This is all very optimistic, but the professional jobs here do not pay enough compared to the COL. A great example is nursing. Maine is in desperate need of nurses, but even Vermont which has the same COL treats and pays the nurses better.

I worked for an employer here that’s generally considered a good one, in a professional job, and the pay was just not enough. They also had a very old school mentality about remote days and WFH, and just poor boundaries between work and life. Unfortunately, there are better opportunities for young professionals outside of Maine. The reason we live here is because my spouse works remote and I am finishing my masters. Unless I can find remote work once I finish my degree, I don’t know if we’ll stay in Maine because there are so many career opportunities outside of Maine with better pay, benefits, time off, and policies.

There are many things to love about Maine. The professional opportunities, are unfortunately, not one of them. Maybe this will change as employers get desperate.