Fort Fairfield vs Van Buren

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

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

Fort Fairfield has the higher population (1,632 vs 1,614 in Van Buren). Fort Fairfield has the higher median household income ($46,654 vs $35,200 in Van Buren). Fort Fairfield has the higher median home value ($145,800 vs $90,200 in Van Buren).

Population, income & housing

	Fort Fairfield	Van Buren
Population	1,632	1,614
Median age	47.6 yrs	57.1 yrs
Median household income	$46,654	$35,200
Median home value	$145,800	$90,200
Median gross rent	$460	$596
Housing units	764	1,005
Homeownership rate	81.7%	64.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.2%	9.3%
Unemployment rate	11.0%	0.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fort Fairfield	Van Buren
Population	1,808 → 1,632 (-9.7%)	1,683 → 1,614 (-4.1%)
Median household income	$38,291 → $46,654 (+21.8%)	$27,917 → $35,200 (+26.1%)
Median home value	$92,100 → $145,800 (+58.3%)	$74,400 → $90,200 (+21.2%)
Median gross rent	$334 → $460 (+37.7%)	$547 → $596 (+9.0%)

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

Van Buren

Population

1,6831,614

Median household income

$27,917$35,200

Median home value

$74,400$90,200

Median gross rent

$547$596

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fort Fairfield	Van Buren
Under 5	4.0%	5.3%
5 to 17	15.5%	12.3%
18 to 24	6.4%	5.8%
25 to 34	7.1%	6.3%
35 to 44	12.1%	4.5%
45 to 54	15.7%	12.4%
55 to 64	17.1%	17.8%
65 to 74	11.4%	16.9%
75 and over	10.6%	18.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fort Fairfield	Van Buren
White (non-Hispanic)	97.1%	96.0%
Black or African American	0.0%	1.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	0.0%	1.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.7%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	1.2%	0.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fort Fairfield	Van Buren
No high school diploma	2.2%	21.8%
High school graduate	46.1%	41.1%
Some college or associate's	28.5%	27.8%
Bachelor's degree	18.0%	3.0%
Graduate or professional degree	5.2%	6.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fort Fairfield	Van Buren
Drove alone	79.3%	78.1%
Carpooled	15.6%	5.8%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	6.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.1%	10.1%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fort Fairfield	Van Buren
1-unit, detached	84.6%	53.9%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	7.2%	31.8%
5 to 19 units	2.9%	5.8%
20 or more units	5.4%	3.3%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	4.5%

Poverty & households

	Fort Fairfield	Van Buren
Poverty rate	7.6%	24.7%
Average household size	2.25	2.07
Mean commute (minutes)	20	17
Median year structure built	1960	1957