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.
Place dossier plate
SheetME-LAKE-ARROWHEAD-ME · Lake Arrowhead, ME 3,273 pop · income 66th 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 Lake Arrowhead
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Lake Arrowhead on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Norway · lowest
41,370
Norway · lowest
41,370 median HH income
20.1% of the leader · rank #1
Port St. John · near
84,214
Port St. John · near
84,214 median HH income
40.9% of the leader · rank #2
Bethel · near
84,214
Bethel · near
84,214 median HH income
40.9% of the leader · rank #3
Elgin · near
84,219
Elgin · near
84,219 median HH income
40.9% of the leader · rank #4
Citrus Park · near
84,220
Citrus Park · near
84,220 median HH income
40.9% of the leader · rank #5
Lake Arrowhead · this city
84,221
Lake Arrowhead · this city
84,221 median HH income
40.9% of the leader · rank #6
South Duxbury · highest
206,111
South Duxbury · highest
206,111 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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Lake Arrowhead 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: 3,273.
Lake Arrowhead ranks in the 66th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
66th
percentile, household income
50th
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: Lake Arrowhead, ME
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 3,273 residents in Lake Arrowhead, a small town within Maine. The typical household in Lake Arrowhead brings in $84,221 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 9.3%. Typical homes in Lake Arrowhead are valued around $226,400, and the median resident age is 31.0 years. About 20.6% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 76.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Maine tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: the state registers 97.1 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Near Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,448 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Maine's average monthly utility costs around $273 (state average). Commute times here average 36.2 minutes, with 81.5% driving alone and 5.6% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. 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 Lake Arrowhead'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 housing and income to work and mobility to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Lake Arrowhead, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Lake Arrowhead?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 9.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
What does the journey to work look like in Lake Arrowhead?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 81.5%. The reported mean trip to work is 36.2 minutes.
Which cities make useful reference points for Lake Arrowhead?
Within Maine, the closest population matches are Norway (3,145 residents, $41,370 income); Bucksport (3,140 residents, $58,644 income); South Berwick (3,441 residents, $77,493 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Paoli, IN (3,274 residents); South Duxbury, MA (3,272 residents); Minerva, OH (3,274 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.
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.
Above median income · poverty 9.3% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Maine average
C-
City profile score · Lake Arrowhead, ME
50/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
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.
Household income C+
$84,221
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); 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 D
9.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
20.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Lake Arrowhead profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 64/100 (C+) · $84,221
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Poverty rate: 42/100 (D) · 9.3%
Bachelor's+ share: 36/100 (F) · 20.6%
How does Lake Arrowhead compare to other US cities?
Here's how Lake Arrowhead stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income66% higher than other cities
Home value50% 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 Lake Arrowhead 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 Lake Arrowhead near the bottom of Maine's cities
Among the 154 Maine cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Lake Arrowhead ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Lake Arrowhead only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#28 of 145
81st percentile in Maine
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 154
0th percentile in Maine
Median Home Value
#67 of 151
56th percentile in Maine
Poverty Rate
#60 of 154
60th percentile in Maine
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#108 of 154
30th 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
66th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Lake Arrowhead's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$226,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 50% 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
Lake Arrowhead's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,972 of 15,516
More affordable than 68% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,373 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.7×, Lake Arrowhead sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,972 of 15,516 and #4,373 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$84,221Lake Arrowhead, ME median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Lake Arrowhead, 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 Lake Arrowhead, ME.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)20.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)9.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)76.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,273
Median Income
$84,221
Median Home Value
$226,400
Median Age
31.0
Poverty Rate
9.3%
Labor force participation
76.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
20.6%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
36.2 minutes
Drive Alone
81.5%
Carpool
12.9%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
5.6%
Based on 1,758 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 Lake Arrowhead. 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 Lake Arrowhead 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 Lake Arrowhead sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Lake Arrowhead 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, 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.