Best PlacesGorham, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gorham, 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.
Gorham ranks 725th 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 Gorham
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.
Gorham's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gorham ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
Where Gorham ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,229 a month, better than only 13% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 22% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 73 pleasant days a year, better than only 32% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 35% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gorham
A household needs to earn about $116,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gorham home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $111,164; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Gorham's effective rate of 0.92%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Gorham
Gorham runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Gorham.
Who works in Gorham, and how
Work in Gorham centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Gorham
Gorham has more parkland per resident than 86% of towns. The coast is about 20 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Gorham and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Gorham, month by month
Gorham 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 Gorham
The nearest airport, Portland International Jetport, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 96 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gorham
Schools across Gorham average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Edna Libby Elementary SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
- Wentworth SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
- Great Falls Elementary SchoolA+ · 89% proficient
Top middle schools
- Gorham Middle SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
- Scarborough Middle SchoolA+ · 89% proficient
- Bonny Eagle Middle SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
Top high schools
- Bonny Eagle High SchoolA+ · 92% proficient
- Westbrook High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Gorham High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gorham school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gorham 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 Gorham against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gorham
Is Gorham a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gorham ranks 725th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, cheap car insurance, and low crime, and lowest on state infrastructure and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gorham expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $435,353. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $111,164 median income, cost of living beats 86% of towns.
Is Gorham safe?
Yes, Gorham is safer than 96% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $157 per resident a year.
Compare Gorham with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gorham. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gorham 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.
Gorham detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gorham: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gorham: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gorham: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gorham: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gorham 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.