Blue Hill vs Southwest Harbor

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

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

Blue Hill has the higher population (1,066 vs 563 in Southwest Harbor). Southwest Harbor has the higher median home value ($407,700 vs $343,000 in Blue Hill). Since 2019, Blue Hill's population has grown faster (+18.3% vs -13.0%).

Population, income & housing

	Blue Hill	Southwest Harbor
Population	1,066	563
Median age	52.5 yrs	58.1 yrs
Median household income	—	$31,518
Median home value	$343,000	$407,700
Median gross rent	—	$903
Housing units	877	644
Homeownership rate	54.4%	26.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	50.2%	27.9%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	21.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Blue Hill	Southwest Harbor
Population	901 → 1,066 (+18.3%)	647 → 563 (-13.0%)
Median household income	$68,523 → $46,589 (-32.0%)	$41,646 → $31,518 (-24.3%)
Median home value	$285,600 → $343,000 (+20.1%)	$327,500 → $407,700 (+24.5%)
Median gross rent	$752 → $827 (+10.0%)	$413 → $903 (+118.6%)

Blue Hill

Population

9011,066

Median household income

$68,523$46,589

Median home value

$285,600$343,000

Median gross rent

$752$827

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)

	Blue Hill	Southwest Harbor
Under 5	3.0%	4.8%
5 to 17	17.6%	13.9%
18 to 24	6.3%	1.2%
25 to 34	4.1%	13.5%
35 to 44	0.4%	8.2%
45 to 54	24.0%	6.6%
55 to 64	18.5%	11.4%
65 to 74	5.0%	17.2%
75 and over	21.1%	23.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Blue Hill	Southwest Harbor
White (non-Hispanic)	97.3%	97.0%
Black or African American	0.0%	2.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.0%	0.7%
Hispanic or Latino	2.7%	0.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Blue Hill	Southwest Harbor
No high school diploma	20.9%	1.6%
High school graduate	23.7%	29.5%
Some college or associate's	5.1%	41.0%
Bachelor's degree	10.8%	19.1%
Graduate or professional degree	39.4%	8.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Blue Hill	Southwest Harbor
Drove alone	62.3%	84.3%
Carpooled	17.8%	0.0%
Public transit	4.7%	0.0%
Walked	15.2%	7.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	4.5%
Worked from home	0.0%	3.7%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Blue Hill	Southwest Harbor
1-unit, detached	56.0%	54.0%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	30.4%	16.8%
5 to 19 units	13.6%	14.3%
20 or more units	0.0%	14.9%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Blue Hill	Southwest Harbor
Poverty rate	13.2%	12.8%
Average household size	1.82	1.69
Mean commute (minutes)	21	9
Median year structure built	1971	1972