Portland vs South Portland

A side-by-side comparison of Portland and South Portland: population, income, housing, and more.

Portland and South Portland are places in Maine. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Portland has the higher population (68,505 vs 26,780 in South Portland). South Portland has the higher median household income ($84,563 vs $76,174 in Portland). Portland has the higher median home value ($452,600 vs $405,800 in South Portland).

Population, income & housing

	Portland	South Portland
Population	68,505	26,780
Median age	37.5 yrs	40.7 yrs
Median household income	$76,174	$84,563
Median home value	$452,600	$405,800
Median gross rent	$1,487	$1,648
Housing units	35,957	12,738
Homeownership rate	46.7%	60.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	59.2%	49.3%
Unemployment rate	4.4%	2.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Portland	South Portland
Population	66,595 → 68,505 (+2.9%)	25,548 → 26,780 (+4.8%)
Median household income	$60,467 → $76,174 (+26.0%)	$69,290 → $84,563 (+22.0%)
Median home value	$289,000 → $452,600 (+56.6%)	$257,200 → $405,800 (+57.8%)
Median gross rent	$1,124 → $1,487 (+32.3%)	$1,305 → $1,648 (+26.3%)

Portland

Population

66,59568,505

Median household income

$60,467$76,174

Median home value

$289,000$452,600

Median gross rent

$1,124$1,487

South Portland

Population

25,54826,780

Median household income

$69,290$84,563

Median home value

$257,200$405,800

Median gross rent

$1,305$1,648

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Portland	South Portland
Under 5	4.5%	4.9%
5 to 17	10.9%	10.6%
18 to 24	9.2%	11.1%
25 to 34	20.8%	15.8%
35 to 44	14.2%	12.3%
45 to 54	11.4%	12.2%
55 to 64	12.0%	13.6%
65 to 74	10.0%	11.1%
75 and over	7.0%	8.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Portland	South Portland
White (non-Hispanic)	79.5%	82.5%
Black or African American	8.8%	6.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	3.2%	2.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.2%
Two or more races	5.0%	4.6%
Hispanic or Latino	3.1%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Portland	South Portland
No high school diploma	4.3%	4.6%
High school graduate	15.1%	21.4%
Some college or associate's	21.4%	24.7%
Bachelor's degree	35.4%	31.2%
Graduate or professional degree	23.9%	18.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Portland	South Portland
Drove alone	56.1%	71.9%
Carpooled	5.9%	4.5%
Public transit	2.7%	1.1%
Walked	11.5%	4.0%
Bicycle	1.2%	0.5%
Worked from home	21.5%	15.9%
Other means	1.0%	2.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Portland	South Portland
1-unit, detached	36.9%	54.9%
1-unit, attached	4.7%	4.0%
2 to 4 units	26.0%	15.7%
5 to 19 units	16.2%	8.2%
20 or more units	16.0%	16.7%
Mobile home & other	0.2%	0.5%

Poverty & households

	Portland	South Portland
Poverty rate	11.2%	6.0%
Average household size	2.05	2.15
Mean commute (minutes)	20	18
Median year structure built	1946	1964