Living in Kennebec County

What Kennebec County is, and who it suits

State government, two hospitals' worth of healthcare employment, and three colleges give the county a stable year round economy that most of rural Maine does not have. It is roughly an hour to Portland, under an hour to the midcoast, and about an hour and a half to the western mountains, which makes it a practical base if you want access to several parts of the state without paying coastal prices.

Who it does not suit: people whose picture of Maine is a harbor. This is a river and lakes county, not a coastal one.

The towns

Augusta and the river towns

Augusta is the state capital and the county's service center, with the State House, MaineGeneral's Alfond Center for Health, and the University of Maine at Augusta. Hallowell is the small river city just south of it, with a dense historic downtown, a restaurant scene out of proportion to its size, and the county's most sought after in town housing. Gardiner has a handsome Water Street downtown and prices below Hallowell's.

Farmingdale, Randolph, Chelsea and Manchester are the surrounding towns, close to Augusta services with more land and lower taxes than the city.

The lakes towns

Winthrop, Readfield, Belgrade, Mount Vernon, Monmouth and Wayne sit in the Belgrade Lakes chain west of Augusta. This is where you buy if water matters to you but ocean frontage does not. Expect lakefront to carry a serious premium, expect a mix of year round homes and camps, and expect to ask hard questions about whether a given property is built and insulated for year round living. Many are not.

A camp is not a house. Seasonal properties here often have shallow foundations, limited insulation, seasonal water lines and roads that are not maintained in winter. Converting one is possible and it is rarely cheap. Get that priced before you make an offer, not after.

The Waterville area

Waterville is the county's second city, anchored by Colby College, whose investment has reshaped the downtown over the last decade, along with Thomas College. Winslow sits across the river, Oakland and Fairfield nearby, with Sidney, Vassalboro and Benton more rural and more affordable again.

Healthcare, including a change worth knowing about

That closure is recent enough that older articles and even some listing descriptions have not caught up. If you are relocating and evaluating healthcare access in the Waterville area, it is the single most important recent fact.

Most of the county is within thirty minutes of one of the two emergency departments. The lakes towns to the west and the rural towns at the county's edges are further, so map the drive from any specific address in winter terms.

Getting around

• I-95 runs through the county, which is the practical advantage over the midcoast. Portland is about an hour from Augusta, Bangor about an hour and a quarter.
• Portland International Jetport is roughly an hour from Augusta and about an hour and twenty minutes from Waterville. Bangor International is a similar drive from the county's northern end and is sometimes cheaper.
• The coast is close. Bath and Brunswick are under an hour from Augusta, which is why plenty of people here live inland and use the coast on weekends.
• No passenger rail. The nearest Downeaster station is Brunswick.

Why the value is real, and where the catch is

Kennebec County is genuinely more affordable than the coast, and unlike much of northern Maine that affordability does not cost you access to services. That combination is the case for living here, and it is a strong one.

The catch is that the housing stock is old and it was not always maintained. A great deal of what you will look at was built well before modern insulation standards, and central Maine winters are colder than coastal ones, so heating costs run higher for the same square footage. The things to price before you commit, every time, are the heating system and its age, the insulation, the roof, and where applicable the septic and the well. That is where the money actually is in a central Maine house.

Property taxes are set town by town and vary a lot across the county, so ask for the specific mil rate and assessed value on any house you are serious about rather than trusting a regional average.

Kennebec questions I get most