Houlton vs Van Buren

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

Houlton and Van Buren 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 1,614 in Van Buren). Houlton has the higher median household income ($52,227 vs $35,200 in Van Buren). Houlton has the higher median home value ($121,700 vs $90,200 in Van Buren).

Population, income & housing

	Houlton	Van Buren
Population	4,958	1,614
Median age	44.5 yrs	57.1 yrs
Median household income	$52,227	$35,200
Median home value	$121,700	$90,200
Median gross rent	$719	$596
Housing units	2,301	1,005
Homeownership rate	61.5%	64.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.4%	9.3%
Unemployment rate	17.4%	0.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Houlton	Van Buren
Population	4,603 → 4,958 (+7.7%)	1,683 → 1,614 (-4.1%)
Median household income	$33,936 → $52,227 (+53.9%)	$27,917 → $35,200 (+26.1%)
Median home value	$91,100 → $121,700 (+33.6%)	$74,400 → $90,200 (+21.2%)
Median gross rent	$532 → $719 (+35.2%)	$547 → $596 (+9.0%)

Houlton

Population

4,6034,958

Median household income

$33,936$52,227

Median home value

$91,100$121,700

Median gross rent

$532$719

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)

	Houlton	Van Buren
Under 5	2.9%	5.3%
5 to 17	16.8%	12.3%
18 to 24	11.9%	5.8%
25 to 34	7.6%	6.3%
35 to 44	11.9%	4.5%
45 to 54	17.2%	12.4%
55 to 64	6.2%	17.8%
65 to 74	14.0%	16.9%
75 and over	11.4%	18.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Houlton	Van Buren
White (non-Hispanic)	93.8%	96.0%
Black or African American	1.5%	1.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.1%	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	1.1%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	2.5%	0.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Houlton	Van Buren
No high school diploma	11.4%	21.8%
High school graduate	36.4%	41.1%
Some college or associate's	26.7%	27.8%
Bachelor's degree	17.6%	3.0%
Graduate or professional degree	7.8%	6.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Houlton	Van Buren
Drove alone	79.6%	78.1%
Carpooled	14.7%	5.8%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.7%	6.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.0%	10.1%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Houlton	Van Buren
1-unit, detached	66.8%	53.9%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	17.6%	31.8%
5 to 19 units	8.0%	5.8%
20 or more units	7.3%	3.3%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	4.5%

Poverty & households

	Houlton	Van Buren
Poverty rate	20.8%	24.7%
Average household size	2.19	2.07
Mean commute (minutes)	14	17
Median year structure built	1954	1957