Penobscot County, ME

38% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 56% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 12.1 students for every full-time teacher across 63 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

47.5% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Maine’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

Population has grown 3% since 2020, reaching 156,840 in 2024.

Population is still rising but the pace is easing: 156,840 residents in 2024, up 0.3% over the year, a smaller gain than the year before.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 477 units permitted over the past twelve months, only 18% are in buildings of five or more homes.

Federal tax returns show Penobscot County gained about 0.4% of its residents through moves within the US in the most recent year, counting those who arrived against those who left. Households that moved in reported an average income of $53,860, close to the $55,108 of households that moved out.

At 3.1 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US counties.

People moving in and out

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, hurricane and winter weather, with inland flooding alone responsible for 58% of it. Inland flooding is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

Overall hazard risk is lower than 86% of measured US counties.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). These are FEMA’s own figures for this county rather than a value derived from surrounding geographies. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Penobscot County has a modeled homicide rate of about 1.7 per 100,000 residents a year, because the CDC suppresses counts this small, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 13.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 33.5 per 100,000 residents in Penobscot County.

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe Penobscot County as a whole. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest Bangor Intl at 42 miles.

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

Only ZIP areas whose income or home value differ from their city’s by at least ten percent get a profile of their own, so this is a selection rather than every ZIP code in the county.