At the Permanent Commission, our goal is to study, understand, and address racial disparities across Maine so that all people - regardless of their race, age, income, or place of birth - can live life “the way it should be.” To do that, we need to understand how opportunities and risks are distributed around our state, and who is most impacted by them.

Mapping Maine Communities is a project exploring what we know about Maine’s diverse residents based on publicly available data. It offers an interactive tool for action-oriented research about how impacts and opportunities are distributed across our state and among Maine people. While this resource is rich in data, we are presenting it here as a “prototype” due to uncertainty that results from using publicly available data to understand Maine’s relatively small and dispersed minority communities. Because of this, we strongly encourage reviewing the user's guide before interacting with the resource, and being aware that demographic data on the map is an estimate of who is where rather than a perfect representation. We hope to have an updated version of this map available by the summer of 2025.

If your organization is interested in a more formal training on how to access and use this resource in your own work, please contact the Permanent Commission at permanentcommission.ritp@maine.gov

What sort of questions can I ask with this map?

This map includes information on Maine’s demographics, as well as data layers that show information statewide about our state’s infrastructure, climate and environment, and social mobility and livelihoods. By turning on different layers, you can use this resource to ask questions such as:

• How geographically dispersed are Black Mainers across the state?
• Do Indigenous communities in Maine have reliable access to maternity care?
• How accessible are Maine’s SNAP retailers in rural communities?
• Who is most likely to be impacted under different sea level rise storm surge scenarios?
• Is the average age of housing stock higher in predominantly Latino communities?
   

Use the map below to explore these questions across the state, or within your own communities. And remember, reference the user's guide to help you along the way.