Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Penobscot’s best subject grade is an A for civic life; its weakest is a D for incomes. 32% of residents are 65 or older in Penobscot, against 22% in Maine’s towns and 18% across U.S. towns. Only 5 of Maine’s 285 towns score higher on hazard risk. Penobscot Community Forest at Wallamatogus Mountain, at 376 acres with 2.6 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Penobscot has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Penobscot beats most towns.
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Maine), ordered by how far Penobscot is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,048 in 1790, a peak of 1,557 in 1860, 1,136 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1787 and 4 maps from 1904 on.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Penobscot, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Aug 3, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Penobscot.
At 15 of 100, Penobscot’s FEMA risk score is below both the Maine town median (31 of 100) and the median of U.S. towns (44 of 100). Since 1979, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Penobscot.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Its public schools are run by the Penobscot Public Schools. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Penobscot Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–8 | Grades PK–8 | 65 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within ME on state tests
Most working residents leave Penobscot for work: only 6% work in town. 16% of Penobscot residents live below the poverty line. Since 2013, Penobscot has lost 48 jobs, to 101 in 2023.
| Penobscot | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 16% | 9% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $63,000 | $78,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 6.1% | 12% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Penobscot beats the Maine average on 11 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 5. 85% of adults had a checkup this year in Penobscot.
| Penobscot | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 85% | 81% | 79% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 33% | 36% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 32% | 33% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 18% | 17% |
| What stands out | Penobscot | ME |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 11.1% | 14.8% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.4% | 10.7% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 12.7% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Penobscot’s median age is 53.4 years. Penobscot has grown 2% since 2020, to 1,159 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 32% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 36% across Maine.
56% women, 44% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±6.8 points. Across Maine, 50.7% of residents are women.
| Penobscot | ME | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 8.5% | 9.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.5% | 8.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5.2% | 8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 4.7% | 12% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.2% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.2% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 15.8% | 15.1% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 18.8% | 13.4% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 13.2% | 8.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 2.5% | 5.2% | 10.4% |
| High school | 29% | 30.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 26.1% | 18.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 10% | 10.4% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 23.7% | 22.5% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 8.7% | 13.7% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,200, single groups can be off by several points
Penobscot has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. The July high in Penobscot is 79°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The typical Penobscot home is worth about $338,000, down 1.7% in a year, 18% below the Maine typical home.
| Penobscot | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 84% | 81% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,141 a month | $1,106 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
| Penobscot | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 6.4% | 4.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Penobscot Community Forest at Wallamatogus Mountain | 2.6 mi | 376 |
| 2. Tills Point Preserve | 0.3 mi | 51 |
| 3. Richard and Virginia Weinland Nature Study Area | — | 37 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Penobscot. Close and well known come first.
Big draw17 mi National ParkAcadia National Park4.1M visitors a year
8 mi LandmarkFort Knox
25 mi MountainCadillac Mountain
26 mi LighthouseBass Harbor Head Light
33 mi MuseumFarnsworth Art Museum28 mi Ski areaCamden Snow Bowl31 runs · 836 ft verticalAcadia National Park: Plh1234us, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fort Knox: Unknown, Public domain · Cadillac Mountain: The original uploader was NightThree at English Wikipedia., CC BY 2.0 · Bass Harbor Head Light: G. Edward Johnson, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Farnsworth Art Museum: Panoramio user MementoMori, CC BY 3.0
1 within 15 miles of the center of Penobscot
About 1 of every 100 Penobscot residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Maine.
1,263 counted in 2010 and 1,136 in 2020; an estimated 1,159 in 2025.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
3 notable people were born in Penobscot.
Town in Maine, United States
Penobscot is a town in Hancock County, Maine, United States. The Bagaduce River flows through the town. The population was 1,136 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
That is 4.6 years of the area's median household income ($72,744 across the county). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.
3 notable people were born here, including George W. Emery and Benjamin Ferguson.
