I’ve gone on this tangent before and I’m sure you have, too.

What used to be a quiet, quaint oasis tucked away in the Northernmost part of our country is now a tourist trap sucking in out-of-staters causing our rent prices to skyrocket.

Maine is changing and it is changing quickly.

Apartments in Maine

Our state used to be a liveable place, but I’m not so sure anymore.

While our rent and cost of living continue to skyrocket, our incomes barely move, even if at all. It would be one thing if the rent increased and our jobs recognized that and compensated for it but the prices continue to creep up and our weekly paychecks stay the same.

I started my apartment hunt in Portland but within minutes realized how naive that was and expanded my search to within 50 miles of the city, which is ridiculous. The rent prices I was finding in Portland were the same price as my Miami apartment but with some major differences; the Portland apartments were 800 square feet with nothing included, not even parking, and my Miami apartment came with a pool, gym, ocean views, valet parking, and more.

Portland, Maine, who the heck do you think you are?

Rent Prices in Maine

As I’ve expressed before, we question why we see Deering Oaks covered in bodies, but then we put our resources into luxury apartments or crank rent for basic apartments up so high that a working Portlander couldn’t dream of affording it.

It’s just absolutely ridiculous to me that our rental prices are comparable to major cities but cities where they actually compensate you for your cost of living. Yes, they have high rents, but they also have higher salaries.

These landlords and greedy owners are crawling in from out-of-state with cash in their pockets or jumping on the bandwagon of screwing all of us over while nothing changes except the monthly price.

There was one apartment I looked at that was 800 square feet for $2,500. When looking at the price history on Zillow, I saw that the exact same apartment was $1,300 in total just three years ago. Not one thing about it had changed or been updated, just the price.

This is absolutely ridiculous.

The whole thing is just exhausting to deal with and it's discouraging to hear the stories of working Mainers who are affected by these changes.

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Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

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