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Mount Desert, ME

This is a small community in a single neighborhood. As throughout the site, some neighborhood-level data are reserved for subscribers.





Overview


Mount Desert is a very small coastal town (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Maine. With a population of 2,190 people and just one neighborhood, Mount Desert is the 207th largest community in Maine. Much of the housing stock in Mount Desert was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic towns in the country.

Mount Desert home prices are not only among the most expensive in Maine, but Mount Desert real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.

Occupations and Workforce

Mount Desert is neither predominantly blue-collar nor white-collar, instead having a mixed workforce of both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Overall, Mount Desert is a town of professionals, sales and office workers, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Mount Desert who work in teaching (13.75%), sales jobs (12.52%), and food service (8.85%).

And if you like science, one thing you'll find is that Mount Desert has lots of scientists living in town - whether they be life scientists, physical scientists (like astronomers), or social scientists (like geographers!). So, if you're scientific-minded, you might like it here too.

A relatively large number of people in Mount Desert telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 17.30% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

Setting & Lifestyle

Another notable thing is that Mount Desert is an extremely popular destination for tourists and seasonal residents. So much of the population is seasonal such that the town’s population swells significantly during the vacation season, and drops again when the season ends. Because of this, much of the local economy is centered around tourism; some businesses may be operated only during the high season. During the low season, year-round residents will notice that the city is a substantially quieter place to live.

Because of many things, Mount Desert is a great place for families with children to consider. First of all, many other families with children live here, making Mount Desert a place where both parents and children are more likely to develop social ties with other families, as well as find family-oriented services and community. The town’s good public school district and large population of college-educated adults provide an environment conducive to academic values. With regard to real estate, Mount Desert has a high rate of owner-occupied single family homes, which tends to reflect stability in the local community. Finally, Mount Desert’s overall crime rate ranks among the lowest in the country, making it one of the safest places to raise a family.

It is a fairly quiet town because there are relatively few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. (Children, for example, often can't help themselves from being noisy, and being parents ourselves, we know!) Mount Desert has relatively few families with children living at home, and is quieter because of it. Renters and college students, for their own reasons, can also be noisy. Mount Desert has few renters and college students. But the biggest reason it is quieter in Mount Desert than in most places in America, is that there are just simply fewer people living here. If you think trees make good neighbors, Mount Desert may be for you.

Mount Desert is also nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery.

Demographics

Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Mount Desert, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Mount Desert is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 58.94% of its adults having a college degree or even advanced degree, compared to a national average across all communities of 21.84%.

The per capita income in Mount Desert in 2022 was $59,657, which is wealthy relative to Maine and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $238,628 for a family of four. However, Mount Desert contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

The people who call Mount Desert home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Mount Desert residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Mount Desert include English, Irish, German, French, and Jamaican.

The most common language spoken in Mount Desert is English. Other important languages spoken here include Russian and German/Yiddish.

Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics

The way a neighborhood looks and feels when you walk or drive around it, from its setting, its buildings, and its flavor, can make all the difference. This neighborhood has some really cool things about the way it looks and feels as revealed by NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research. This might include anything from the housing stock to the types of households living here to how people get around.

Real Estate

is a neighborhood that is on the ocean, a bay, or inlet. Many times, such places have amenities that bring locals and visitors to the waterfront for recreational activities or to check out the scenery. In some densely populated areas that are less financially well-off, the neighborhood waterfront can be relatively industrial and less open to recreation. In addition to being coastal, is a very nautical neighborhood, meaning that it is somewhat historic, walkable, densely populated and on the water. This gives the neighborhood a very nautical feel, with some seaside and shipping feel, which some may really enjoy the sights and sounds of. One of the notable things about is that it is one of the quietest neighborhoods in America, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis and quantitative rating of quietness. When you are here, you will find it to be very quiet. If quiet and peaceful are your cup of tea, you may have found a great place for you.

In addition, despite all of the residential real estate here in the neighborhood, NeighborhoodScout has discovered that much of it is vacant. In resort or second-home vacation areas, this naturally occurs because homes and apartments are seasonally occupied, and empty for a portion of the year. In non-vacation or resort areas, however, this can be an indicator of property abandonment or a weak real estate market. The vacancy rate here is 63.2%, which is higher than 99.5% of all U.S. neighborhoods.

People

Of note is NeighborhoodScout's research finding that the neighborhood has some of the lowest rates of children living in poverty of any neighborhood in the United States. In a nation where approximately 1 in 4 children are living in poverty, the community truly stands out from the rest in this regard.

In addition, if you are planning to retire in Maine, this neighborhood should be on your must-see list. For many reasons, may be considered a retiree's dream neighborhood. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis and metrics, it's peaceful and quiet, has above average safety from crime compared to other neighborhoods in Maine, while also offering a diverse range of housing options. This, along with the vibrant mix of very educated seniors and other age groups who choose to live here, makes the neighborhood more retiree-friendly than 97.3% of neighborhoods in ME. If a Maine retirement is in your future, this neighborhood should be one of the places you visit. In addition to being an excellent choice for active retirees, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for highly educated executives, families with school-aged children and urban sophisticates.

Diversity

Did you know that the neighborhood has more English and Jamaican ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 39.7% of this neighborhood's residents have English ancestry and 4.1% have Jamaican ancestry.

The Neighbors

There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a neighborhood.

The neighbors in the neighborhood in Mount Desert are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 67.5% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 0.0% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 100.0% of America's neighborhoods.

What we choose to do for a living reflects who we are. Each neighborhood has a different mix of occupations represented, and together these tell you about the neighborhood and help you understand if this neighborhood may fit your lifestyle.

In the neighborhood, 45.1% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 26.5% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (17.3%), and 7.7% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.

Languages

The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 95.4% of households.

Ethnicity / Ancestry

Boston's Beacon Hill blue-blood streets, Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish enclaves, Los Angeles' Persian neighborhoods. Each has its own culture derived primarily from the ancestries and culture of the residents who call these neighborhoods home. Likewise, each neighborhood in America has its own culture – some more unique than others – based on lifestyle, occupations, the types of households – and importantly – on the ethnicities and ancestries of the people who live in the neighborhood. Understanding where people came from, who their grandparents or great-grandparents were, can help you understand how a neighborhood is today.

In the neighborhood in Mount Desert, ME, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as English (39.7%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (18.9%), and residents who report German roots (13.0%), and some of the residents are also of French ancestry (4.5%), along with some Jamaican ancestry residents (4.1%), among others.

Getting to Work

Even if your neighborhood is walkable, you may still have to drive to your place of work. Some neighborhoods are located where many can get to work in just a few minutes, while others are located such that most residents have a long and arduous commute. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (46.8% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.

Here most residents (67.0%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (8.3%) and 5.9% of residents also hop out the door and walk to work for their daily commute. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.


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Economics & Demographics include:
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Migration & Mobility
Race & Ethnic Diversity
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Crime includes:
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Schools include:
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