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-MARS-HILL-ME · Mars Hill, ME 934 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 Mars Hill
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Mars Hill on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Gerber · lowest
30,694
Gerber · lowest
30,694 median HH income
21.4% of the leader · rank #1
Mars Hill · this city
46,667
Mars Hill · this city
46,667 median HH income
32.6% of the leader · rank #2
Pickensville · near
46,667
Pickensville · near
46,667 median HH income
32.6% of the leader · rank #3
Newport · near
46,667
Newport · near
46,667 median HH income
32.6% of the leader · rank #4
Lincoln Center · near
46,667
Lincoln Center · near
46,667 median HH income
32.6% of the leader · rank #5
Snover · near
46,667
Snover · near
46,667 median HH income
32.6% of the leader · rank #6
Castine · highest
143,229
Castine · highest
143,229 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 Mars 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: 934.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Mars Hill lands in the 15th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
15th
percentile, household income
20th
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: Mars Hill, ME
Mars Hill is a small town in Maine, home to 934 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Mars Hill households earn a median of $46,667 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 4.1%. Mars Hill's housing stock carries a median value of $126,200, and the median resident age is 54.1 years. About 13.2% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 41.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 2 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
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). 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 Mars 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 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 Mars Hill, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Mars Hill?
Within Maine, the closest population matches are Castine (926 residents, $143,229 income); Boothbay Harbor (948 residents, $57,679 income); Washburn (958 residents, $39,688 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Gerber, CA (934 residents); Stonington, CT (934 residents); Baroda, MI (934 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.
What does the education layer cover for Mars Hill?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 13.2% 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.
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.
How far does income reach against housing in Mars Hill?
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 4.1%, 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 Mars Hill?
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 57.1%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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
4.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better 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.
Household income F
$46,667
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
13.2%
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).
Mars Hill profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 71/100 (B) · 4.1%
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Household income: 16/100 (F) · $46,667
Bachelor's+ share: 15/100 (F) · 13.2%
How does Mars Hill compare to other US cities?
Where Mars Hill sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income15% higher than other cities
Home value20% 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 Mars 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 Mars Hill near the bottom of Maine's cities
Among the 154 Maine cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Mars Hill ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Mars Hill only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#110 of 145
24th percentile in Maine
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 154
0th percentile in Maine
Median Home Value
#118 of 151
22nd percentile in Maine
Poverty Rate
#107 of 154
31st percentile in Maine
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#132 of 154
14th 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. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Mars Hill's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$126,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 80% 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
Mars Hill's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,061 of 15,516
More affordable than 67% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,435 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.7×, Mars Hill sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,061 of 15,516 and #4,435 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
$46,667Mars Hill, ME median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Mars Hill, 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 Mars Hill, ME.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)13.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)41.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
934
Median Income
$46,667
Median Home Value
$126,200
Median Age
54.1
Poverty Rate
4.1%
Labor force participation
41.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
13.2%
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
57.1%
Carpool
22.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.2%
Work from Home
13.0%
Other
5.9%
Based on 324 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 Mars 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 Mars 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 Mars Hill sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Mars 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.