Do linemen make more in Bangor or Portland?

Bangor pays more: the median is $98,230 in Bangor and $78,100 in Portland, a 26% difference.

Lineman salary in Bangor, ME

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Linemen in the Bangor, ME area earn a median of $98,230 a year, or $47.23 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. One in ten earns more than $117,890. That's 18% more than the Maine median of $83,090.

Median yearly pay$98,230

Bottom 10% under$59,080Top 10% over$117,890

Apprentice starting pay (estimate): $28.41/hr
Jobs in this area: 120
After cost of living: $101,780
Median hourly pay: $47.23/hr
vs U.S. median: +3%
vs Maine median: +18%
Mean (average) pay: $89,470 a year · $43.01 an hour

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 12620, Bangor, ME). Excludes self-employed linemen. Cost of living: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024. *Starting pay is estimated from the 10th percentile; BLS does not report pay by license level.

Pay by percentile

What linemen in Bangor, ME earn at each point of the pay range, May 2025: 10% earn less than the 10th percentile, half earn less than the median, and 10% earn more than the 90th.

Percentile	Hourly	Yearly
10th percentile	$28.41	$59,080
25th percentile	$35.26	$73,330
Median (50th)	$47.23	$98,230
75th percentile	$47.23	$98,230
90th percentile	$56.68	$117,890

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.

How Bangor, ME compares

Bangor has the highest lineman median of the 3 Maine metro areas with published pay.
Linemen are more concentrated in the Bangor area than nationally: 1.7 of every 1,000 jobs, 2.0 times the U.S. share.

Other Maine metro areas

Other trades in Bangor, ME

Electrician HVAC technician Welder Plumber Diesel mechanic Carpenter Heavy equipment operator Auto mechanic Roofer

Questions

Do linemen make more in Bangor or Portland?: Bangor pays more: the median is $98,230 in Bangor and $78,100 in Portland, a 26% difference.

About this data

Wages are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025, occupation 49-9051 (Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers), area code 12620 (Bangor, ME). BLS counts wage and salary workers only, so self-employed linemen and business owners aren't included. The cost-of-living figure divides the median by the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parity for 2024 (96.5, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures