Orono is a medium-sized town located in the state of Maine. With a population of 12,253 people and three associated neighborhoods, Orono is the 20th largest community in Maine.Orono is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 89.70% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Orono is a town of professionals, service providers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Orono who work in teaching (16.01%), food service (10.84%), and sales jobs (10.50%). Also of interest is that Orono has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 10.09% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. Orono is a place where college students are a big part of the character and culture of the town. Small towns have often struggled with declining populations over the past few decades, but the presence of such a large college student population has helped Orono to fight this trend. Not only does the college population add spending and jobs to local economy, but it also contributes a very tangible, youthful energy to the town. One of the benefits of Orono is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 17.50 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result.Do you have a 4-year college degree or graduate degree? If so, you may feel right at home in Orono. 64.49% of adults here have a 4-year degree or graduate degree, whereas the national average for all cities and towns is just 21.84%. The per capita income in Orono in 2022 was $29,613, which is low income relative to Maine, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $118,452 for a family of four. However, Orono contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Orono is a somewhat ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Orono home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Orono residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Orono include Irish, English, German, French, and French Canadian. The most common language spoken in Orono is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.
