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Place dossier plate
SheetME-STEEP-FALLS-ME · Steep Falls, ME 1,720 pop · income 47th 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 Steep Falls
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Steep Falls on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Grapeland · lowest
36,918
Grapeland · lowest
36,918 median HH income
35.2% of the leader · rank #1
Steep Falls · this city
68,125
Steep Falls · this city
68,125 median HH income
64.9% of the leader · rank #2
Columbiana · near
68,125
Columbiana · near
68,125 median HH income
64.9% of the leader · rank #3
Redfield · near
68,125
Redfield · near
68,125 median HH income
64.9% of the leader · rank #4
Morganton · near
68,125
Morganton · near
68,125 median HH income
64.9% of the leader · rank #5
New Berlin · near
68,125
New Berlin · near
68,125 median HH income
64.9% of the leader · rank #6
Pine Bush · highest
105,000
Pine Bush · highest
105,000 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 Steep Falls 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: 1,720.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Steep Falls places in the 47th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
47th
percentile, household income
54th
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: Steep Falls, ME
Steep Falls is a small town in Maine, home to 1,720 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Steep Falls report a median income of $68,125 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 13.8%. Typical homes in Steep Falls are valued around $241,000, and the median resident age is 39.3 years. 7.4% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 52.8% 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: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Maine at 97.1 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Near Average). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,448 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Maine run around $273, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 56.7 out of 100 (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Steep Falls'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 schools and households to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Steep Falls, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, annual population history; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Steep Falls?
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. 7.4% 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 Steep Falls?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 84.3%. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Steep Falls?
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 Dixfield (1,770 residents, $56,250 income); Bridgton (1,666 residents, $58,992 income); Fryeburg (1,665 residents, $61,944 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Hawi, HI (1,720 residents); Pine Bush, NY (1,720 residents); Harvey, ND (1,720 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 Steep Falls?
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 3.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 13.8%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Below median income · poverty 13.8% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Maine average
F
City profile score · Steep Falls, ME
34/100
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.
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 D
$68,125
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
13.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
7.4%
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).
Steep Falls profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Household income: 47/100 (D) · $68,125
Poverty rate: 25/100 (F) · 13.8%
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 7.4%
How does Steep Falls compare to other US cities?
Steep Falls measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income47% higher than other cities
Home value54% 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 Steep Falls 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 Steep Falls near the bottom of Maine's cities
Among the 154 Maine cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Steep Falls ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Steep Falls only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#49 of 145
66th percentile in Maine
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 154
0th percentile in Maine
Median Home Value
#59 of 151
61st percentile in Maine
Poverty Rate
#35 of 154
77th percentile in Maine
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#143 of 154
7th 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
47th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Steep Falls's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$241,00046th percentilemore affordable than 46% 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
Steep Falls's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,130 of 15,516
More affordable than 41% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,351 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.5×, Steep Falls sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,130 of 15,516 and #7,351 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
$68,125Steep Falls, ME median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Steep Falls, 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 Steep Falls, ME.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)7.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)13.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)52.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,720
Median Income
$68,125
Median Home Value
$241,000
Median Age
39.3
Poverty Rate
13.8%
Labor force participation
52.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
7.4%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
84.3%
Carpool
9.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
6.5%
Based on 695 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 Steep Falls. 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 Steep Falls 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 Steep Falls sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Steep Falls 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.