Best PlacesIslesboro, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Islesboro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Islesboro ranks 2,978th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Islesboro
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.
Islesboro's strengths and weaknesses
Where Islesboro ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
- Short commute6.9 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
Where Islesboro ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,023 a month, better than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Islesboro
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Islesboro home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $88,438, 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 Islesboro's effective rate of 0.83%, 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 Islesboro
Islesboro 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 Islesboro.
Who works in Islesboro, and how
Work in Islesboro centers on construction and professional & technical. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Islesboro
The coast is about 1 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Islesboro, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Islesboro, month by month
Islesboro sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 78 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 26° | 16° |
| April | 53° | 43° | 33° |
| July | 78° | 67° | 58° |
| October | 61° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Islesboro
The nearest airport, Knox County Regional, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 171 miles away.
The best schools in and around Islesboro
Schools across Islesboro average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Deer Isle-stonington Elementary SchA · 68% proficient
Top high schools
- Deer Isle-stonington High SchA+ · 80% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Islesboro school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Islesboro 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 Islesboro against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Islesboro
Is Islesboro a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Islesboro ranks 2,978th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, short commutes, and civic engagement, and lowest on a weak job market 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 Islesboro expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $288,800. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $88,438 median income, cost of living beats 69% of towns.
Is Islesboro safe?
Yes, Islesboro is safer than 81% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $209 per resident a year.
Compare Islesboro with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Islesboro. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Islesboro 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.
Islesboro detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Islesboro: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Islesboro: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Islesboro: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Islesboro: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Islesboro 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.