Cost of Doing Business
Business costs remain above national and regional averages.
No significant movement since the last available data
Benchmark: Maine’s cost of business will decline to the U.S. average by 2030.
Overview
Moody’s Analytics’ cost of doing business index is a weighted scale of labor costs (wages, benefits, and productivity), commercial and industrial electricity costs, and state and local tax burden. A value of 100 equals the U.S. average.
Maine’s cost of doing business index value was 115 in 2008-2009 and has been stable at about 110 since 2014. In 2021, Maine’s cost of doing business ranked 10th highest in the U.S., but second lowest of the New England states. In the U.S., the Northeast has higher business costs than other regions of the country, and Maine’s cost of doing business has been consistently above the Northeast average for the past decade.
Fig. A
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2021 New England State Ranks: Business Costs (1 is highest cost)
Moody's Analytics
Fig. B
On mobile? Viewing this data is easier at a computer.
2021 New England State Ranks: Business Costs (1 is highest cost)
Moody's Analytics