Best Places04572, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 04572, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
04572 ranks 7,738th 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 04572
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.
04572's strengths and weaknesses
Where 04572 ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of zip codes
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 99% of zip codes
- Voter turnoutBetter than 93% of zip codes
- Air qualityBetter than 93% of zip codes
- Tree shadeBetter than 91% of zip codes
Where 04572 ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of zip codes
- Cell coverageBetter than only 6% of zip codes
- State infrastructureBetter than only 7% of zip codes
- Low property taxBetter than only 25% of zip codes
- BikingBetter than only 26% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 04572
A household needs to earn about $75,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 04572 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $70,671; 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 04572's effective rate of 1.17%, 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 04572
04572 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 04572.
Who works in 04572, and how
Work in 04572 centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in 04572
The coast is about 21 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across 04572, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 04572, month by month
04572 sees roughly 79 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 78 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 26° | 16° |
| April | 53° | 43° | 33° |
| July | 78° | 67° | 58° |
| October | 61° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of 04572
The nearest airport, Knox County Regional, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 146 miles away.
The best schools in and around 04572
Schools across 04572 average an A+, better than 99% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Friendship Village SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
- Great Salt Bay Community SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
- Miller SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
Top middle schools
- Medomak Middle SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
Top high schools
- Medomak Valley High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 04572 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
04572 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 04572 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 04572
Is 04572 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 04572 ranks 7,738th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on good schools, cheap car insurance, and civic engagement, and lowest on an overheated housing market and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 04572 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $271,720. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $70,671 median income, cost of living beats 39% of zip codes.
Is 04572 safe?
Yes, 04572 is safer than 85% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $204 per resident a year.
Compare 04572 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 04572. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 04572 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.
04572 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 04572: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 04572: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 04572: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 04572: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
04572 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.