Belfast, Maine.
Typical home $395,091 (+5.6% in a year), asking rent $1,492 .
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,257 (+154%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $21,074 +6%
- $374,017$395,091 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $91,303 +30%
- $303,788$395,091 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Belfast$2,074
- Maine$2,162
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 13 years.
Typical home values in Belfast, ME rose 5.6% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Belfast, Waldo County, Maine
Belfast is a city of 6,938 people in Waldo County. Half its households earn more than $67,679 a year and half less, against $72,782 across Waldo County; 16% of its people live below the poverty line. 68% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 32% are rented. Unemployment in Belfast was 4.0% in August 2026, and Waldo County had 0.2% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in shops, then schools and health care.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Belfast is a small coastal city in Waldo County, Maine, where the Passagassawakeag River runs through town toward the bay. It is an older community, with residents who are older than in most places, and most homes are lived in by their owners. Winters are cold and snowy, and summers are warm without being hot, with a good deal of rain and melted snow over the year.
Work. Residents work mainly in shops, in schools, hospitals and social care, in professional and business services, and in restaurants, hotels and entertainment. Among the largest workplaces in Belfast are Mathews Brothers Company, which makes windows and window frames, Hannaford, the grocery chain, and Mowi USA, which makes seafood products. Incomes run a little below the county's, and a good share of adults hold a four-year degree.
Things to do. A short drive away, Moose Point State Park is a protected shoreline area, and the Penobscot Marine Museum tells the story of the region's seafaring past. Lake Passagassawakeag is also a short drive from town, and the Passagassawakeag River runs in or beside Belfast itself. For a longer outing, Fort Knox and Fort Point State Park are both a longer drive away.
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- 3,400households
- 43%of adults have a degree
- 16%below the poverty line
- 12%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Waldo County had 11,300 jobs in 2025, 0.2% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 30° and lows near 10°; warmest in July, with highs near 77° and lows near 57°. About 72 inches of snow and 49 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Belfast weather station, 3 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Belfast
- Mathews Brothers CompanyWindows and window frames, vinyl, manufacturing297
- HannafordGrocery stores218
- Mowi USASeafood and seafood products manufacturing171
- Waldo CountyPersonnel offices, government75
- Genesis HealthcareSkilled nursing facilities63
- Logix LLC Main OfficeElectrical work54
- Belfast Harbor InnHotels25
- Ocean State Job Lot ME1471All other general merchandise retailers25
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 11 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 993 people in all. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Winter weatherVery high
- Ice stormsVery high
- Coastal floodingRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- HurricanesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Belfast’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Waldo County.
Belfast home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Belfast$395,091
- Maine$412,002
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Belfast listings — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Belfast31.54%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Belfast55
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Belfast10
Zip codes with a Belfast address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Belfast — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.