I was born and raised in Bowdoin and graduated from Mt. Ararat High School in Topsham. My parents, siblings and extended family still live in Maine. I joined the military at 17, returned home after serving and, like a lot of Mainers, eventually left again for college and career.

I’ve always wanted to move back. But now months have turned into years. I check real estate listings and job postings almost weekly. I run and re-run the numbers and every time, I reach the same conclusion: I can’t afford it. That hurts to admit. Maine is in my bones. I want to raise my daughters outside, in the woods, near the ocean the same way I was raised. But right now, it’s out of reach.

Maine is the oldest state in the nation and has been losing its youth for decades. The jobs don’t pay enough. Housing is unaffordable. The taxes are too high: on income, pensions, Social Security and property. Starting a business or raising a family feels financially impossible.

My friends who stayed are doing their best, but even they are thinking about leaving. Schools are under strain. Wages lag behind. Costs keep rising, and too often, state policy seems to make things worse.

I’m not writing this to complain. I’m writing because I want to come home. But if younger Mainers can’t afford to live in Maine, the future of the state is in real trouble.

C. Harold Perkins
St. Johns, Mich.