Best PlacesEast Franklin, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around East Franklin, 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 Franklin ranks 11,431st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in East Franklin
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 Franklin's strengths and weaknesses
Where East Franklin ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 91% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 88% of towns
Where East Franklin ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 8% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in East Franklin
A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median East Franklin home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,115, 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 East Franklin's effective rate of 0.91%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in East Franklin
East Franklin 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 East Franklin.
Who works in East Franklin, and how
Work in East Franklin centers on retail trade and professional & technical. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in East Franklin
The coast is about 32 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across East Franklin, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in East Franklin, month by month
East Franklin sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 25° | 16° |
| April | 53° | 42° | 32° |
| July | 79° | 67° | 58° |
| October | 61° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of East Franklin
The nearest airport, Hancock County/Bar Harbor, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 208 miles away.
The best schools in and around East Franklin
Schools across East Franklin average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cherryfield ElementaryA+ · 88% proficient
- Peninsula SchA+ · 85% proficient
- Mountain View SchA+ · 75% proficient
Top high schools
- Sumner Memorial High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every East Franklin school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
East Franklin 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 Franklin against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in East Franklin
Is East Franklin a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, East Franklin ranks 11,431st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, good schools, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on biking and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is East Franklin expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $238,776. The overall cost of living runs about 0% below the national average. Set against a $67,115 median income, cost of living beats 24% of towns.
Is East Franklin safe?
Yes, East Franklin is safer than 99% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $118 per resident a year.
Compare East Franklin with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to East Franklin. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in East Franklin 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 Franklin detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for East Franklin: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in East Franklin: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of East Franklin: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in East Franklin: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
East Franklin 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.