Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Households in Presque Isle earn less than those in 80% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 7% of workers (Maine 16%). Poverty touches 15.5% of residents (Maine 10.7%). Presque Isle grades C− for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Presque Isle stands out on work
Commutes from Presque Isle are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 25 across Maine. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical Maine worker. Time on the road ↓
Presque Isle is where the jobs are
Presque Isle has 6,504 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Where Presque Isle’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Presque Isle is better than 24% of U.S. towns, #122 of 143 in Maine. Unemployment holds Presque Isle’s grade up (3.6%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($55,768, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Presque Isle could be anywhere from D to C+.
The daily trip from Presque Isle: about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Presque Isle workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,922 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across Maine: 84% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Presque Isle by day and by night
On a workday 1,664 residents head out to work, 2,148 work right here, and 4,356 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Presque Isle on a workday afternoon, 31% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where the people who work in Presque Isle live
Where Presque Isle clocks in
7% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
The kinds of work in Presque Isle
6,504 jobs are based in Presque Isle.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Presque Isle, 2013 → 2023: 6,732 → 6,504. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Presque Isle’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Presque Isle’s commute, mile by mile
About 21% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Getting around Presque Isle: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Presque Isle is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns, #46 of 143 in Maine. Both inputs place Presque Isle near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,202 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 9.9% of Presque Isle households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Presque Isle’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 2,893 U.S. towns of 6,100 to 11,700, Presque Isle comes 2,390th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 3 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 95 | Cumberland ME | 8,876 | $174K | 3.1% | 0.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 314 | Cape Elizabeth ME | 9,827 | $146K | 5.2% | 2.5% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 370 | Buxton ME | 8,681 | $100K | 2.3% | 1.4% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,388 | Sun Village CA | 11,036 | $72K | 15.5% | 6.1% | 2% | C− |
| 2,389 | Sugar Creek Township IN | 7,177 | $56K | 14.5% | 5.5% | 6% | C− |
| 2,390 | Presque Isle ME | 8,694 | $56K | 15.5% | 3.6% | 56% | C− |
| 2,391 | Wagoner OK | 8,405 | $58K | 16.1% | 6.1% | 21% | C− |
| 2,392 | Scottsburg IN | 7,478 | $39K | 23.4% | 4.2% | 22% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,893 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Presque Isle, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
12% of Presque Isle works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Presque Isle workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Presque Isle | – | C− | B | 14 min | $55,768 |
| Fort Fairfield | 2% | C− | D | 17 min | $70,852 |
| Easton | 3% | D | C− | 20 min | $53,309 |
| Caribou | 7% | C− | B+ | 15 min | $53,709 |
| Westfield | under 2% | — | — | 19 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Westfield: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Caribou. Darker towns draw more of Presque Isle’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Presque Isle: questions
What is the median household income in Presque Isle?
$55,768 (±$5,958) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Presque Isle?
15.5%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Presque Isle?
14 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Presque Isle work?
56% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Caribou (7%, 11 mi), Bangor (4%, 134 mi), Easton (3%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Presque Isle walkable?
Presque Isle is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Presque Isle without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Presque Isle, from the people who make the trip.
More of Presque Isle
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.