Crystal, Maine.
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to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,272 (+143%) since Jan 2020.
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.
- Maine$2,162
- United States$1,922
Living in Crystal, Aroostook County, Maine
Crystal is a town of 248 people in Aroostook County. 93% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 7% are rented. Unemployment in Aroostook County was 4.1% in August 2026, and the county had 1.3% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Aroostook County 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Crystal is a very small town in Aroostook County, with a population among the smallest of any place in the state. Nearly all homes are lived in by their owners, and the share living below the poverty line is somewhat higher than in much of the country. Winters are long and cold, with January the coldest month and days that stay well below freezing, while July brings warm but mild afternoons.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, with shops, manufacturing, and transport, warehouses and utilities also employing many. Across Aroostook County, the largest workplaces include THE Aroostook Medical Center, Cary Medical Center and Walmart. The typical commute is a fairly long one, and the county has recently lost a small share of its jobs, with unemployment a little higher than a year earlier.
Things to do. Close to town, Crystal Bog is a protected area a short drive away, and the Island Falls Opera House, a theatre, is also a short drive off. Farther afield, Baxter State Park is a protected area and the best known of the nearby places, reached by a longer drive. Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument is another protected area a longer drive away.
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- 125households
- 15%below the poverty line
- 27 mintypical commute
What people in Aroostook County 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 22° and lows near 3°; warmest in July, with highs near 76° and lows near 55°.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Patten weather station, 6 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Aroostook County
- THE Aroostook Medical CenterGeneral hospital807FTE
- Cary Medical CenterGeneral hospital352FTE
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters337
- RSU 79/msad 01 SchoolsSchool district332FTE
- Houlton Regional HospitalCritical access hospital279FTE
- Northern Maine Medical CenterGeneral hospital253FTE
- RSU 39 SchoolsSchool district221FTE
- RSU 29/msad 29 SchoolsSchool district216FTE
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 63 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 4,609 people in all across the county; Crystal has none of its own. 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
- HurricanesRelatively moderate
- Inland floodingRelatively moderate
- Ice stormsRelatively moderate
- Strong windRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms across Aroostook County, 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.
Crystal home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Crystal5
Zip codes with a Crystal address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Crystal — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.