Drone footage of Portland
Photo by Bill Lord/Maine HDTV


The secret got out sometime about a decade ago, it seems, and the rest of the world is now well aware that life is good in Portland, Maine.
Here’s a sampling of the wide variety of “Best of” lists that have featured Portland and helped make the city a go-to-there destination for everyone from hipsters to retirees:
Best Cities for Mid-Level Professionals, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, 2007
America’s Best Healthy Places to Retire (No. 1), U.S. News & World Report, 2008
America’s Foodiest Small Town, Bon Appetit, 2009
America’s Most Livable Cities (No.1), Forbes, 2009
The Coolest Small Cities in America, GQ, 2010
Greenest Small Cities (No.1), Rodale’s Organic Life, 2010
Gayest Cities in America (No. 8), The Advocate, 2010
The Best Cities in the World for Drinking Beer, Gadling, 2010
Most Affordable Places to Retire (No. 1), AARP The Magazine, 2011
Best Cities for Young Professionals (No. 6), Forbes, 2011
America’s Best Cities for Hipsters (No. 5), Travel + Leisure, 2012
Top 10 Best Cities for Families (No. 3), Parenting, 2012
The 15 Most Underrated Cities in the U.S. (No. 8), Complex, 2013
16 Best Places to Live in the U.S. (No. 13), Outside, 2014
10 Most Coffee-Obsessed Cities (No.1), Men’s Health, 2014
10 Classiest Party Cities in America (No. 2), Thumbtack Journal, 2015
America’s 20 Best Cities for Beer Lovers (No. 14), Travel + Leisure, 2015
Top 10 Coziest Cities in America (No. 1), Honeywell, 2015
The 10 Best Places to Live Now (No. 3), Men’s Journal, 2015
America’s Coolest Small Towns (No. 5), Jetsetter, 2015

From Portland Press Herald