Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 8,694, settled in 1843.
Presque Isle grades D overall, 125th of 142 graded towns in Maine, mostly because of health and incomes. Residents are less healthy than 76% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. The median household income is $56K, and 16% of residents live below the poverty line. What it does well: natural-hazard risk is low. 56% of working residents work locally in Presque Isle, against 12% in Maine’s towns and 8% across U.S. towns. Only 6 of Maine’s 92 towns score lower on safety. Presque Isle is home to University of Maine at Presque Isle.
Where Presque Isle beats most towns.
2 colleges in town.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Maine), ordered by how far Presque Isle is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 723 in 1860, a peak of 12,886 in 1960, 8,797 in 2020. The archive holds 11 old photos and papers going back to 1887 and 4 maps from 1935 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Presque Isle, 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 Presque Isle.
Presque Isle draws workers from Caribou and beyond and gets more snow than nearly all U.S. towns, but it reports violent crime at about twice the Maine rate.
6,504 jobs are based in Presque Isle, 1.7 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 14.4 minutes, against 24.6 across Maine.
The average trip to work in Presque Isle is 14 minutes. The top destinations are Caribou (7%), Bangor (4%) and Easton (3%).
| Presque Isle | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 14 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $56,000 | $78,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by RSU 79/MSAD 01. Two of its 6 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Presque Isle High School, with 474 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Presque Isle Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 354 | B+ |
| Presque Isle High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 474 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within ME on state tests and graduation
The typical Presque Isle home is worth about $175,000, up 1.3% in a year, 58% below the Maine typical home. Presque Isle’s median rent is $904 a month. Only 9 of the 143 Maine towns we compare have a lower share of households owning their home than Presque Isle.
| Presque Isle | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 58% | 81% | 73% |
| Median rent | $904 a month | $1,108 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
71 miles of trail in 8 parks and preserves. Aroostook State Park, at 912 acres with 2.6 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Presque Isle | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.9 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2.4% | 4.8% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Aroostook State Park | 2.6 mi | 912 |
| 2. Arnold Brook Lake Recreation Area | 1.3 mi | 140 |
| 3. Mantle Lake Park | 0.8 mi | 25 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Against the 7,665 U.S. towns with household incomes like Presque Isle’s, it is less healthy than 57%, so its C− isn’t only a matter of income.
30% of adults get no exercise outside work in Presque Isle. Presque Isle beats the Maine average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 10. 40% of adults have high blood pressure in Presque Isle.
| Presque Isle | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 23% | 25% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 35% | 35% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 15% | 16% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 33% | 35% |
| What stands out | Presque Isle | ME |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 19.5% | 14.8% |
| More adults who get no exercise | 29.8% | 23.1% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 13% | 10.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Violent crime runs at 2.3 per 1,000 residents, about twice the Maine rate; the Safety Grade counts each violent crime four times, so this weighs most on its C. At 31.2 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 92% of Maine’s graded towns.
Among 79 Maine towns, just 6 have a higher violent crime rate than Presque Isle.
| Presque Isle | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 15.7 per 1,000 residents | 7.4 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.3 per 1,000 residents | 0.5 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 76% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 7 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Presque Isle.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The Presque Isle weather station records that 98 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 97% of U.S. towns. July afternoons average 77.3°, cooler than in 96% of U.S. towns; January nights average 1.8°.
Only 2 of the 143 Maine towns we compare have a lower January low than Presque Isle. Presque Isle has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers.
| Presque Isle | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 2°F | 10°F | 22°F |
| July high | 77°F | 79°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
2 within 15 miles of the center of Presque Isle
About 7 of every 100 Presque Isle residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Maine.
Where Presque Isle’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
13 notable people were born in Presque Isle.
City in Maine, United States
Presque Isle ( PRESK) is the commercial center and largest city in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 8,797 at the 2020 Census. The city is home to the University of Maine at Presque Isle, Northern Maine Community College, Northern Maine Fairgrounds, the Aroostook Centre Mall, and the Presque Isle International Airport. Presque Isle is the headquarters of the Mi'kmaq Nation, a federally recognized tribe. It is located less than 20 miles from the Canadian border.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Presque Isle.
| Town | ME rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Presque Isle | #125 | D | C+ | C | B− | C− |
| Fort Fairfield | #127 | D | B− | B+ | C− | C− |
| Easton | — | — | A | — | B+ | C− |
| Caribou | #83 | C+ | A− | — | C+ | C |
| Westfield | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Easton has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Easton and Caribou report no FBI crime data of their own. Westfield isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Presque Isle with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Presque Isle grades D overall, better than 12% of U.S. towns and #125 of 142 in Maine. It grades C− for health, C for safety and B− for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a C−.
That is 3.1 years of the area's median household income ($56,700 across the county).
13 notable people were born here, including John Crowley and Lynn Flewelling.