By Karen Martin
The US Census Bureau estimates that Scarborough’s population topped 24,000 as of July 2024, an increase of 7.9% (1,765 people) since July 2020.
Scarborough comprises only 7.6% of Cumberland County’s population but accounted for 17% of its growth from 2020 to2024. That means we are growing faster than the county as a whole. In fact, Scarborough was the fastest growing town in Maine from 2020 to 2024.
It’s important to realize that knowing the net increase in population does not tell the whole story. In any given year, 8-9% of residents are new to Scarborough – which is definitely more than the net population growth. If you feel like there are way more new people in town than 1,765, you are right! The net population growth takes into account the number of people who have moved out of Scarborough.
One quirk of working with population data is that there are multiple data sources within the Census Bureau for population estimates. The estimates referred to above are from the Population Estimate Program (PEP). This dataset is published annually and is considered the “official” estimate for communities.
The second data set that is often quoted is the American Community Survey (ACS). This dataset produces two population estimates – just to confuse us further! For communities of 20,000 people or greater, the ACS produces an annual estimate based on a single year of data. It also produces an annual estimate using data from the previous five years. This data set is available for communities of all sizes.
Even though the PEP annual data is the official estimate, the ACS is important because it produces a rich set of socio-economic data about communities that PEP lacks. If you want to know about income or housing units or the labor force, the ACS is the right tool. If you need to know the best estimate of the number of people for a given year, you want the PEP data set. For Scarborough, the ACS five-year estimates tend to be lower than the PEP. All of this data is available online at data.census.gov.
Lastly, do not be surprised when data sets get revised – backwards in time. Just when you think you know exactly what happened over the last few years, previous estimates are often revised! If you are looking for information on Scarborough, please give us a call at SEDCO. We will be happy to help!
Karen Martin is Executive Director of Scarborough Economic Development Corporation (SEDCO).
