Where People Moved to Maine From in 2022 and Why

It’s no surprise to locals here in Maine that people from out of state have been flocking to Vacationland en masse.

We see it in our traffic, we feel the pain in our home prices.

What felt like just a push during COVID has manifested itself into our reality and I fear the rise in both out-of-state homebuyers and home prices will continue to increase over the years as our state continues to expand and develop.

Why Move to Maine?

So, where are all of these people coming from? Why are they moving to Maine?

There are two types of locals: those who have lived here forever, are sick of it, and think it’s overrated; and those who are in love with our Pine Tree State and understand completely why people would want to move here.

I moved away from Maine for years and managed to find myself back here calling it home once again, so I get it.

An interesting article by Mainebiz shares that COVID obviously played a huge role, as people had a new desire for more space and ultimately, during that time, wanted to deal with fewer lockdown restrictions and more space outdoors.

This caused people to “discover” our sweet sanctuary and now people are flocking here for the quality of life, climate migration, remote work, and new employment, Mainebiz shares.

Out-of-Staters Moving to Maine

While I love our state and love to share it with others, it is definitely frustrating to see so many out-of-staters coming in and swooping up our real estate. It often feels like the working class of Maine who grew up and live here are getting pushed out.

This rise in movers to Maine has caused a 30% increase statewide in home prices, according to the Mainebiz article. That is an insane jump.

Where are these people coming from?

Mainebiz used data from Maine Listings and found where out-of-state single-family homebuyers came from in 2022.

These are the top 10 states we saw people move to Maine from last year: