Gardiner vs Waterville

A side-by-side comparison of Gardiner and Waterville: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Waterville has the higher population (16,704 vs 6,047 in Gardiner). Gardiner has the higher median household income ($58,152 vs $47,489 in Waterville). Gardiner has the higher median home value ($198,100 vs $173,700 in Waterville).

Population, income & housing

	Gardiner	Waterville
Population	6,047	16,704
Median age	44.5 yrs	34.5 yrs
Median household income	$58,152	$47,489
Median home value	$198,100	$173,700
Median gross rent	$927	$957
Housing units	3,065	7,036
Homeownership rate	67.6%	45.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	29.0%	32.2%
Unemployment rate	9.6%	5.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Gardiner	Waterville
Population	5,657 → 6,047 (+6.9%)	16,577 → 16,704 (+0.8%)
Median household income	$49,627 → $58,152 (+17.2%)	$38,862 → $47,489 (+22.2%)
Median home value	$140,700 → $198,100 (+40.8%)	$125,000 → $173,700 (+39.0%)
Median gross rent	$733 → $927 (+26.5%)	$727 → $957 (+31.6%)

Gardiner

Population

5,6576,047

Median household income

$49,627$58,152

Median home value

$140,700$198,100

Median gross rent

$733$927

Waterville

Population

16,57716,704

Median household income

$38,862$47,489

Median home value

$125,000$173,700

Median gross rent

$727$957

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Gardiner	Waterville
Under 5	4.5%	4.5%
5 to 17	12.4%	13.8%
18 to 24	10.8%	22.1%
25 to 34	12.8%	10.1%
35 to 44	9.9%	12.1%
45 to 54	16.0%	6.7%
55 to 64	11.6%	13.3%
65 to 74	14.2%	10.3%
75 and over	7.9%	7.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Gardiner	Waterville
White (non-Hispanic)	90.4%	89.0%
Black or African American	1.5%	1.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.3%
Asian	0.9%	2.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.3%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.1%	4.5%
Hispanic or Latino	2.8%	2.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Gardiner	Waterville
No high school diploma	6.5%	8.7%
High school graduate	32.4%	30.1%
Some college or associate's	32.1%	29.1%
Bachelor's degree	21.0%	17.7%
Graduate or professional degree	8.1%	14.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Gardiner	Waterville
Drove alone	73.1%	67.4%
Carpooled	10.6%	4.1%
Public transit	1.3%	0.1%
Walked	3.6%	8.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	11.2%	15.7%
Other means	0.1%	4.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Gardiner	Waterville
1-unit, detached	60.3%	40.5%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	2.2%
2 to 4 units	20.5%	31.0%
5 to 19 units	11.8%	15.0%
20 or more units	1.8%	7.2%
Mobile home & other	5.0%	4.0%

Poverty & households

	Gardiner	Waterville
Poverty rate	11.3%	25.4%
Average household size	2.19	2.13
Mean commute (minutes)	28	17
Median year structure built	1945	1959