City safety & data profile
South PortlandME
South Portland, ME is a 26K-resident city in Cumberland County with a median household income of $86,838.
Cumberland County, Maine. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for South Portland, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. South Portland has a population larger than 56% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, and a median home value of $441,200.
Data updated 2026-09-04
- 26K
- Population (place)
- Top 44%
- By size
- $86,838
- Median income (place)
- $441,200
- Median home (place)
- 6.9%
- Poverty rate (place)
The read on South Portland
South Portland posts a median household income higher than 57% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks.
- Top 43%
- by median income, US cities
Where South Portland income ranks nationally
Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)
$86,838 Top 43% higher than 57% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles
Each bar is a $20K-wide band; taller bars hold more places Areazine profiles. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) · 2024 ACS 5-year
Largest cities in ME
Population among 12 ME places with 10,000+ residents and ACS income on Areazine. Tooltip shows the income rank in the same pool.
- Portland
Portland, ME
66,881 residents
- Lewiston
Lewiston, ME
36,202 residents
- Bangor
Bangor, ME
32,391 residents
- South Portland 25,556
South Portland, ME
25,556 residents
- Auburn 22,871
Auburn, ME
22,871 residents
- Biddeford 21,282
Biddeford, ME
21,282 residents
- Sanford 20,893
Sanford, ME
20,893 residents
- Saco 19,078
Saco, ME
19,078 residents
- Augusta 18,899
Augusta, ME
18,899 residents
- Westbrook 17,978
Westbrook, ME
17,978 residents
What this shows Portland is the largest ME city on this list; Saco leads median income.
Highest median incomes in ME
Median household income among the same 12-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.
- Saco
Saco, ME
$92,241 median
- South Portland
South Portland, ME
$86,838 median
- Westbrook
Westbrook, ME
$85,038 median
- Portland
Portland, ME
$79,540 median
- Sanford
Sanford, ME
$72,524 median
- Biddeford
Biddeford, ME
$72,333 median
- Brunswick
Brunswick, ME
$70,722 median
- Auburn
Auburn, ME
$66,647 median
- Bangor
Bangor, ME
$59,942 median
- Lewiston
Lewiston, ME
$55,393 median
What this shows Saco posts the highest place-level median income in ME; Portland is largest by headcount.
The quick read
Reading South Portland, ME beyond the headline numbers
South Portland sits inside Cumberland County, Maine, at roughly 43.64°N, -70.24°W. Population 25,556, $86,838 median household income. Median home value $441,200, median rent $1,812. Poverty rate 6.9%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.
At 6.9%, poverty in South Portland, ME runs below the midpoint of reporting cities -- enough to matter locally, not enough to dominate the city's profile.
A median home in South Portland runs about 5.1 times median household income, above the midpoint. Multiples in this range usually mean buyers are arriving from outside the local wage base.
19.5% of South Portland workers report working from home, the highest quarter of reporting cities. Where that share runs this high, local income increasingly reflects employers located somewhere else.
Among the CDC measures on this page, current asthma departs furthest from its peer median: 12.2% in South Portland, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,722 cities reporting that measure.
Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for South Portland from FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC. Economic comparison bars use the unweighted average across tracked Census places with a reported value, not a household-weighted national median.
10-Year Trends 2013–2024
County-level trend (Cumberland County): South Portland's own historical series isn't separately published by the Census Bureau, so these year-over-year figures track the surrounding county, not the city alone.
Economics
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Median Rent | |
| Poverty Rate | 6.9% -44% vs avg |
| Unemployment | 2.6% |
| Bachelor's Degree+ | 51.7% |
| Work From Home | 19.5% |
| Public Transit | 0.4% |
Population
Health Profile 15 measures
Health Indicators
Preventive Care
Other Measures
What alerts and safety updates affect South Portland?
No area-tagged alerts are on record for South Portland right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.
City alert dispatch desk
Sheet ME-SOUTH-PORTLAND · South Portland
South Portland: no area-tagged alerts on record — state hubs carry the live CAP stream.
- FEED-QUIET No tagged alerts
- LEAD-NONE Feed idle
- DESK-IDLE Awaiting feed
Counts reflect published articles tagged to South Portland; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse Maine state hubs · Methodology
Read with this city profile
Frequently Asked Questions 5
What is the population of South Portland, ME? ▼
What is the median household income in South Portland? ▼
What is the median home value in South Portland? ▼
What are the top health concerns in South Portland? ▼
What is the median age in South Portland? ▼
Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8
Two ACS-derived peer sets for South Portland, both outside Maine so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.
Similar poverty rate
Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside ME (6.9% here).
Similar median income
Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside ME ($86,838 here).
Compare South Portland with another city
Pick a second U.S. city to open a side-by-side profile on population, income, health, and hospitals, the same federal datasets as this page.
Nearby Cities 8
Using South Portland's profile
Use this as a starting research checklist, not a verdict on whether to live here.
- Check live recalls, weather and hazard alerts scoped to the South Portland area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
- Read the poverty rate alongside the income figure, two places with the same median can have very different realities.
- Compare South Portland against Maine peers on any ranking lens. Explore Maine
Population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) are place-level U.S. Census ACS; health is CDC PLACES; hospital counts reflect facilities in and around the city. County-level trends are labeled when shown.
Data Sources
All data on this page comes from official U.S. government sources. Population and economic data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates, place geography). Health data from the CDC PLACES program (2023). Hospital ratings from CMS Hospital Compare (2024). Climate data from NOAA. Education data from NCES. Cost of living from Bureau of Economic Analysis. Crime statistics, where referenced on Areazine, originate from the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Housing market figures referenced on Areazine come from HUD Fair Market Rents. Census economics and population are at place geography; some health and hospital indicators are reported at the county level (Cumberland County) where that is the smallest published unit.
Every figure on Areazine is published directly from official U.S. government sources, no number is typed in by an editor. City demographic and health figures are compiled directly from U.S. Census (place-level ACS), CDC, and CMS releases, updated quarterly within 30 days of upstream release. County-level trends are labeled when shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.