ZIP code 04686

ZIP 04686 is a very small community in Washington County, Maine, with 166 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #388 of 427 ranked by population — larger than 9% of them. The median age here is 63.5 years against 39.1 nationally, a markedly older profile that usually tracks retirees staying put and younger households leaving for work. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in ZIP 04686 earn a median of $48,750 a year, 37.9% below the national figure of $78,538. Household income here is measured before tax and pooled across everyone at the address, which is why it reads higher than typical individual earnings in the same area. Poverty reaches 17.5% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 04686 is valued at $101,800, 66.4% below the national figure, while median gross rent runs $850 a month, 39.5% below the national figure, or roughly $10,200 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 20.9% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 2.1×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so purchase prices are unusually low against local pay, the pattern in places where supply is plentiful and wage growth has been flat. 74.1% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. Rent is reported gross — contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities — which is why it runs above the advertised price on a listing for the same unit.

A median age of 63.5 puts ZIP 04686 well into retirement-weighted territory, which pulls median household income down even where household wealth is high, because retirement draws are counted differently from wages. With 166 residents, a handful of survey responses moves every median on this page. Compare ZIP 04686 against its county rather than against national figures.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.

ZIP 04686 is tabulated inside Washington County, Maine, one of 31 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 427 across Maine. This is one of the smallest tabulated ZIP areas in the state, the kind of rural route where a single subdivision or farm cluster accounts for most addresses. County assignment on this page follows the largest share of the ZIP's land area, which matters where a delivery route crosses a county line: mail addressed to 04686 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 04686 reports a median household income of $48,750, 8% below the $52,950 county median, and 26% below the $65,739 typical ME ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $101,800, 32% below the county figure and 56% below the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $850 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

Maine charges 5.5% statewide, and no local sales tax is layered on top, so the state rate is the full amount collected in 04686.

Everything above comes from the Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates for this ZIP Code Tabulation Area, with sales tax rates traced to the state revenue agency. Five-year estimates pool sixty months of responses, so they are stable enough to compare 04686 with its neighbours but always trail the current year, and any value the Census suppressed for sample size is shown as unpublished rather than filled in with a model.