Best PlacesCape Elizabeth, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cape Elizabeth, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Cape Elizabeth ranks 25th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cape Elizabeth
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.
Cape Elizabeth's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cape Elizabeth ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
Where Cape Elizabeth ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,229 a month, better than only 13% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 27% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 73 pleasant days a year, better than only 32% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 35% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cape Elizabeth
A household needs to earn about $201,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cape Elizabeth home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $150,281, 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 Cape Elizabeth's effective rate of 1.07%, 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 Cape Elizabeth
Cape Elizabeth runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cape Elizabeth.
Who works in Cape Elizabeth, and how
Work in Cape Elizabeth centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 32%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Cape Elizabeth
The coast is about 2 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Cape Elizabeth, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cape Elizabeth, month by month
Cape Elizabeth sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 27° | 17° |
| April | 56° | 45° | 34° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 61° |
| October | 63° | 52° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Cape Elizabeth
The nearest airport, Portland International Jetport, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 94 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cape Elizabeth
Schools across Cape Elizabeth average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pond Cove ElementaryA+ · 98% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cape Elizabeth Middle SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
Top high schools
- Cape Elizabeth High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cape Elizabeth school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cape Elizabeth 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 Cape Elizabeth against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cape Elizabeth
Is Cape Elizabeth a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cape Elizabeth ranks 25th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, an educated workforce, and health care access, and lowest on state infrastructure and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cape Elizabeth expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $742,585. The overall cost of living runs about 16% above the national average. Set against a $150,281 median income, cost of living beats 96% of towns.
Is Cape Elizabeth safe?
Yes, Cape Elizabeth is safer than 96% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $149 per resident a year.
Compare Cape Elizabeth with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cape Elizabeth. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cape Elizabeth 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.
Cape Elizabeth detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cape Elizabeth: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cape Elizabeth: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cape Elizabeth: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cape Elizabeth: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cape Elizabeth 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.