Best PlacesBenedicta, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Benedicta, 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.
Benedicta ranks 35,796th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Benedicta
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.
Benedicta's strengths and weaknesses
Where Benedicta ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 98% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of towns
- QuietBetter than 92% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 87% of towns
Where Benedicta ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Short commute38.2 minutes each way, better than only 8% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Household income$47,784 median, better than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Benedicta
A household needs to earn about $32,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Benedicta home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $47,784, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Benedicta's effective rate of 1.01%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Benedicta
Benedicta 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 Benedicta.
Who works in Benedicta, and how
Work in Benedicta centers on hospitality & food and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 60%
- Work from home 28%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Benedicta
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Benedicta.
What the weather is like in Benedicta, month by month
Benedicta sees roughly 67 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 19° | 10° |
| April | 54° | 41° | 30° |
| July | 83° | 70° | 58° |
| October | 61° | 49° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Benedicta
The nearest airport, Presque Isle International, is about 64 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 270 miles away.
The best schools in and around Benedicta
Schools across Benedicta average an A+, better than 98% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Opal Myrick Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Katahdin Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Medway Middle SchoolA · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Schenck High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Katahdin Middle/high SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Benedicta school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Benedicta 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 Benedicta against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Benedicta
Is Benedicta a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Benedicta ranks 35,796th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, good schools, and clean air, and lowest on distance from a big city and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Benedicta expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $118,240. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $47,784 median income, cost of living beats 13% of towns.
Is Benedicta safe?
Benedicta is safer than 44% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $317 per resident a year.
Compare Benedicta with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Benedicta. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Benedicta 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.
Benedicta detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Benedicta: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Benedicta: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Benedicta: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Benedicta: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Benedicta 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.