Best PlacesDryden, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dryden, 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.
Dryden ranks 9,579th 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 Dryden
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.
Dryden's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dryden ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 98% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 93% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 87% of towns
Where Dryden ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 21% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 28% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 72 pleasant days a year, better than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dryden
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dryden home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,578, 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 Dryden's effective rate of 1.20%, 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 Dryden
Dryden's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Dryden.
Who works in Dryden, and how
Work in Dryden centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Dryden
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Dryden.
What the weather is like in Dryden, month by month
Dryden sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 24° | 15° |
| April | 57° | 44° | 34° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 61° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Dryden
The nearest airport, Augusta State, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 158 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dryden
Schools across Dryden average an A+, better than 98% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Academy Hill SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Spruce Mountain Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
Top middle schools
- Spruce Mountain Middle SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Mt Blue Middle SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
Top high schools
- Mt Blue High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Spruce Mountain High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dryden school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dryden 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 Dryden against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dryden
Is Dryden a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dryden ranks 9,579th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, cheap car insurance, and clean air, and lowest on state infrastructure and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dryden expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $233,771. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $67,578 median income, cost of living beats 44% of towns.
Is Dryden safe?
Yes, Dryden is safer than 85% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $200 per resident a year.
Compare Dryden with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dryden. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dryden 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.
Dryden detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dryden: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dryden: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dryden: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dryden: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dryden 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.