Best PlacesEast End, Portland, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around East End, Portland, 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.
East End, Portland ranks 447th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in East End, Portland
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.
East End, Portland's strengths and weaknesses
Where East End, Portland ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of neighborhoods
- School gradeA, better than 94% of neighborhoods
- Air qualityBetter than 93% of neighborhoods
- Short commute17.0 minutes each way, better than 93% of neighborhoods
Where East End, Portland ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 4% of neighborhoods
- Internet speedBetter than only 19% of neighborhoods
- Big-city accessBetter than only 23% of neighborhoods
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 24% of neighborhoods
- Cell coverageBetter than only 24% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in East End, Portland
A household needs to earn about $168,000 a year to comfortably buy the median East End, Portland home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $97,174, 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 East End, Portland'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 East End, Portland
East End, Portland runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65, 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 East End, Portland.
Who works in East End, Portland, and how
Work in East End, Portland centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 58%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in East End, Portland
East End, Portland has more parkland per resident than 90% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 7 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of East End, Portland and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in East End, Portland, month by month
East End, Portland 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 East End, Portland
The nearest airport, Portland International Jetport, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 98 miles away.
The best schools in and around East End, Portland
Schools across East End, Portland average an A, better than 94% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- East End Community SchoolA · 62% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lyman Moore Middle SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every East End, Portland school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
East End, Portland 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 East End, Portland against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in East End, Portland
Is East End, Portland a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, East End, Portland ranks 447th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, walkability, and good schools, and lowest on state infrastructure and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is East End, Portland expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $611,398. The overall cost of living runs about 25% above the national average. Set against a $97,174 median income, cost of living beats 56% of neighborhoods.
Is East End, Portland safe?
Yes, East End, Portland is safer than 65% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $371 per resident a year.
Compare East End, Portland with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to East End, Portland. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in East End, Portland 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.
East End, Portland detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for East End, Portland: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in East End, Portland: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of East End, Portland: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in East End, Portland: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
East End, Portland 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.