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Acton, ME

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





Overview


Acton is a very small town located in the state of Maine. With a population of 2,715 people and just one neighborhood, Acton is the 175th largest community in Maine.

Occupations and Workforce

Unlike some towns where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Acton is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Acton is a town of professionals, managers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Acton who work in office and administrative support (14.18%), management occupations (12.84%), and business and financial occupations (6.88%).

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

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

A relatively large number of people in Acton telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 18.77% 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 Acton is a major vacation destination. Much of the town’s population is seasonal: many people own second homes and only live there part-time, during the vacation season. The effect on the local economy is that many of the businesses are dependent on tourist dollars, and may operate only during the high season. As the vacation season ends, Acton’s population drops significantly, such that year-round residents will notice that the city is a much quieter place to live.

Because of many things, Acton is a great place for families with children to consider. First of all, many other families with children live here, making Acton 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, Acton has a high rate of owner-occupied single family homes, which tends to reflect stability in the local community. Finally, Acton’s overall crime rate is lower than average for the country.

Residents will find that the town is relatively quiet. This is because it is not over-populated, and it has fewer college students, renters, and young children - all of whom can be noisy at times. So, if you're looking for a relatively peaceful place to live, Acton is worth considering.

One downside of living in Acton, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 37.38 minutes every day commuting to work.

Demographics

The percentage of people in Acton who are college-educated is somewhat higher than the average US community of 21.84%: 28.79% of adults in Acton have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Acton in 2022 was $38,087, which is upper middle income relative to Maine and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $152,348 for a family of four. However, Acton contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

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

The most common language spoken in Acton is English. Other important languages spoken here include French 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.

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're looking for a great spot to raise a family, then look no further than the neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's analysis found that the combination of good quality public schools, above-average safety from crime, and a high rate of home ownership in predominantly single-family homes, help make this neighborhood among the top 11.8% of family-friendly neighborhoods across the state of Maine. In addition, there are a high proportion of other families with school-aged children living here, making it easy for parents and their children to socialize and develop a sense of community support. In addition, families here highly value education, as is reflected by the strength of the local schools, in part due to the educational attainment of the parents here, who vote in support of the public schools.

Real Estate

Real estate in the neighborhood is almost exclusively owner-occupied. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher rate of owner-occupied housing than is found in 96.4% of U.S. neighborhoods. If you are seeking to rent, this neighborhood may not have many options, but high rates of ownership often indicate stability in a neighborhood. Vacant homes and apartments are a significant characteristic of this neighborhood. In fact, with 50.1% of the residential real estate vacant, the neighborhood claims the distinction of having a higher vacancy rate than 98.7% of the neighborhoods in America. This can either be because much of the property is seasonally occupied, like in many vacation areas, or that much of the real estate is more permanently abandoned.

In addition, 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.

Diversity

Did you know that the neighborhood has more Canadian and French ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 2.8% of this neighborhood's residents have Canadian ancestry and 15.3% have French 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 Acton are middle-income, making it a moderate income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 55.1% 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, 42.2% 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 28.3% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (15.1%), and 14.1% in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants.

Languages

The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 97.8% of households.

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 Acton, ME, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as French (15.3%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (13.8%), and residents who report Irish roots (11.7%), and some of the residents are also of German ancestry (8.4%), along with some French Canadian ancestry residents (7.4%), 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 between 45 minutes and one hour commuting one-way to work (30.0% of working residents), longer and tougher than most commutes in America.

Here most residents (77.4%) 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 (5.3%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.


Real Estate includes:
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Economics & Demographics include:
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Commute To Work
Migration & Mobility
Race & Ethnic Diversity
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Crime includes:
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Schools include:
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