Best Places04640, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 04640, 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.
04640 ranks 8,539th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in 04640
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.
04640's strengths and weaknesses
Where 04640 ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of zip codes
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of zip codes
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 99% of zip codes
- Healthcare accessBetter than 89% of zip codes
- State fiscal healthBetter than 87% of zip codes
Where 04640 ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 7% of zip codes
- State infrastructureBetter than only 7% of zip codes
- Big-city accessBetter than only 11% of zip codes
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 23% of zip codes
- Cell coverageBetter than only 23% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 04640
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 04640 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $60,031, 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 04640's effective rate of 0.71%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in 04640
04640 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 04640.
Who works in 04640, and how
Work in 04640 centers on construction and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in 04640
The coast is about 25 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across 04640, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 04640, month by month
04640 sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 25° | 16° |
| April | 53° | 42° | 32° |
| July | 79° | 67° | 58° |
| October | 61° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of 04640
The nearest airport, Hancock County/Bar Harbor, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 202 miles away.
The best schools in and around 04640
Schools across 04640 average an A+, better than 99% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Lamoine Consolidated SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Peninsula SchA+ · 85% proficient
- Hancock Grammar SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top high schools
- Sumner Memorial High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 04640 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
04640 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 04640 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 04640
Is 04640 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 04640 ranks 8,539th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on low crime, good schools, and cheap car insurance, 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 04640 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $264,781. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $60,031 median income, cost of living beats 23% of zip codes.
Is 04640 safe?
Yes, 04640 is safer than 100% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $117 per resident a year.
Compare 04640 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 04640. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 04640 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.
04640 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 04640: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 04640: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 04640: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 04640: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
04640 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.