Best Places04860, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 04860, 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.
04860 ranks 7,103rd 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 04860
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.
04860's strengths and weaknesses
Where 04860 ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of zip codes
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 99% of zip codes
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of zip codes
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of zip codes
- Air qualityBetter than 92% of zip codes
Where 04860 ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of zip codes
- State infrastructureBetter than only 7% of zip codes
- Low vacancyBetter than only 8% of zip codes
- Cell coverageBetter than only 8% of zip codes
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 24% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 04860
A household needs to earn about $90,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 04860 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $85,854; 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 04860's effective rate of 0.75%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in 04860
04860 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 04860.
Who works in 04860, and how
Work in 04860 centers on professional & technical and other services. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in 04860
The coast is about 6 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across 04860, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 04860, month by month
04860 sees roughly 80 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 04860
The nearest airport, Knox County Regional, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 143 miles away.
The best schools in and around 04860
Schools across 04860 average an A+, better than 99% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Friendship Village SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
- St George SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
Top middle schools
- Medomak Middle SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
Top high schools
- Medomak Valley High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Boothbay Region High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Oceanside High SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 04860 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
04860 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 04860 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 04860
Is 04860 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 04860 ranks 7,103rd of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on good schools, cheap car insurance, and health care access, 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 04860 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $347,800. The overall cost of living runs about 20% above the national average. Set against a $85,854 median income, cost of living beats 41% of zip codes.
Is 04860 safe?
Yes, 04860 is safer than 78% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $223 per resident a year.
Compare 04860 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 04860. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 04860 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.
04860 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 04860: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 04860: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 04860: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 04860: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
04860 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.