Bangor is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, MaineGR6, United States. It is the major commercial center for eastern, central and northern Maine. For U.S. Census statistical purposes, it is the core urban city of the 'Bangor, Maine New England City and Town Area (NECTA) ', and the principal city of the 'Bangor, Maine New England County Metropolitan Area ' which encompasses all of Bangor, Maine, all of Penobscot County and part of Waldo County, Maine. As of 2006, Bangor is the third-largest city in Maine, as it has been for more than a century. The population was 31,473 at the 2000 census.

The Bangor Public Library, founded in 1883 with its very beginnings tracing back to 1830 and seven books in a simple footlocker, now has a collection of over 500,000 volumes. The Maine Discovery Museum is a major children's museum founded in 2001 and located in the downtown area. Next to the old library building, which has now become City Hall, is the Luther H. Peirce Memorial, a large statue commemorating River Drivers created by the noted sculptor Charles Eugene Tefft in 1925.