Maine City With the Largest Average Backyard is a Surprise

There's an old joke in Maine that if you close your eyes too long, summer will be gone and winter will arrive again. But for the last decade or so, summers in Maine have felt a lot longer, with spring and fall being far more mild and pleasant.

This has meant that people are spending a lot more time outside, and potential homebuyers are more interested than ever in the size of their backyard.

Lawnstarter recently released a set of findings about the cities across America offering the largest average backyard space. Lawnstarter analyzed 2,000 cities throughout the United States and used average acreage date from the Federal Finance Housing Agency to determine which cities offer the most outside space per home.

The city in Maine with the most average backyard acreage is Auburn. Auburn homes have an average of half an acre of backyard space per dwelling. That ranks Auburn among the top 225 cities in America when it comes to backyard space.

If you're confused as to how that could be the largest average backyard in a state with a lot of space, it all comes down to the methodology. Lawnstarter looked at cities with a minimum of 20,000 people only.

When you consider that many of Maine's largest cities are condensed with lots of apartment buildings, the results make complete sense. The national average for backyard acreage is roughly half an acre, so Maine only has one city that reaches the national average.

The city of Carney, Maryland, is the leader in the nation, with homes averaging 1.1 acres of backyard space per dwelling. Great for parties, bad for upkeep.