?WhereToHQ

Ranked · Pick an HQ · Maine

Best cities to put your HQ in Maine

Cities of 25,000+ residents, scored with the “Pick an HQ” weighting the live tool uses, heaviest on bachelor's degree or higher, avg. weekly wage, corporate income tax, state & local income tax. Scores are relative to this set; open the tool to change the weights and re-rank.

Re-rank for your priorities
Top 10 · computed ranking

  1. 1.Portland, ME69k residents

    55/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 59.7% · avg. weekly wage: $1,425/wk · corporate income tax: 8.93%

  2. 2.Saco, ME21k residents

    53/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 43.5% · avg. weekly wage: $1,232/wk · corporate income tax: 8.93%

  3. 3.Biddeford, ME22k residents

    50/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 32.1% · avg. weekly wage: $1,232/wk · corporate income tax: 8.93%

  4. 4.Sanford, ME22k residents

    50/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 24.8% · avg. weekly wage: $1,232/wk · corporate income tax: 8.93%

  5. 5.Auburn, ME25k residents

    49/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 27.8% · avg. weekly wage: $1,158/wk · corporate income tax: 8.93%

  6. 6.Lewiston, ME38k residents

    48/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 22.6% · avg. weekly wage: $1,158/wk · corporate income tax: 8.93%

  7. 7.Bangor, ME32k residents

    48/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 35.1% · avg. weekly wage: $1,106/wk · corporate income tax: 8.93%

  8. 8.Augusta, ME19k residents

    47/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 28.9% · avg. weekly wage: $1,209/wk · corporate income tax: 8.93%

  9. 9.Brunswick, ME18k residents

    46/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 51.3% · avg. weekly wage: $1,425/wk · corporate income tax: 8.93%

  10. 10.Waterville, ME17k residents

    46/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 30.8% · avg. weekly wage: $1,209/wk · corporate income tax: 8.93%

Methodology: each city is scored 0–100 by min–max normalizing every weighted facet across this candidate set (direction-aware), identical math to the tool's “Best fit” tab. A different weighting produces a different order, which is the point: this is a starting shortlist, not a verdict.

Questions & answers
Which city is best to put your HQ in Maine?
Portland, ME ranks first with a fit score of 55/100, followed by Saco (53) and Biddeford (50), using the "Pick an HQ" weighting.
How is this ranking calculated?
Each of the 10 candidate cities (25,000+ residents) is scored 0 to 100 by min-max normalizing the weighted facets, heaviest on bachelor's degree or higher, avg. weekly wage, corporate income tax, state & local income tax, across this set. Change the weights in the live tool and the order changes with them.