Lincoln County

Key demographics — Lincoln County, Maine (most recent Census/ACS)

Population size

• 2023 population estimate: 36,000–36,100 (up from ~35,200 in 2020)

Age

• Median age: ~51–52 years
• Under 18: ~17%
• 18–64: ~55%
• 65 and over: ~28%

Gender

• Female: ~51%
• Male: ~49%

Race/ethnicity (ACS 5-year)

• White alone: ~95%
• Two or more races: ~2–3%
• Asian: ~0.6–0.8%
• Black or African American: ~0.3–0.5%
• American Indian/Alaska Native: ~0.4–0.6%
• Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander: ~0.0%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race): ~1.5–1.7%

Households and housing

• Households: ~16,000–16,500
• Average household size: ~2.15–2.20
• Family households: ~59% of households; married-couple families ~50%
• Households with own children under 18: ~20–22%
• Nonfamily households: ~41%; individuals living alone ~33%; age 65+ living alone ~12–14%
• Housing units: ~24,000–25,000; notable seasonal/occasional-use vacancies
• Occupied housing tenure: owner-occupied ~83–86%; renter-occupied ~14–17%

Insights

• Older age profile with nearly three in ten residents 65+, well above national share.
• Predominantly White, with small but growing multiracial and Hispanic populations.
• High homeownership and a large seasonal housing stock typical of coastal Maine.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Decennial Census; 2019–2023 American Community Survey 5-year estimates; 2023 Vintage Population Estimates.

Lincoln County, ME (2025 est.)

• Population: ~35,200; density ~77 people/sq mi (rural/coastal).
• Adult (18+) population: ~29,200.

Email usage

• Adult email users: ~26,500 (≈91% of adults).
• By age (users): 18–34 ≈4,600 (17% of users); 35–64 ≈13,800 (52%); 65+ ≈8,100 (31%). High adoption across working ages; slightly lower among seniors, consistent with Maine’s older age profile.
• Gender split among users: 52% women (13,800) and 48% men (~12,700), reflecting the county’s population mix and near‑parity adoption.

Digital access and connectivity

• ~87% of households subscribe to broadband; access is strongest along the US‑1 corridor and village centers (e.g., Wiscasset, Damariscotta, Boothbay/Boothbay Harbor), with remaining gaps on interior peninsulas and rural roads where service can fall below 25/3 Mbps.
• Ongoing fiber buildouts (2022–2024) are raising typical fixed‑line speeds into the 100–500 Mbps range where fiber/cable are present, improving reliability and email engagement.
• Dispersed settlement and seasonal homes increase last‑mile costs, producing scattered unserved/underserved pockets despite generally improving coverage.

Mobile phone usage in Lincoln County, Maine — 2024 snapshot

Topline user estimates

• Residents: ~36,200 (2023 Census estimate). Occupied households: ~16,500.
• Estimated mobile phone users (any mobile, smartphone or basic): ~30,000–31,000 (about 84–86% of all residents), reflecting high adult ownership but a large senior share that lowers the county’s overall rate versus Maine’s urbanized counties.
• Estimated smartphone users: ~24,000–26,000, with ownership concentrated in working-age adults and lower among seniors.

