Fort Fairfield vs Houlton

A side-by-side comparison of Fort Fairfield and Houlton: population, income, housing, and more.

Fort Fairfield and Houlton are places in Maine. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Houlton has the higher population (4,958 vs 1,632 in Fort Fairfield). Houlton has the higher median household income ($52,227 vs $46,654 in Fort Fairfield). Fort Fairfield has the higher median home value ($145,800 vs $121,700 in Houlton).

Population, income & housing

	Fort Fairfield	Houlton
Population	1,632	4,958
Median age	47.6 yrs	44.5 yrs
Median household income	$46,654	$52,227
Median home value	$145,800	$121,700
Median gross rent	$460	$719
Housing units	764	2,301
Homeownership rate	81.7%	61.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.2%	25.4%
Unemployment rate	11.0%	17.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fort Fairfield	Houlton
Population	1,808 → 1,632 (-9.7%)	4,603 → 4,958 (+7.7%)
Median household income	$38,291 → $46,654 (+21.8%)	$33,936 → $52,227 (+53.9%)
Median home value	$92,100 → $145,800 (+58.3%)	$91,100 → $121,700 (+33.6%)
Median gross rent	$334 → $460 (+37.7%)	$532 → $719 (+35.2%)

Fort Fairfield

Population

1,8081,632

Median household income

$38,291$46,654

Median home value

$92,100$145,800

Median gross rent

$334$460

Houlton

Population

4,6034,958

Median household income

$33,936$52,227

Median home value

$91,100$121,700

Median gross rent

$532$719

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fort Fairfield	Houlton
Under 5	4.0%	2.9%
5 to 17	15.5%	16.8%
18 to 24	6.4%	11.9%
25 to 34	7.1%	7.6%
35 to 44	12.1%	11.9%
45 to 54	15.7%	17.2%
55 to 64	17.1%	6.2%
65 to 74	11.4%	14.0%
75 and over	10.6%	11.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fort Fairfield	Houlton
White (non-Hispanic)	97.1%	93.8%
Black or African American	0.0%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	1.1%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.7%	1.1%
Hispanic or Latino	1.2%	2.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fort Fairfield	Houlton
No high school diploma	2.2%	11.4%
High school graduate	46.1%	36.4%
Some college or associate's	28.5%	26.7%
Bachelor's degree	18.0%	17.6%
Graduate or professional degree	5.2%	7.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fort Fairfield	Houlton
Drove alone	79.3%	79.6%
Carpooled	15.6%	14.7%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.1%	5.0%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fort Fairfield	Houlton
1-unit, detached	84.6%	66.8%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	7.2%	17.6%
5 to 19 units	2.9%	8.0%
20 or more units	5.4%	7.3%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.3%

Poverty & households

	Fort Fairfield	Houlton
Poverty rate	7.6%	20.8%
Average household size	2.25	2.19
Mean commute (minutes)	20	14
Median year structure built	1960	1954