Best PlacesEliot, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Eliot, 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.
Eliot ranks 598th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Eliot
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.
Eliot's strengths and weaknesses
Where Eliot ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 92% of towns
Where Eliot ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,184 a month, better than only 14% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 74 pleasant days a year, better than only 34% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 35% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Eliot
A household needs to earn about $136,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Eliot home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $107,606, 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 Eliot's effective rate of 0.89%, 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 Eliot
Eliot 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 Eliot.
Who works in Eliot, and how
Work in Eliot centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Eliot
Eliot has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns. The coast is about 14 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Eliot and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Eliot, month by month
Eliot sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 29° | 20° |
| April | 58° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Eliot
The nearest airport, Portsmouth International at Pease, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 55 miles away.
The best schools in and around Eliot
Schools across Eliot average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Coastal Ridge ElementaryA+ · 93% proficient
- Eliot Elementary SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Marshwood Great Works SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
Top middle schools
- York Middle SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Marshwood Middle SchoolA+ · 92% proficient
Top high schools
- York High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Marshwood High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Eliot school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Eliot 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 Eliot against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Eliot
Is Eliot a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Eliot ranks 598th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, good schools, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on state infrastructure and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Eliot expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $512,718. The overall cost of living runs about 9% above the national average. Set against a $107,606 median income, cost of living beats 79% of towns.
Is Eliot safe?
Yes, Eliot is safer than 100% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $86 per resident a year.
Compare Eliot with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Eliot. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Eliot 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.
Eliot detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Eliot: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Eliot: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Eliot: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Eliot: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Eliot 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.