No. Way. This is a town that wouldn't even be on my radar if you asked me to put a list together of which Maine city I thought was growing the fastest lately.

Since COVID, when everybody all over the world decided that Maine must be the safest place to move since we're in the middle of nowhere, I feel like Portland, Cape Elizabeth, or even Biddeford would have been the top town.

I was wrong. My haters will love that.

So, which city in Maine is showing a rapid upward trend in population? Well, here's the list of the top 20 fastest growing cities.

Fastest growing cities in Maine

Stacker compiled a list of the fastest growing cities in Maine according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Sanford. Freaking Sanford is growing the fastest in Maine.

I've been there a couple of times since my tattoo artist's studio used to be located out there, but other than that, it doesn't feel like many people talk about Sanford on the daily. I'm kind of shocked.

The second fastest-growing state is Westbrook, and Portland is at number three.

I moved back to Maine about two years ago only to realize how inflated the rent has become in Portland (and honestly, most surrounding cities).

You'd think that because of science, this would mean the population has rapidly increased and caused the real estate value to skyrocket. This would then qualify Portland for the spot of "the fastest growing city in Maine", but I guess even superheroes can be wrong sometimes.

Tell me if you can relate to this. Last year, I moved into a basement apartment that was 400 square feet and paid $1,500 for it. What's even more wild is that everybody in the city was telling me how that's actually cheap. WHAT IS GOING ON.

Anyways, it's Sanford. Sanford is growing the fastest. Do what you will with this information.

LOOK: Here's where people in every state are moving to most

Stacker analyzed the Census Bureau's 2019 American Community Survey data to determine the three most popular destinations for people moving out of each state.

Gallery Credit: Amanda Silvestri

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