Demographic breakdown and what’s different from statewide

• Older population profile:
  • 65+ share is about 30% in Lincoln County vs roughly 22–23% statewide. This drives a lower smartphone adoption rate than the Maine average.
  • Applying recent Pew age-specific adoption rates to the county’s age structure implies:
    • Ages 18–49: smartphone adoption in the mid-90% range; this group accounts for a majority of the county’s smartphones despite being a minority of residents.
    • Ages 50–64: smartphone adoption ~80–85%; strong but below younger cohorts.
    • Ages 65+: smartphone adoption ~60–65%; many seniors still use basic phones or no mobile device, pulling down the countywide smartphone share more than in Maine’s younger counties.
• Household device and subscription profile (ACS Types of Computers and Internet Subscriptions, latest 5-year release):
  • Households with a smartphone: Lincoln County ~85% vs Maine ~88% (county lower by ~3 percentage points).
  • Households with any internet subscription: Lincoln County ~84% vs Maine ~87%.
  • Households with a cellular data plan (smartphone or hotspot): Lincoln County ~56–58% vs Maine ~60%.
  • Cellular-only internet households (mobile is the sole subscription): Lincoln County ~8% vs Maine ~10–11%.
  • Interpretation: Lincoln County has fewer smartphone and internet-subscribing households than Maine overall, with especially fewer “cellular-only” homes; older households are more likely to have no subscription at all or rely on non-mobile options where fiber/cable is available.

Digital infrastructure and performance

• Carriers and network generations:
  • All four major operators are present in the county footprint: Verizon, AT&T (including FirstNet Band 14), T-Mobile, and UScellular.
  • 5G availability is mixed: widespread low-band 5G; mid-band 5G (e.g., Verizon C-band, T-Mobile 2.5 GHz) is concentrated along the US-1 corridor (Wiscasset, Damariscotta-Newcastle, Waldoboro) and parts of the Boothbay peninsula. Interior townships see more 4G LTE on low-band spectrum.
• Coverage patterns and gaps:
  • Stronger signal and capacity along coastal/Route 1 population centers; more dead zones and weaker indoor coverage on peninsulas (e.g., South Bristol, Pemaquid Point, East Boothbay/Ocean Point) and inland pockets (e.g., Somerville/Whitefield valleys). This dispersion is more pronounced than the Maine average because of the county’s peninsulas and tree cover.
  • Seasonal congestion spikes are higher than statewide norms due to tourism surges (Boothbay Harbor region, Pemaquid/Bristol, Damariscotta), with noticeable summer evening slowdowns on Verizon and AT&T in waterfront zones.
• Backhaul and fiber underpinnings:
  • Robust fiber/cable along US-1 and primary spurs supports higher 5G capacity in towns. Providers include Tidewater Telecom (significant FTTH in the Damariscotta–Bristol area), Consolidated Communications/Fidium (expansions since 2023 in Wiscasset, Waldoboro, Jefferson, and adjacent locales), and Spectrum along major corridors. These fiber builds have enabled C-band/2.5 GHz upgrades where towers have backhaul.
  • Away from main corridors, many sites still rely on longer microwave hops or older fiber laterals, constraining 5G mid-band rollouts relative to Maine’s urban counties.
• Speed and reliability (field-measurement composites and carrier disclosures, 2023–2024):
  • Mid-band 5G zones along US-1 commonly deliver 150–300 Mbps down in light-to-moderate load; LTE/low-band 5G areas inland and at the ends of peninsulas often fall in the 10–40 Mbps range, with occasional single-digit Mbps during peak tourist weeks.
  • FirstNet coverage has improved public-safety resilience along Route 1 and in Wiscasset–Boothbay, but some rural fire/EMS districts still report fringe indoor coverage—more common here than statewide.

Trends that diverge from Maine overall

• Adoption: Smartphone and internet-subscription rates are several points lower than the state average, primarily because Lincoln County skews older; Maine overall is old, but Lincoln County is older still.
• Mobile-as-primary internet: A smaller share of households rely solely on cellular for home internet compared with the state average, reflecting the presence of incumbent FTTH/cable in core towns and an older population less likely to be smartphone-only.
• Capacity imbalance: Stronger mid-band 5G buildout along a single coastal corridor contrasts with thinner inland capacity; this coastal/inland split is sharper than Maine’s overall pattern.
• Seasonality: Network congestion varies more dramatically across the year than the state average due to heavy summer tourism, with the Boothbay and Pemaquid peninsulas showing the largest swings.

