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Place dossier plate
SheetME-FORT-FAIRFIELD-ME · Fort Fairfield, ME 1,632 pop · income 15th pct
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.
Income neighbourhood around Fort Fairfield
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Fort Fairfield on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Huntsville · lowest
27,266
Huntsville · lowest
27,266 median HH income
20.3% of the leader · rank #1
Fort Fairfield · this city
46,654
Fort Fairfield · this city
46,654 median HH income
34.7% of the leader · rank #2
Blair · near
46,654
Blair · near
46,654 median HH income
34.7% of the leader · rank #3
Ashley · near
46,655
Ashley · near
46,655 median HH income
34.7% of the leader · rank #4
West Monroe · near
46,663
West Monroe · near
46,663 median HH income
34.7% of the leader · rank #5
Greenville · near
46,664
Greenville · near
46,664 median HH income
34.7% of the leader · rank #6
Wind Point · highest
134,375
Wind Point · highest
134,375 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Fort Fairfield on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 1,632.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Fort Fairfield - the verdict
Fort Fairfield ranks in the 15th percentile for household income and the 83rd percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
15th
percentile, household income
26th
percentile, home value
69th
percentile, median rent
83rd
percentile, safety
📝 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: Fort Fairfield, ME
Maine's Fort Fairfield is a small town, with 1,632 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Fort Fairfield households earn a median of $46,654 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 2.9%. Home values in Fort Fairfield run a median of $145,800, and the median resident age is 47.6 years. 23.2% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 49.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Fort Fairfield reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 538.4 crimes per 100,000 residents, below the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
Maine tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Maine at 97.1 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Near Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,448 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Maine run around $273, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Workers in Fort Fairfield report an average commute of 18.6 minutes, with 79.3% driving alone and 5.1% working from home. Natural-hazard exposure scores 56.7 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Fort Fairfield'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 reported crime to schools and households to comparison shortlist to housing and income to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Fort Fairfield, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What can the FBI record say about safety in Fort Fairfield?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 538.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 76% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
What does the education layer cover for Fort Fairfield?
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 2 public schools within the city match. 23.2% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Fort Fairfield?
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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Maine, the closest population matches are Van Buren (1,614 residents, $35,200 income); Fryeburg (1,665 residents, $61,944 income); Bridgton (1,666 residents, $58,992 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Ainsworth, NE (1,632 residents); New Middletown, OH (1,632 residents); Huntsville, TN (1,632 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
How far does income reach against housing in Fort Fairfield?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Fort Fairfield?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 79.3%. The reported mean trip to work is 18.6 minutes.
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.
Drive alone
79.3%
Work from home
5.1%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 672 workers age 16+.
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.
Poverty rate B+
2.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime C
150 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
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.
Bachelor's+ share D
23.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$46,654
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Fort Fairfield profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 79/100 (B+) · 2.9%
Violent crime: 58/100 (C) · 150 /100k
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 44/100 (D) · 23.2%
Household income: 16/100 (F) · $46,654
Where Fort Fairfield sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Fort Fairfield's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Fort Fairfield highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Fort Fairfield, ME (this city): home $145,800, crime 538/100k
Cedar Bluff, AL : home $203,000, crime 1,303/100k
Fryeburg, ME : home $268,100, crime 1,087/100k
Bridgton, ME : home $239,200, crime 1,092/100k
East Millinocket, ME : home $73,900, crime 889/100k
Freeport, ME : home $344,100, crime 1,114/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Fort Fairfield compare to other US cities?
Fort Fairfield measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income15% higher than other cities
Home value26% pricier than other cities
Median rent69% pricier than other cities
Safety83% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Maine alone, Fort Fairfield ranks #15 of 73 Maine cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Fort Fairfield 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 Fort Fairfield near the bottom of Maine's cities
Among the 154 Maine cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Fort Fairfield ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Fort Fairfield only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#111 of 145
23rd percentile in Maine
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 154
0th percentile in Maine
Median Home Value
#109 of 151
28th percentile in Maine
Poverty Rate
#117 of 154
24th percentile in Maine
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#95 of 154
37th 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.
Gauge source note
15th percentile nationally for median household income · 83rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Fort Fairfield's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Fort Fairfield's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Fort Fairfield's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$145,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 74% 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
Fort Fairfield's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,313 of 15,516
More affordable than 53% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,085 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.1×, Fort Fairfield sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,313 of 15,516 and #6,085 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$46,654Fort Fairfield, ME median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Fort Fairfield, ME median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Fort Fairfield, ME.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)23.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)49.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,632
Median Income
$46,654
Median Home Value
$145,800
Median Age
47.6
Poverty Rate
2.9%
Labor force participation
49.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
23.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
538.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
149.6
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
388.9
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
18.6 minutes
Drive Alone
79.3%
Carpool
15.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
5.1%
Based on 672 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 Fort Fairfield. 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 Fort Fairfield 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 Fort Fairfield sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Fort Fairfield 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, FBI UCR, 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.