists. General freight trucking number just 101, about 38% of the US share, which is room for a well-run operator to be the obvious choice. Concrete contractors, specialty trade contractors and road and paving contractors track the US share closely.
In absolute numbers restaurants lead with 1,429, followed by landscaping services at 467 and plumbing and HVAC contractors at 347. On a per-capita basis restaurants come first at 253.9 per 100,000, ahead of landscaping services and plumbing and HVAC contractors. Taken as groups, the strongest relative to the US mix are the home-services trades (1.4 times the national share) and the weakest are medical and dental practices (about 59% of).
Advertisers in landscaping services, child day care services and electrical contractors should assume high competition on Google Ads and put equal weight on the free real estate: an accurate Business Profile, steady new reviews, and pages that match the local searches word for word. Scarcity in general freight trucking, physicians' offices and roofing contractors cuts the other way: fewer rivals per search, cheaper clicks, and a chance to become the default answer in the map results with a modest, steady effort. Residents here are older than the US median (4.8 years above the national median); they search, read reviews and call, which puts the weight on search, the listing and the phone. Incomes 14 percent above the national figure give room for premium service tiers; ads that lead with quality and speed rather than price tend to fit. High homeownership (73.2%) means a large pool of people who pay for their own repairs, replacements and yard work, which favors the home-services trades in this market.
Services for a business advertising in Portland, ME, picked from the full list.
Profile upkeep, posts, Q&A and photos on the listing customers see first.
Ranking for the service-and-town searches without paying per click.
A fast site with the services, the area served and a clear way to call or book.
Google Guaranteed placements above the ads for the home-service and legal categories that qualify.
Measurement that ties spend to phone calls and form fills.
Search campaigns built around the searches people in Portland, ME actually type, with the geography fenced to where the work is.
Portland, ME has 562,843 residents (US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimate), ranking 103rd of 387 metropolitan areas.
The median household income in Portland, ME is $92,175 (ACS 2024 5-year), above the US median of $80,734.
The Census Bureau counts 19,167 employer establishments in Portland, ME (County Business Patterns 2023), or 34.1 businesses per 1,000 residents.
The median home value in Portland, ME is $420,000, and 73.2% of homes are owner-occupied (ACS 2024 5-year).
Measured against the US business mix (County Business Patterns 2023), landscaping services, child day care services and electrical contractors have more establishments per resident than the US average; general freight trucking, physicians' offices and roofing contractors have fewer in Portland, ME.
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Data: US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimates and County Business Patterns 2023. Updated 2026-09-29.