Maine Census data show sharp divide

Maine's north-south divide became more demographically acute in the last decade as the state's more suburban, affluent and liberal south grew faster and aged more slowly than the poorer, rural, and more conservative northern region.

Census figures released Thursday showed that rustic, far northern Aroostook County— the biggest county in land area in the USA east of the Mississippi River and one that looms so large in the Maine consciousness that it's known simply as "The County" — lost 2.8% of its population. Washington County — classic "Down East" coastal Maine, extending along the Atlantic to the Canadian border— was down 3.2% since 2000.

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York County, which extends south to New Hampshire and is a short drive from Massachusetts, gained 5.6%, compared with the state's overall 10-year population growth rate of 4.2%. Neighboring Cumberland County, which includes Maine's largest city, Portland, gained 6% and remained the most populous county.

Even they were overshadowed by growth in Waldo (6.9%) and Penobscot (6.2%) counties, which lie to the south and north, respectively, of Bangor.

Although the population in every county got older — Maine has seen an influx of retirees from southern New England and an exodus of its own young — northern counties got older faster. Aroostook saw its population of residents 18 and older rise to 79.3% from 76.1% — an increase more than twice that of the one in Cumberland, whose percentage of people 18 and over increased 1.4 percentage points.

The state's non-Hispanic white population declined slightly, but Maine remained overwhelmingly white — 94.4%, compared with 96.5% in 2000.

Portland's population rose 3% to 66,194. No. 2 Lewiston, an old mill city that has seen an influx of immigrants, grew 2.5% to 36,592.

Bangor, the third-largest city, grew 5%, to 33,039. Orono, home of the University of Maine, grew 13.7% to 9,112.

John Mahon, a University of Maine business professor, said the north-south population split reflects real regional tensions. "People in the south resent the money that goes north for social services," he said. "But when it's time to go on vacation, they like it as a recreation ground."