Orono, Maine.
Typical home $309,135 (+1.8% in a year), asking rent $2,900 . Bangor, ME metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$958 (+144%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $5,395 +2%
- $303,740$309,135 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $66,466 +27%
- $242,669$309,135 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.
- Orono$1,623
- Maine$2,162
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 14 years.
Typical home values in Orono, ME rose 1.8% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Orono, Penobscot County, Maine
Orono, in Penobscot County, had 10,185 people in the 2020 census. Half its households earn more than $59,784 a year and half less, against $66,356 across Penobscot County; 27% of its people live below the poverty line. 42% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 58% are rented. Unemployment in Penobscot County was 3.4% in August 2026, and the county had 0.3% 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Orono is a university town, and it feels like one: the population is very young, with far more young adults than in most places, and most adults hold a four-year degree. Fewer homes are lived in by their owners than across the county, and incomes run below the county's, which fits a town with so many students. Winters are cold, with January the coldest month and highs staying below freezing, while July is warm.
Work. Most residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by shops, restaurants and hotels, and professional and business services. The University of Maine is the largest workplace in town, joined by RSU 26 Schools and the contractor Sargent Corporation - Maine. Commutes are short, and unemployment across Penobscot County is a little higher than a year ago.
Things to do. In or beside town, the Orono Bog is a park to walk, the Hudson Museum and the Page Farm & Home Museum are close at hand, and the Stillwater River runs through. A short drive away are Pushaw Lake, the Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, a protected area, and the University of Maine Museum of Art.
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- 2,930households
- 70%of adults have a degree
- 27%below the poverty line
- 15 mintypical commute
- 11%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Penobscot County had 71,782 jobs in 2025, 0.3% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 28° and lows near 11°; warmest in July, with highs near 81° and lows near 58°.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Orono weather station, 2 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Orono
- University of MaineUniversity or college2,590
- University of Maine-System Central OfficeUniversity or college420
- Sargent Corporation - MaineExcavation contractors396
- RSU 26 SchoolsSchool district187FTE
- Grace ManagementAssisted-living facilities without on-site nursing care facilities94
- Independence Advocates of MaineGroup homes for the disabled with nursing care63
- Sodexo at UM Orono Bears DENFood service contractors26
- Sodexo at UM Orono York DiningFood service contractors25
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 7 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 644 people in all. Colleges come from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24) 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
- Ice stormsRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- HurricanesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Orono’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 Penobscot County and the Bangor, ME metro.
Orono home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Orono$309,135
- 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 Orono 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.
- Orono32.56%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Orono21
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Orono7
Zip codes with a Orono address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Orono — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.