Calais vs Machias

A side-by-side comparison of Calais and Machias: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Calais has the higher population (3,087 vs 1,395 in Machias). Calais has the higher median household income ($48,654 vs $28,047 in Machias). Machias has the higher median home value ($117,800 vs $111,800 in Calais).

Population, income & housing

	Calais	Machias
Population	3,087	1,395
Median age	43.8 yrs	45.1 yrs
Median household income	$48,654	$28,047
Median home value	$111,800	$117,800
Median gross rent	$815	$700
Housing units	1,603	728
Homeownership rate	67.8%	39.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.1%	20.4%
Unemployment rate	7.4%	4.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Calais	Machias
Population	2,993 → 3,087 (+3.1%)	1,157 → 1,395 (+20.6%)
Median household income	$32,601 → $48,654 (+49.2%)	$20,565 → $28,047 (+36.4%)
Median home value	$97,600 → $111,800 (+14.5%)	$99,100 → $117,800 (+18.9%)
Median gross rent	$582 → $815 (+40.0%)	$342 → $700 (+104.7%)

Calais

Population

2,9933,087

Median household income

$32,601$48,654

Median home value

$97,600$111,800

Median gross rent

$582$815

Machias

Population

1,1571,395

Median household income

$20,565$28,047

Median home value

$99,100$117,800

Median gross rent

$342$700

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Calais	Machias
Under 5	8.2%	2.2%
5 to 17	7.9%	9.4%
18 to 24	10.4%	15.3%
25 to 34	12.7%	9.0%
35 to 44	12.1%	13.8%
45 to 54	10.1%	9.4%
55 to 64	13.5%	17.4%
65 to 74	12.8%	9.6%
75 and over	12.3%	13.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Calais	Machias
White (non-Hispanic)	94.1%	90.5%
Black or African American	2.9%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.8%	0.6%
Asian	0.3%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.6%	6.2%
Hispanic or Latino	1.2%	2.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Calais	Machias
No high school diploma	12.8%	15.5%
High school graduate	25.6%	36.5%
Some college or associate's	35.6%	27.6%
Bachelor's degree	15.6%	12.7%
Graduate or professional degree	10.4%	7.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Calais	Machias
Drove alone	85.6%	73.9%
Carpooled	7.5%	3.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.7%	7.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.2%	13.8%
Other means	1.9%	1.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Calais	Machias
1-unit, detached	67.3%	47.0%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	18.7%	23.5%
5 to 19 units	3.6%	18.0%
20 or more units	0.9%	8.2%
Mobile home & other	8.9%	3.3%

Poverty & households

	Calais	Machias
Poverty rate	22.2%	33.8%
Average household size	2.00	1.78
Mean commute (minutes)	13	12
Median year structure built	1956	1952