Best Places03905, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 03905, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
03905 ranks 676th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in 03905
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
03905's strengths and weaknesses
Where 03905 ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of zip codes
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 99% of zip codes
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of zip codes
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of zip codes
- Household income$153,022 median, better than 96% of zip codes
Where 03905 ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of zip codes
- State infrastructureBetter than only 7% of zip codes
- Local economyBetter than only 15% of zip codes
- Cell coverageBetter than only 17% of zip codes
- Cheap childcare$1,184 a month, better than only 21% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 03905
A household needs to earn about $227,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 03905 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $153,022, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 03905's effective rate of 0.85%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in 03905
03905 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 03905.
Who works in 03905, and how
Work in 03905 centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in 03905
The coast is about 5 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across 03905, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 03905, month by month
03905 sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 29° | 20° |
| April | 58° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of 03905
The nearest airport, Portsmouth International at Pease, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 53 miles away.
The best schools in and around 03905
Schools across 03905 average an A+, better than 99% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Coastal Ridge ElementaryA+ · 93% proficient
- Horace Mitchell Primary SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
Top middle schools
- York Middle SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Shapleigh SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
Top high schools
- Robert W Traip AcademyA+ · 98% proficient
- York High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 03905 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
03905 measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 03905 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 03905
Is 03905 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 03905 ranks 676th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on good schools, cheap car insurance, and an educated workforce, and lowest on an overheated housing market and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 03905 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $862,951. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $153,022 median income, cost of living beats 96% of zip codes.
Is 03905 safe?
Yes, 03905 is safer than 91% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $182 per resident a year.
Compare 03905 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 03905. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 03905 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
03905 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 03905: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 03905: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 03905: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 03905: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
03905 detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.