Bookkeeper salary in Portland-South Portland, ME

Pay in Portland-South Portland against Maine and the US

The middle half of bookkeepers in Portland-South Portland earns $48,070–$62,070. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $71,990, only 1.7 times the bottom tenth, against 2.1 times across the US, so the going rate is easier to read. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $14,000 wide, against $15,110 across Maine and $17,950 nationally: employers in Portland-South Portland pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for a bookkeeper here

The step from the 25th percentile to the median is $6,540 a year; from the median to the 75th it is $7,460, or about $9,626 once benefits are added. These percentiles describe what people in the job earn locally, not experience levels, so place your offer by the tasks and seniority you need.

For scale, the US median of $50,670 falls between the 25th percentile and the median in Portland-South Portland, and the Maine statewide median of $50,510 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in Portland-South Portland

At the $54,610 median, a local hire costs about $70,465 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $15,855 here. Recruiting, equipment and office space come on top. Benefit levels vary by employer, so treat this as an estimate.

We place executive assistants, customer support and e-commerce staff today; for bookkeepers we answer within one business day whether we can help. Enter the monthly pay you have in mind to compare it with a local hire. The fee field shows our standard fee³; Deel's contractor plan is the default payroll tool⁴.

Other roles in Portland-South Portland

Of the 17 roles we track in Portland-South Portland, this one ranks #10 by median pay, between payroll specialists ($61,590) and administrative assistants ($52,000). Project Coordinator is the highest at $105,530.

Measured against the US median, bookkeepers rank #4 of the 17 roles we track in Portland-South Portland (+7.8%), between administrative assistants (+9.4%) and customer support specialists (+7.0%). The typical role here is at +2.8%, so, measured against the US, bookkeepers cost more in Portland-South Portland than the area's general pay level would suggest. Bookkeepers hold 10.9% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Portland-South Portland, 13.5% across Maine and 8.7% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Maine

Across the 5 areas of Maine with data for this job, the median runs from $47,050 in the Northeast Maine nonmetro area to $54,610 in Portland-South Portland, a gap of $7,560 a year. No other area in Maine has as many bookkeepers, and all 4 others pay less.

Portland-South Portland against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Portland-South Portland is #88 of 521 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job and one of the better-paying ones. Outside Maine, Providence-Warwick and Kahului-Wailuku pay just above Portland-South Portland and Kingston and Salem just below. All four are within $290 a year of the median in Portland-South Portland. Of the three markets with about as many bookkeepers, none pays as much.

Questions

Sources

How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Last updated 2026-11-12.