Bottom line

• About 30–31 thousand people in Lincoln County use mobile phones, but the county’s older age profile keeps smartphone penetration and cellular-only home-internet usage below Maine’s average.
• Mobile performance is excellent where fiber-fed, mid-band 5G has been deployed along US-1 and town centers, but inland and peninsular edges still rely on low-band LTE/5G with notable gaps and seasonal slowdowns—differences that are more pronounced than statewide patterns.

Social media usage in Lincoln County, Maine (concise, data-led)

Population base

• Population: ~36,200 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 estimate)
• Adults (18+): ~30,900 (ACS-derived)
• Adults using any social platform: ~24,400 (≈79% of adults). Modeled from Pew Research Center 2024 adoption levels, modestly adjusted for the county’s older/rural profile.

Most-used platforms (share of adults in Lincoln County; estimated users)

• YouTube: 78% (24,100 adults)
• Facebook: 70% (21,600)
• Instagram: 36% (11,100)
• Pinterest: 31% (9,600)
• TikTok: 27% (8,300)
• LinkedIn: 24% (7,400)
• WhatsApp: 23% (7,100)
• X (Twitter): 19% (5,900)
• Snapchat: 18% (5,600)
• Reddit: 17% (5,200)
• Nextdoor: 13% (4,000) Notes: Percentages reflect Pew Research Center 2024 U.S. adult adoption, down-weighted where older/rural populations tend to post lower usage (e.g., TikTok, Snapchat, Reddit) and up-weighted where older users dominate (Facebook). Counts are rounded.

Age-group usage patterns (platform penetration by age; Pew 2024 benchmarks that best fit local patterns)

• 18–29: YouTube ~95%; Instagram ~78%; Snapchat ~65%; TikTok ~62%; Facebook ~33%
• 30–49: YouTube ~92%; Facebook ~69%; Instagram ~54%; TikTok ~39%; Snapchat ~24%
• 50–64: YouTube ~83%; Facebook ~73%; Instagram ~29%; TikTok ~24%; Snapchat ~7%
• 65+: YouTube ~60%; Facebook ~57%; Instagram ~15%; TikTok ~10%; Snapchat ~5% Implication for Lincoln County: With a higher median age, Facebook and YouTube dominate overall reach; Instagram/TikTok matter chiefly for under-50s, especially 18–34.

Gender breakdown (directional skews grounded in Pew 2024)

• Overall audience: ~51% women, ~49% men (county demographic profile)
• Platform skews:
  • Pinterest: heavily female (roughly 2.5x higher usage among women than men)
  • Facebook: slightly higher among women than men
  • Reddit: male-skewed
  • LinkedIn: modest male tilt
  • Instagram, YouTube, WhatsApp: broadly balanced

Behavioral trends observed/expected locally

• Facebook as the community hub: High reliance on municipal pages, school districts, emergency/outage updates, town groups, buy/sell/trade, and event promotion.
• Video-first consumption:
  • YouTube for how-to, DIY, home/auto/boat repair, outdoor and seasonal projects
  • Short-form (Reels/TikTok) for local food, events, and tourism visuals
• Seasonality:
  • May–October tourism amplifies Instagram/TikTok posting and discovery; local attractions and dining see higher engagement
  • Winter weather/outages drive spikes on Facebook pages/groups and utility updates
• Content preferences:
  • Practical/local info (weather, road conditions, municipal notices)
  • Community pride (high school sports, markets, festivals, nonprofits)
  • Services and local commerce (contractors, trades, lodging, dining)
• Usage timing and devices:
  • Peak engagement evenings (approximately 6–9 pm) and weekends; heavy mobile usage typical of U.S. patterns
• Messaging:
  • Facebook Messenger prevalent for community coordination; WhatsApp used by some organizations and family groups but below national average

Methodological notes and sources

• Counts/percentages are modeled for Lincoln County adults using: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 population structure and Pew Research Center, Social Media Use in 2024 (platform adoption by age and gender). Adjustments reflect rural/older skews common in Maine counties.