Bangor, ME
Bangor, ME Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Bangor, ME Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Bangor ranks 266th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 229th for income. A household earns $66,506 a year while median rent runs $1,015/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 3% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is job market (7th of 300), while affordability is the soft spot (266th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 50th and home prices 95th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Bangor, your take-home is worth about $59,599 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 229th of 300↑31.8%$66,506
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 174th of 30097 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $68,912
- Per-capita income
- $37,904
- Full-time pay
- $42,113
Housing
- Median rent
- 50th of 300↑25.5%$1,015/mo
- Home value
- 95th of 300↑67%$257,700
- Property tax
- $2,554/yr · 1%
- Sales tax
- 5.50%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 7th of 3002.2%
- Bachelor's+
- 210th of 30029.3%
- Avg commute
- 118th of 30023.4 min
People
- Population
- 156,840
- Population change
- +3.1%
- Median age
- 42.5 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 3.5%
- Broadband
- 88.1%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 15th of 30033
- Natural-hazard loss
- 77th of 300$10/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 184th of 30019.6%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 8.8%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Rent
- + Home prices
- + Job market
- + Air quality
- + Hazard safety
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
- – Education
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — millinocket muni ap.
What jobs pay in Bangor
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $250,350
- Pharmacists
- $145,210
- IT managers
- $136,680
- Financial managers
- $130,010
- Lawyers
- $116,240
- Software developers
- $104,140
- Registered nurses
- $93,940
- General & operations managers
- $91,110
- Civil engineers
- $85,300
- Accountants & auditors
- $75,640
- Police officers
- $71,340
- Electricians
- $63,390
- Secondary school teachers
- $61,290
- Plumbers
- $60,140
- Elementary school teachers
- $60,080
- Carpenters
- $57,100
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $56,250
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $46,960
- Waiters & waitresses
- $45,610
- Construction laborers
- $44,420
- Customer service reps
- $42,530
- Janitors
- $37,080
- Retail salespersons
- $35,560
- Cashiers
- $32,200
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Bangor metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Maine are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Massachusetts678
- New Hampshire390
- Pennsylvania358
- California348
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Bangor
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Bangor metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Bangor metro?
- Median gross rent across the Bangor, ME Metro Area is $1,015 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Bangor.
- What is the median household income in the Bangor metro?
- A typical household in the Bangor, ME Metro Area earns $66,506 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Bangor expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Bangor, ME Metro Area runs about 3% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Bangor metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $68,912 (versus its face value of $66,506). CityLedger rates the Bangor, ME Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Bangor metro?
- The median home value across the Bangor, ME Metro Area is $257,700 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Bangor metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Bangor, ME Metro Area is 2.2% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).