Best Places04551, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 04551, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
04551 ranks 3,830th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in 04551
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.
04551's strengths and weaknesses
Where 04551 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
- Crime safetyBetter than 97% of zip codes
Where 04551 ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 3% of zip codes
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 7% of zip codes
- State infrastructureBetter than only 7% of zip codes
- Low vacancyBetter than only 8% of zip codes
- Local economyBetter than only 13% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 04551
A household needs to earn about $108,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 04551 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $100,000; 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 04551's effective rate of 0.61%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in 04551
04551 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 04551.
Who works in 04551, and how
Work in 04551 centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in 04551
The coast is about 17 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across 04551, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 04551, month by month
04551 sees roughly 74 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 04551
The nearest airport, Knox County Regional, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 139 miles away.
The best schools in and around 04551
Schools across 04551 average an A+, better than 99% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Great Salt Bay Community SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
Top high schools
- Medomak Valley High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Wiscasset Middle/high SchoolA · 78% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 04551 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
04551 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 04551 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 04551
Is 04551 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 04551 ranks 3,830th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on good schools, cheap car insurance, and health care access, and lowest on cell coverage and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 04551 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $425,300. The overall cost of living runs about 25% above the national average. Set against a $100,000 median income, cost of living beats 48% of zip codes.
Is 04551 safe?
Yes, 04551 is safer than 97% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $146 per resident a year.
Compare 04551 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 04551. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 04551 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.
04551 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 04551: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 04551: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 04551: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 04551: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
04551 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.