Aroostook County vs Penobscot County

A side-by-side comparison of Aroostook County and Penobscot County: population, income, housing, and more.

Aroostook County and Penobscot County are counties in Maine. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Penobscot County has the higher population (153,571 vs 67,227 in Aroostook County). Penobscot County has the higher median household income ($63,248 vs $54,254 in Aroostook County). Penobscot County has the higher median home value ($193,800 vs $131,700 in Aroostook County).

Population, income & housing

	Aroostook County	Penobscot County
Population	67,227	153,571
Median age	48.4 yrs	42.5 yrs
Median household income	$54,254	$63,248
Median home value	$131,700	$193,800
Median gross rent	$736	$997
Housing units	38,444	75,405
Homeownership rate	74.4%	70.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.4%	30.5%
Unemployment rate	5.4%	4.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Aroostook County	Penobscot County
Population	67,809 → 67,227 (-0.9%)	151,774 → 153,571 (+1.2%)
Median household income	$41,123 → $54,254 (+31.9%)	$50,808 → $63,248 (+24.5%)
Median home value	$99,600 → $131,700 (+32.2%)	$144,700 → $193,800 (+33.9%)
Median gross rent	$574 → $736 (+28.2%)	$799 → $997 (+24.8%)

Aroostook County

Population

67,80967,227

Median household income

$41,123$54,254

Median home value

$99,600$131,700

Median gross rent

$574$736

Penobscot County

Population

151,774153,571

Median household income

$50,808$63,248

Median home value

$144,700$193,800

Median gross rent

$799$997

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Aroostook County	Penobscot County
Under 5	4.8%	4.4%
5 to 17	13.9%	13.5%
18 to 24	6.6%	10.0%
25 to 34	9.9%	12.7%
35 to 44	10.7%	12.1%
45 to 54	12.5%	12.5%
55 to 64	16.1%	15.0%
65 to 74	14.8%	12.0%
75 and over	10.6%	7.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Aroostook County	Penobscot County
White (non-Hispanic)	92.9%	91.4%
Black or African American	0.7%	1.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.3%	0.8%
Asian	0.4%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.6%
Two or more races	2.9%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	1.6%	1.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Aroostook County	Penobscot County
No high school diploma	8.8%	5.5%
High school graduate	38.8%	32.4%
Some college or associate's	30.0%	31.6%
Bachelor's degree	15.5%	18.9%
Graduate or professional degree	6.9%	11.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Aroostook County	Penobscot County
Drove alone	78.8%	75.9%
Carpooled	9.1%	7.8%
Public transit	0.0%	0.5%
Walked	2.3%	3.6%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.4%
Worked from home	8.1%	10.6%
Other means	1.6%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Aroostook County	Penobscot County
1-unit, detached	74.0%	64.4%
1-unit, attached	0.7%	1.9%
2 to 4 units	9.8%	12.6%
5 to 19 units	4.2%	6.5%
20 or more units	2.4%	3.0%
Mobile home & other	8.8%	11.6%

Poverty & households

	Aroostook County	Penobscot County
Poverty rate	14.4%	13.5%
Average household size	2.20	2.26
Mean commute (minutes)	19	23
Median year structure built	1971	1977