Best PlacesCharleston, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Charleston, 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.
Charleston ranks 4,815th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Charleston
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.
Charleston's strengths and weaknesses
Where Charleston ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 91% of towns
Where Charleston ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 12% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 16% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,041 a month, better than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Charleston
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Charleston home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,250, 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 Charleston'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 Charleston
Charleston runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, 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 Charleston.
Who works in Charleston, and how
Work in Charleston centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Charleston
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Charleston.
What the weather is like in Charleston, month by month
Charleston sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 21° | 12° |
| April | 53° | 42° | 32° |
| July | 80° | 69° | 59° |
| October | 60° | 49° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Charleston
The nearest airport, Bangor International, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 211 miles away.
The best schools in and around Charleston
Schools across Charleston average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Se Do Mo Cha Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Ridge View Community SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
Top middle schools
- Se Do Mo Cha Middle SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
Top high schools
- Central High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Dexter Regional High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Charleston school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Charleston 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 Charleston against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Charleston
Is Charleston a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Charleston ranks 4,815th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, good schools, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on state infrastructure and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Charleston expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $226,500. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $75,250 median income, cost of living beats 41% of towns.
Is Charleston safe?
Yes, Charleston is safer than 100% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $99 per resident a year.
Compare Charleston with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Charleston. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Charleston 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.
Charleston detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Charleston: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Charleston: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Charleston: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Charleston: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Charleston 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.