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Place dossier plate
SheetME-VAN-BUREN-ME · Van Buren, ME 1,614 pop · income 5th 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 Van Buren
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Van Buren on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Perry · lowest
35,179
Perry · lowest
35,179 median HH income
42.8% of the leader · rank #1
Dushore · near
35,192
Dushore · near
35,192 median HH income
42.8% of the leader · rank #2
Van Buren · this city
35,200
Van Buren · this city
35,200 median HH income
42.8% of the leader · rank #3
Mount Vernon · near
35,202
Mount Vernon · near
35,202 median HH income
42.8% of the leader · rank #4
Ruby · near
35,208
Ruby · near
35,208 median HH income
42.8% of the leader · rank #5
Fisher · near
35,208
Fisher · near
35,208 median HH income
42.8% of the leader · rank #6
Chatham · highest
82,269
Chatham · highest
82,269 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 Van Buren 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: 1,614.
Nationally, Van Buren sits in the 5th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
5th
percentile, household income
6th
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: Van Buren, ME
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 1,614 residents in Van Buren, a small town within Maine. Households in Van Buren report a median income of $35,200 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 12.3%. Van Buren's housing stock carries a median value of $90,200, and the median resident age is 57.1 years. Educational attainment runs 9.3% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 40.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 38.4°F with 41.5 inches of precipitation per year and 96.7 inches of snowfall.
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 15.1 minutes, with 78.1% driving alone and 10.1% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. 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 Van Buren'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 schools and households to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to climate and hazard context; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Van Buren, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Van Buren?
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 2.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 12.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What does the education layer cover for Van Buren?
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. 9.3% 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 Van Buren?
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 Fort Fairfield (1,632 residents, $46,654 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 Crainville, IL (1,614 residents); Wilson-Conococheague, MD (1,614 residents); Chatham, MA (1,614 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Van Buren?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 78.1%. The reported mean trip to work is 15.1 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. 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.
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.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Van Buren?
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 38.4°F, with 41.5 inches of precipitation and 96.7 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Maine is 56.7 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
56.7
Annual precipitation
41.5 in
Mean temperature
38.4°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 12.3% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Maine average
F
City profile score · Van Buren, ME
22/100
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.
Poverty rate F
12.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
9.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$35,200
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Van Buren profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Poverty rate: 31/100 (F) · 12.3%
Bachelor's+ share: 5/100 (F) · 9.3%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $35,200
How does Van Buren compare to other US cities?
Where Van Buren sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income5% higher than other cities
Home value6% 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 Van Buren 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 Van Buren near the bottom of Maine's cities
Among the 154 Maine cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Van Buren ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Van Buren only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#137 of 145
6th percentile in Maine
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 154
0th percentile in Maine
Median Home Value
#137 of 151
9th percentile in Maine
Poverty Rate
#42 of 154
73rd percentile in Maine
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#142 of 154
8th 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
5th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Van Buren's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$90,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 94% 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
Van Buren's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,332 of 15,516
More affordable than 72% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,879 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.6×, Van Buren sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,332 of 15,516 and #3,879 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
$35,200Van Buren, ME median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Van Buren, 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 Van Buren, ME.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)9.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)12.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)40.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,614
Median Income
$35,200
Median Home Value
$90,200
Median Age
57.1
Poverty Rate
12.3%
Labor force participation
40.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
9.3%
Climate
Avg Temperature
38.4°F
Annual Precipitation
41.5"
Annual Snowfall
96.7"
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
15.1 minutes
Drive Alone
78.1%
Carpool
5.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
6.0%
Work from Home
10.1%
Based on 534 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 Van Buren. 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 Van Buren 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 Van Buren sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Van Buren 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.