Best Places04936, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 04936, 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.
04936 ranks 20,467th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in 04936
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.
04936's strengths and weaknesses
Where 04936 ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of zip codes
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 99% of zip codes
- Tree shadeBetter than 98% of zip codes
- Local economyBetter than 97% of zip codes
- QuietBetter than 97% of zip codes
Where 04936 ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of zip codes
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of zip codes
- Household income$32,365 median, better than only 3% of zip codes
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of zip codes
- Cell coverageBetter than only 6% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 04936
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 04936 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $32,365, 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 04936's effective rate of 0.63%, 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 04936
04936 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 04936.
Who works in 04936, and how
Work in 04936 centers on hospitality & food and other services. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in 04936
04936 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of zip codes and more parkland per resident than 99% of zip codes. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of 04936 and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 04936, month by month
04936 sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 75 degrees. January highs sit near 24, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24° | 17° | 10° |
| April | 46° | 38° | 30° |
| July | 75° | 66° | 58° |
| October | 54° | 46° | 39° |
Flying in and out of 04936
The nearest airport, Augusta State, is about 69 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 197 miles away.
The best schools in and around 04936
Schools across 04936 average an A+, better than 99% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Stratton Elementary SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
Top high schools
- Piscataquis Community Secondary SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Mt Abram Regional High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Upper Kennebec Valley Middle/senior High SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 04936 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
04936 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 04936 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 04936
Is 04936 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 04936 ranks 20,467th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on good schools, cheap car insurance, and tree cover, and lowest on health outcomes and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 04936 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $262,200. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $32,365 median income, cost of living beats 3% of zip codes.
Is 04936 safe?
04936 is safer than 25% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $424 per resident a year.
Compare 04936 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 04936. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 04936 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.
04936 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 04936: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 04936: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 04936: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 04936: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
04936 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.