Bar Harbor vs Southwest Harbor

A side-by-side comparison of Bar Harbor and Southwest Harbor: population, income, housing, and more.

Bar Harbor and Southwest Harbor are places in Maine. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Bar Harbor has the higher population (2,311 vs 563 in Southwest Harbor). Bar Harbor has the higher median household income ($72,750 vs $31,518 in Southwest Harbor). Bar Harbor has the higher median home value ($479,600 vs $407,700 in Southwest Harbor).

Population, income & housing

	Bar Harbor	Southwest Harbor
Population	2,311	563
Median age	47.0 yrs	58.1 yrs
Median household income	$72,750	$31,518
Median home value	$479,600	$407,700
Median gross rent	$1,084	$903
Housing units	1,518	644
Homeownership rate	50.2%	26.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	51.5%	27.9%
Unemployment rate	11.2%	21.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bar Harbor	Southwest Harbor
Population	2,292 → 2,311 (+0.8%)	647 → 563 (-13.0%)
Median household income	$56,897 → $72,750 (+27.9%)	$41,646 → $31,518 (-24.3%)
Median home value	$327,400 → $479,600 (+46.5%)	$327,500 → $407,700 (+24.5%)
Median gross rent	$829 → $1,084 (+30.8%)	$413 → $903 (+118.6%)

Bar Harbor

Population

2,2922,311

Median household income

$56,897$72,750

Median home value

$327,400$479,600

Median gross rent

$829$1,084

Southwest Harbor

Population

647563

Median household income

$41,646$31,518

Median home value

$327,500$407,700

Median gross rent

$413$903

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bar Harbor	Southwest Harbor
Under 5	1.4%	4.8%
5 to 17	10.4%	13.9%
18 to 24	17.5%	1.2%
25 to 34	11.6%	13.5%
35 to 44	6.0%	8.2%
45 to 54	12.1%	6.6%
55 to 64	16.9%	11.4%
65 to 74	11.6%	17.2%
75 and over	12.4%	23.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bar Harbor	Southwest Harbor
White (non-Hispanic)	88.0%	97.0%
Black or African American	5.8%	2.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	2.9%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.4%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.8%	0.7%
Hispanic or Latino	1.1%	0.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bar Harbor	Southwest Harbor
No high school diploma	4.2%	1.6%
High school graduate	21.9%	29.5%
Some college or associate's	22.5%	41.0%
Bachelor's degree	34.3%	19.1%
Graduate or professional degree	17.2%	8.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bar Harbor	Southwest Harbor
Drove alone	56.8%	84.3%
Carpooled	9.6%	0.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	20.3%	7.5%
Bicycle	2.9%	4.5%
Worked from home	7.5%	3.7%
Other means	3.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bar Harbor	Southwest Harbor
1-unit, detached	50.7%	54.0%
1-unit, attached	8.3%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	29.1%	16.8%
5 to 19 units	7.2%	14.3%
20 or more units	4.7%	14.9%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Bar Harbor	Southwest Harbor
Poverty rate	15.1%	12.8%
Average household size	2.05	1.69
Mean commute (minutes)	12	9
Median year structure built	1954	1972