Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Blue Hill on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 1,066.
Blue Hill has 1,066 residents in Maine. Source: Census ACS.
71st
percentile, home value
69th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Blue Hill, ME
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 1,066 residents in Blue Hill, a small town within Maine. Typical homes in Blue Hill are valued around $343,000, and the median resident age is 52.5 years. Educational attainment runs 50.2% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 65.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 1 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
Maine tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Maine scores 97.1 (Near Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,448 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $273 across Maine, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 56.7 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Blue Hill's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from comparison shortlist to schools and households to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Blue Hill, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Blue Hill?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
Within Maine, the closest population matches are Woodland (1,059 residents, $46,346 income); Cornish (1,080 residents, $68,561 income); South Windham (1,047 residents, $128,108 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Sedan, KS (1,066 residents); Brownsville, KY (1,066 residents); Rosenhayn, NJ (1,066 residents). These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
What does the education layer cover for Blue Hill?
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 50.2% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
What does the journey to work look like in Blue Hill?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 62.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Bachelor's+ share A-
50.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Cost of living C-
97.1 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Poverty rate F
15.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income N/A
N/A
No ACS median household income on file for this place.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Blue Hill profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 84/100 (A-) · 50.2%
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Poverty rate: 21/100 (F) · 15.7%
How does Blue Hill compare to other US cities?
Here's how Blue Hill stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Home value71% pricier than other cities
Median rent69% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Blue Hill against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Maine only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Maine-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Blue Hill near the bottom of Maine's cities
Among the 154 Maine cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Blue Hill ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Blue Hill only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 154
0th percentile in Maine
Median Home Value
#35 of 151
77th percentile in Maine
Poverty Rate
#28 of 154
82nd percentile in Maine
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#22 of 154
86th percentile in Maine
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Maine only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
How Blue Hill's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$343,00029th percentilemore affordable than 29% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Income distribution context
Median household income is not available for Blue Hill in the current Census ACS release (common for very small places).
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)50.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)15.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)65.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,066
Median Income
N/A
Median Home Value
$343,000
Median Age
52.5
Poverty Rate
15.7%
Labor force participation
65.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
50.2%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
62.3%
Carpool
17.8%
Public Transit
4.7%
Walk
15.2%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 507 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Maine statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $273
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Maine at $273 (electricity about $130 , water and sewer about $48 ).
These are Maine statewide averages, not a meter reading for Blue Hill. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Maine's BEA cost-of-living index is 97.1 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Blue Hill is $1,448/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Maine statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 56.7 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Maine statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Blue Hill sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Blue Hill compares to similar-size Maine cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, NCES CCD, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.