Best Places04541, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 04541, 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.
04541 ranks 5,375th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in 04541
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.
04541's strengths and weaknesses
Where 04541 ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of zip codes
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 99% of zip codes
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of zip codes
- Tree shadeBetter than 98% of zip codes
- Short commute14.6 minutes each way, better than 97% of zip codes
Where 04541 ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 5% of zip codes
- State infrastructureBetter than only 7% of zip codes
- Low vacancyBetter than only 8% of zip codes
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of zip codes
- WalkabilityBetter than only 12% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 04541
A household needs to earn about $109,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 04541 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $107,031; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 04541's effective rate of 0.61%, 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 04541
04541 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 04541.
Who works in 04541, and how
Work in 04541 centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in 04541
The coast is about 2 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across 04541, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 04541, month by month
04541 sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 26° | 15° |
| April | 56° | 44° | 32° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of 04541
The nearest airport, Knox County Regional, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 130 miles away.
The best schools in and around 04541
Schools across 04541 average an A+, better than 99% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Bristol Consolidated SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- St George SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
Top high schools
- Boothbay Region High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 04541 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
04541 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 04541 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 04541
Is 04541 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 04541 ranks 5,375th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on good schools, cheap car insurance, and health care access, and lowest on a weak job 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 04541 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $426,500. The overall cost of living runs about 11% above the national average. Set against a $107,031 median income, cost of living beats 79% of zip codes.
Is 04541 safe?
04541 is safer than 27% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $398 per resident a year.
Compare 04541 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 04541. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 04541 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.
04541 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 04541: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 04541: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 04541: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 04541: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
04541 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.