Best PlacesEast Lebanon, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around East Lebanon, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
East Lebanon ranks 4,124th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in East Lebanon
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 Lebanon's strengths and weaknesses
Where East Lebanon ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 96% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 91% of towns
Where East Lebanon ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 9% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Short commute36.1 minutes each way, better than only 11% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,184 a month, better than only 14% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in East Lebanon
A household needs to earn about $90,000 a year to comfortably buy the median East Lebanon home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $98,430, 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 Lebanon's effective rate of 0.82%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in East Lebanon
East Lebanon'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 East Lebanon.
Who works in East Lebanon, and how
Work in East Lebanon centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in East Lebanon
The coast is about 28 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across East Lebanon, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in East Lebanon, month by month
East Lebanon sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 25° | 14° |
| April | 57° | 44° | 32° |
| July | 85° | 71° | 58° |
| October | 64° | 51° | 38° |
Flying in and out of East Lebanon
The nearest airport, Portsmouth International at Pease, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 72 miles away.
The best schools in and around East Lebanon
Schools across East Lebanon average an A, better than 96% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Margaret Chase SmithA+ · 83% proficient
- Hanson SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sanford Middle SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Nute Junior High SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Sanford High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Nute High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every East Lebanon school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
East Lebanon 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 Lebanon against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in East Lebanon
Is East Lebanon a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, East Lebanon ranks 4,124th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, cheap car insurance, and good schools, and lowest on the weather 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 Lebanon expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $344,613. The overall cost of living runs about 0% above the national average. Set against a $98,430 median income, cost of living beats 75% of towns.
Is East Lebanon safe?
Yes, East Lebanon is safer than 100% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $107 per resident a year.
Compare East Lebanon with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to East Lebanon. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in East Lebanon 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 Lebanon detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for East Lebanon: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in East Lebanon: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of East Lebanon: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in East Lebanon: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
East Lebanon 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.