Fair Market Rent in Maine by county (FY 2026)

Maine sets fair market rents by town rather than by whole county, which is part of why the numbers swing so much here. The statewide two-bedroom figure for FY 2026 is $1,429, well above the national median of $1,018. Cumberland County, home to the Portland metro, tops the state at $2,082. Aroostook County, up north, is the low end at $1,224. Only 5 of Maine's 16 counties carry a metro rate, but that doesn't mean the rural ones are flat. Cumberland County has the widest ZIP-level spread in the state: Small Area FMRs run from $1,580 to $3,200, a difference of $1,620 depending on the town or ZIP code you're renting in. Because Maine prices by town, the county number you see is really an average of a lot of very different places. Check your specific town before you trust it.

5 of the 16 counties sit inside a HUD metro area and share that metro's rate. The other 11 get a county rate built from their own rents. The Maine median of $1,429 is about 40% above the national median county ($1,018). HUD also publishes ZIP-level Small Area FMRs covering 16 of the 16 counties, which is where the real variation shows up. Pick a county below for the full studio-to-four-bedroom table, payment standard ranges and ZIP rates.

Maine is one of the six New England states where HUD publishes rates by town rather than county. The county figures here fold those towns together. Open a county to see every town listed with its own rate.

The median two-bedroom moved up 20% from FY 2025. 16 counties went up, 0 went down, and the rest held.

HUD has already published FY 2027, effective October 1, 2026. Two-bedroom rates go up in 5 counties, down in 11, and hold in the rest. The table shows both years.