Best PlacesHinckley, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hinckley, 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.
Hinckley ranks 10,277th 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 Hinckley
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.
Hinckley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hinckley ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 93% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 88% of towns
Where Hinckley ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Short commute34.9 minutes each way, better than only 14% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hinckley
A household needs to earn about $53,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hinckley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,921, 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 Hinckley's effective rate of 1.18%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hinckley
Hinckley 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 Hinckley.
Who works in Hinckley, and how
Work in Hinckley centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Hinckley
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hinckley.
What the weather is like in Hinckley, month by month
Hinckley sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 23° | 13° |
| April | 56° | 43° | 32° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 62° | 50° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Hinckley
The nearest airport, Augusta State, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 175 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hinckley
Schools across Hinckley average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Canaan Elementary SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Benton Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Clinton Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Skowhegan Area Middle SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Lawrence Jr High SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
Top high schools
- Skowhegan Area High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Lawrence High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hinckley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hinckley 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 Hinckley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hinckley
Is Hinckley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hinckley ranks 10,277th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, cheap car insurance, and low crime, and lowest on state infrastructure and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hinckley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $192,460. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $69,921 median income, cost of living beats 43% of towns.
Is Hinckley safe?
Yes, Hinckley is safer than 97% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $143 per resident a year.
Compare Hinckley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hinckley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hinckley 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.
Hinckley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hinckley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hinckley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hinckley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hinckley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hinckley 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.