Best PlacesDamariscotta, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Damariscotta, 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.
Damariscotta ranks 12,376th of 50,333 U.S. towns 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 Damariscotta
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.
Damariscotta's strengths and weaknesses
Where Damariscotta ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 93% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
Where Damariscotta ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 22% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Damariscotta
A household needs to earn about $96,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Damariscotta home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $60,581, 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 Damariscotta's effective rate of 0.97%, 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 Damariscotta
Damariscotta 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 Damariscotta.
Who works in Damariscotta, and how
Work in Damariscotta centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Damariscotta
Damariscotta has more restaurants and bars per resident than 96% of towns. The coast is about 18 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Damariscotta and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Damariscotta, month by month
Damariscotta sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 26° | 15° |
| April | 56° | 44° | 32° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Damariscotta
The nearest airport, Knox County Regional, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 138 miles away.
The best schools in and around Damariscotta
Schools across Damariscotta average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Great Salt Bay Community SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
- Nobleboro Central SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
Top high schools
- Medomak Valley High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Wiscasset Middle/high SchoolA · 78% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Damariscotta school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Damariscotta 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 Damariscotta against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Damariscotta
Is Damariscotta a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Damariscotta ranks 12,376th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, cheap car insurance, and civic engagement, 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 Damariscotta expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $357,305. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $60,581 median income, cost of living beats 22% of towns.
Is Damariscotta safe?
Yes, Damariscotta is safer than 86% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $193 per resident a year.
Compare Damariscotta with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Damariscotta. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Damariscotta 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.
Damariscotta detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Damariscotta: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Damariscotta: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Damariscotta: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Damariscotta: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Damariscotta 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.