THE PORTLAND LAND BRIEF
Land in the
Gulf of Maine Coastal Lowland setting.
Portland city has 21.5 square miles of land in Cumberland County. Its Census boundary intersects Gulf of Maine Coastal Lowland, within Northeastern Coastal Zone.
Irregular plains and low hills form a coastal transition with glacial lakes and oak-pine woodland. This northeastern landscape is gentler than the mountainous country farther inland.
Regional context: Northeastern Coastal Zone ↗ · Classification from the Census boundary intersection
The Census reference point falls outside the regional layer’s mapped footprint. This classification uses the actual place-boundary intersection, with Gulf of Maine Coastal Lowland representing its largest mapped overlap. Shorelines and dataset boundaries can differ.
Acadian Plains and Hills in Portland
Forested plains and hills contain numerous glacial lakes. Spruce-fir lowlands and hardwood-covered hills create a northern landscape that is generally gentler than the highlands to the west.
Read the regional source ↗Portland and Cumberland County
Portland is associated with Cumberland County in the Census boundary data. Start with the parcel’s tax bill to match the property to that jurisdiction, then confirm which government handles its land use.
Portland by land and water
The Census records 47.9 square miles of water within Portland, or 69% of its total area. It is 37.7 percentage points higher than the 31.3% recorded for Cumberland County. This is geographic context; waterfront status and usable land must be checked at the parcel.
For scale, Portland city has 15 times the land area of nearby Long Island town (1.44 square miles). These areas describe boundaries, not comparable property prices.