Maine’s 20 Least Populated Towns: A Road Trip Worth Taking

I grew up in Gorham, Maine, in the '80s and '90s. If you had asked young Chris what kind of town Gorham was, he would have told you it was tiny. Young Chris would have said there was little to do, no excitement... just the mundane life of a small town.

Greater Portland, Maine's "Small Towns"

Of course, none of this was true. Gorham was a great town to grow up in. It had plenty to do, lots of great eateries, a college campus, and, at the time, a population of over 11,000. How ridiculous was I?

I must admit, I pulled the same move six years ago when my wife and I moved to Buxton, a town with only 8,000 residents. Clearly, I still have very little concept of what 'little town' really means in Maine.

READ MORE: Maine's 20 Most Populated Towns in 1950, a Statewide Mix

Full disclosure: when I travel, I typically go south. Sadly, I haven't spent enough time experiencing the beauty and history of our great state. However, that is about to change because I just found a whole bunch of towns I need to visit.

Maine's Small Towns

While researching the Census for a project, I came across countless Maine towns with populations of less than 200. It was incredibly fascinating to see. I'm not talking about plantations and unincorporated areas, but actual incorporated towns. There are more people in line at the grocery store than live in these towns

I was obsessed with it, so I decided to put together a list of the 20 least populated towns in Maine, and now it's a goal of mine to visit all of them. I learned a great deal just by putting the actual list together. These towns might be small in stature, but they are big in history.

How many of these towns have you been to?

A quick note: these numbers are from the 2020 Census results. Only communities designated as towns were included.