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Place dossier plate
SheetME-ROCKLAND-ME · Rockland, ME 6,991 pop · income 28th pct · 13 tracts
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 Rockland
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Rockland on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Kosciusko · lowest
36,490
Kosciusko · lowest
36,490 median HH income
26.1% of the leader · rank #1
Burlington · near
55,274
Burlington · near
55,274 median HH income
39.5% of the leader · rank #2
Rockland · this city
55,276
Rockland · this city
55,276 median HH income
39.5% of the leader · rank #3
Hancock · near
55,278
Hancock · near
55,278 median HH income
39.5% of the leader · rank #4
Dawn · near
55,278
Dawn · near
55,278 median HH income
39.5% of the leader · rank #5
Avery · near
55,278
Avery · near
55,278 median HH income
39.5% of the leader · rank #6
Midland Park · highest
140,063
Midland Park · highest
140,063 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 Rockland 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: 6,991.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Rockland - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Rockland places in the 28th percentile for household income and the 33rd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
28th
percentile, household income
52nd
percentile, home value
69th
percentile, median rent
33rd
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: Rockland, ME
Maine's Rockland is a small town, with 6,991 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Median household income here is $55,276 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 1.3%. Home values in Rockland run a median of $234,400, and the median resident age is 45.8 years. 35.6% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 63.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 70 residential building permits were authorized in Rockland (Building Boom), up 400% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 1955.0 in FBI UCR data, near the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Maine's average monthly utility costs around $273 (state average). Workers in Rockland report an average commute of 10.1 minutes, with 60.9% driving alone and 18.8% 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 Rockland'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 within-city variation to reported crime to housing and income to schools and households to work and mobility to population change to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Rockland, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can 13 Census tracts reveal inside Rockland?
PlainCities matches 13 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Rockland?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1955.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 14% 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Rockland?
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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 1.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Rockland?
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 Belfast (6,985 residents, $61,322 income); Topsham (6,962 residents, $80,545 income); Skowhegan (6,638 residents, $46,625 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Fair Plain, MI (6,992 residents); Plymouth Meeting, PA (6,990 residents); Kosciusko, MS (6,994 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.
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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Rockland?
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. 35.6% 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.
Poverty estimate
1.3%
Bachelor's degree+
35.6%
Matched public schools
2
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in Rockland?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 60.9%. The reported mean trip to work is 10.1 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. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Drive alone
60.9%
Work from home
18.8%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 3,633 workers age 16+.
Is Rockland growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +190 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 70 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
2020 estimate
6,952
2025 estimate
7,142
Period change
+2.7%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Below median income · poverty 1.3% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Maine average
C+
City profile score · Rockland, ME
61/100
5 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.
Poverty rate A+
1.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime B
85 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share B-
35.6%
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.
Household income F
$55,276
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Rockland profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 91/100 (A+) · 1.3%
Violent crime: 74/100 (B) · 85 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 68/100 (B-) · 35.6%
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Household income: 28/100 (F) · $55,276
Where Rockland sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Rockland'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 - Rockland highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
Rockland, ME (this city): home $234,400, crime 1,955/100k
Kosciusko, MS : home $115,900, crime 1,803/100k
Milltown, NJ : home $423,000, crime 1,352/100k
Midland Park, NJ : home $586,200, crime 703/100k
Robertsdale, AL : home $198,200, crime 2,912/100k
Belfast, ME : home $307,700, crime 633/100k
Topsham, ME : home $341,800, crime 999/100k
Skowhegan, ME : home $138,600, crime 3,851/100k
Gorham, ME : home $459,000, crime 420/100k
How does Rockland compare to other US cities?
Here's how Rockland stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income28% higher than other cities
Home value52% pricier than other cities
Median rent69% pricier than other cities
Safety33% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Maine and the picture shifts: Rockland ranks #58 of 73 Maine cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Rockland 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 Rockland near the bottom of Maine's cities
Among the 154 Maine cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Rockland ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Rockland only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#82 of 145
43rd percentile in Maine
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 154
0th percentile in Maine
Median Home Value
#64 of 151
58th percentile in Maine
Poverty Rate
#120 of 154
21st percentile in Maine
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#56 of 154
64th 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
28th percentile nationally for median household income · 33rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Rockland's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Rockland'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 Rockland's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$234,40048th percentilemore affordable than 48% 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
Rockland's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,357 of 15,516
More affordable than 27% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,784 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.2×, Rockland sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,357 of 15,516 and #8,784 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
$55,276Rockland, ME median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Rockland, 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 Rockland, ME.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)35.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)1.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)63.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
6,991
Median Income
$55,276
Median Home Value
$234,400
Median Age
45.8
Poverty Rate
1.3%
Labor force participation
63.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
35.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1955.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
85.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1870.0
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
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Rockland's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
6,952 residents
2021
7,039 residents
2022
7,047 residents
2023
7,069 residents
2024
7,044 residents
2025
7,142 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
70
housing units authorized
Single-Family
12
detached homes
Multifamily
58
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
10
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
14
14
0
$2.1M
2020
16
16
0
$2.4M
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
73
14
59
$12.9M
2023
52
12
40
$9.4M
2024
70
12
58
$12.1M
Permit volume increased 400% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
10.1 minutes
Drive Alone
60.9%
Carpool
10.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
9.6%
Work from Home
18.8%
Based on 3,633 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 Rockland. 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 Rockland 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 Rockland sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Rockland 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 BPS 2024, 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.