Caribou, Maine.
Typical home $168,008 (+1.2% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$501 (+131%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $1,985 +1%
- $166,023$168,008 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $39,640 +31%
- $128,368$168,008 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.
- Caribou$882
- 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 Caribou, ME rose 1.2% over the past year — in step with the nation.
Living in Caribou, Aroostook County, Maine
Caribou is a city of 7,396 people in Aroostook County. Half its households earn more than $53,709 a year and half less, against $56,700 across Aroostook County; 16% of its people live below the poverty line. 72% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 28% are rented. Unemployment in Caribou was 3.3% in August 2026, and Aroostook County had 1.3% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then shops.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Caribou is a small city in the northern part of Aroostook County, Maine, and its residents tend to be older than in most of the country. Household incomes run a little below the county's, and most homes are lived in by their owners. Winters are long and cold, with heavy snow, and summers are mild and short.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, and in professional and business services, with government close behind. Cary Medical Center, RSU 39 Schools and Caribou Healthcare Center are among the largest workplaces in town. Commutes are short, and the number of jobs across the county has slipped slightly over the past year.
Things to do. The Little Madawaska River runs in or beside town, and Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge, a protected area, is a short drive away. The Loring Military Heritage Center, a museum, is also a short drive away. For a longer outing, Aroostook State Park is a longer drive away.
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- 3,542households
- 29%of adults have a degree
- 16%below the poverty line
- 15 mintypical commute
- 12%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Aroostook County had 25,657 jobs in 2025, 1.3% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 21° and lows near 3°; warmest in July, with highs near 77° and lows near 56°. About 118 inches of snow and 41 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Caribou Municipal Airport weather station, 4 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Caribou
- Cary Medical CenterGeneral hospital352FTE
- RSU 39 SchoolsSchool district221FTE
- Caribou Healthcare CenterSkilled nursing facilities147
- Emerald Valley RanchesBroccoli farming, field, bedding plant and seed production144
- HannafordGrocery stores113
- Soderberg CompanyHighway construction63
- Porvair Filtration Group - CaribouPowder metallurgy products manufactured on a job or order basis27
- S.W.Collins CoHardware stores27
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 9 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 588 people in all. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. 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
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Caribou’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 Aroostook County.
Caribou home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Caribou$168,008
- 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 4 Caribou 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.
- Caribou25.53%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Caribou53
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Caribou15
Zip codes with a Caribou address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Caribou — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.