Princeton, Maine.
Typical home $188,133 (-3.6% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$524 (+113%) since Apr 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $7,058 -4%
- $195,191$188,133 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $27,037 +17%
- $161,096$188,133 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.
- Princeton$987
- Maine$2,162
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 22 years.
Typical home values in Princeton, ME fell 3.6% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Princeton, Washington County, Maine
Princeton is a town of 745 people in Washington County. 74% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 26% are rented. Unemployment in Washington County was 4.4% in August 2026, and the county had 0.7% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Washington 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Princeton is a very small town in Washington County, Maine, where most homes are lived in by their owners. Poverty is somewhat more common here than people might expect for a place this size, and a typical home costs less than many would expect elsewhere in the country. Winters are cold, with January the coldest month, and summers are mild and warm. Rain and melted snow add up to a fair amount over the year.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, in farming, forestry and mining, and in manufacturing. Across Washington County, the largest workplaces include Woodland Pulp, Down East Community Hospital and Calais Public Schools. Unemployment across the county is a little higher than a year ago, and the county has lost a small share of its jobs over the past year.
Things to do. Water is close by: Big Lake and Little River are both a short drive away, and Maine River is as well. A longer drive brings you to Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge, a protected area, and to Cobscook Bay State Park.
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- 373households
- 24%of adults have a degree
- 15%below the poverty line
- 10%work from home
What people in Washington County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Washington County had 10,135 jobs in 2025, 0.7% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 28° and lows near 13°; warmest in July, with highs near 80° and lows near 62°. About 48 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Woodland weather station, 6 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Washington County
- Woodland PulpManufacturing304
- Down East Community HospitalCritical access hospital246FTE
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters208
- Calais Public SchoolsSchool district173FTE
- RSU 37/msad 37 SchoolsSchool district152FTE
- Calais Community HospitalCritical access hospital125FTE
- HannafordGrocery stores124
- Jasper Wyman & SonFruits, frozen, manufacturing123
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 25 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 2,026 people in all across the county; Princeton 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 weatherRelatively high
- Ice stormsRelatively high
- HurricanesRelatively moderate
- Coastal floodingRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms across Washington 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 Washington County.
Princeton home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Princeton$188,133
- Maine$412,002
- United States$366,157
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
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Princeton7
Zip codes with a Princeton address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Princeton — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.