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Durham, ME

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





Overview


Durham is a very small town located in the state of Maine. With a population of 4,253 people and just one neighborhood, Durham is the 101st largest community in Maine.

Occupations and Workforce

Unlike some towns where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Durham is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Durham is a town of sales and office workers, professionals, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Durham who work in management occupations (16.55%), sales jobs (12.48%), and office and administrative support (12.01%).

Also of interest is that Durham has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

Of important note, Durham is also a town of artists. Durham has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Durham’s character.

A relatively large number of people in Durham telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 14.90% 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

Because of many things, Durham is a very good place for families to consider. With an enviable combination of good schools, low crime, college-educated neighbors who tend to support education because of their own experiences, and a high rate of home ownership in predominantly single-family properties, Durham really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Durham perfect? Of course not, and if you like frenetic nightlife, it will be far from your cup of tea. But overall this is a solid community, with many things to recommend it as a family-friendly place to live.

As is often the case in a small town, Durham doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.

Demographics

The citizens of Durham are very well educated compared to the average community in the nation: 36.40% of adults in Durham have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.

The per capita income in Durham in 2022 was $40,610, which is upper middle income relative to Maine and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $162,440 for a family of four.

The people who call Durham home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Durham residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Durham include English, French, Irish, German, and Scottish.

The most common language spoken in Durham is English. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and Polish.

Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics

Many things matter about a neighborhood, but the first thing most people notice is the way a neighborhood looks and its particular character. For example, one might notice whether the buildings all date from a certain time period or whether shop signs are in multiple languages. This particular neighborhood in Durham, the neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.

People

According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis, is among the best neighborhoods for families in Maine. In fact, this neighborhood is more family-friendly than 97.3% of neighborhoods in the entire state of Maine. Its combination of top public schools, low crime rates, and owner-occupied single family homes gives this area the look and feel of a "Leave It to Beaver" episode. Many other families also live here, making it easy to socialize and develop a strong sense of community. In addition, the high number of college-educated parents influences the academic success of the local schools. Overall, you will find all of the amenities a family needs to thrive in the neighborhood.

Diversity

Did you know that the neighborhood has more French and English ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 18.3% of this neighborhood's residents have French ancestry and 26.7% have English ancestry.

The Neighbors

How wealthy a neighborhood is, from very wealthy, to middle income, to low income is very formative with regard to the personality and character of a neighborhood. Equally important is the rate of people, particularly children, who live below the federal poverty line. In some wealthy gated communities, the areas immediately surrounding can have high rates of childhood poverty, which indicates other social issues. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.

The neighbors in the neighborhood in Durham are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 68.0% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 5.6% 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 62.6% of America's neighborhoods.

A neighborhood is far different if it is dominated by enlisted military personnel rather than people who earn their living by farming. It is also different if most of the neighbors are clerical support or managers. What is wonderful is the sheer diversity of neighborhoods, allowing you to find the type that fits your lifestyle and aspirations.

In the neighborhood, 42.0% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is manufacturing and laborer occupations, with 22.9% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (20.2%), and 13.6% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.

Languages

The languages spoken by people in this neighborhood are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 98.4% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and Polish.

Ethnicity / Ancestry

Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.

In the neighborhood in Durham, ME, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as English (26.7%). There are also a number of people of French ancestry (18.3%), and residents who report Irish roots (17.5%), and some of the residents are also of German ancestry (6.6%), along with some Scottish ancestry residents (5.7%), among others.

Getting to Work

How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (46.9% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.

Here most residents (81.8%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. 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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Crime includes:
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Schools include:
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