ZIP code 04939

ZIP 04939 is a very small community in Penobscot County, Maine, with 819 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #292 of 427 ranked by population — larger than 31% of them. The median age here is 54.7 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 04939 earn a median of $53,083 a year, 32.4% below the national figure of $78,538. The median is the midpoint household, not an average, so a handful of very high earners cannot drag it upward the way they distort a mean. Poverty reaches 15.8% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 04939 is valued at $145,800, 51.9% below the national figure, while median gross rent runs $909 a month, 35.3% below the national figure, or roughly $10,908 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 20.5% 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 2.7×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is easier here than in the average US market. 84.2% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, an owner-dominated market where rental listings are scarce and rent medians rest on a thin sample. 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 54.7 puts ZIP 04939 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 819 residents, a handful of survey responses moves every median on this page. Compare ZIP 04939 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 04939 is tabulated inside Penobscot County, Maine, one of 41 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 427 across Maine. Fewer than 2,500 people are counted here, so the ZIP behaves like a village delivery route rather than a neighbourhood. 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 04939 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 04939 reports a median household income of $53,083, 11% below the $59,750 county median, and 19% below the $65,739 typical ME ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $145,800, 9% below the county figure and 37% below the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $909 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 04939.

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 04939 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.