Best PlacesMaine Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Maine, 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.
Maine ranks 5th of 50 U.S. states on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on good schools and cheap car insurance. The weaker spots are empty homes, internet speeds, and cell coverage.
The best neighborhoods in Maine
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.
The best areas in Maine
The counties of Maine, grouped by direction and ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the state.
Cumberland County & York County
Big-city amenities are closer, incomes run higher, and fewer homes sit empty.
Sagadahoc County, Lincoln County & Knox County
More adults hold degrees, though fewer households have young kids.
Penobscot County & Hancock County
Scores close to Sagadahoc County, Lincoln County & Knox County, except that local pay stretches less far here.
Kennebec County & Somerset County
Homes cost less.
Oxford County & Franklin County
It is quieter, though biking is worse.
Piscataquis County
Tree cover is thicker, though health outcomes score lower.
Aroostook County
Prices have run up less, though crime runs higher.
Maine shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 14% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Maine's strengths and weaknesses
Maine ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Good schools is the standout, in the top 1% of states. Cheap car insurance and tree cover follow.
The one real hole is empty homes, near the bottom of the country. Internet speeds and cell coverage also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Maine ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of states
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 99% of states
- Tree shadeBetter than 99% of states
- Crime safetyBetter than 97% of states
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of states
Where Maine ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 1% of states
- Internet speedBetter than only 5% of states
- Cell coverageBetter than only 5% of states
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of states
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of states
What it costs to buy a home in Maine
A household needs to earn about $89,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Maine home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $82,078; 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 Maine's effective rate of 1.04%, 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 Maine
Maine 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 Maine.
Who works in Maine, and how
Work in Maine centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Maine
Maine has less late-night activity than most states. Maine has 228 miles of ocean coastline. That concentrates in some parts of Maine and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Maine, month by month
Maine sees roughly 72 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° |
The best schools in and around Maine
Schools across Maine average an A+, better than 99% of states.
Top elementary schools
- Pond Cove ElementaryA+ · 98% proficient
- Yarmouth Elementary SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Conners-emerson SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
Top middle schools
- Frank H Harrison Middle SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Cape Elizabeth Middle SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
- Falmouth Middle SchoolA+ · 96% proficient
Top high schools
- Maranacook Community High SchA+ · 98% proficient
- Camden Hills Regional H SA+ · 98% proficient
- Falmouth High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Maine school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Maine 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 Maine against the other 49 states.
Who Maine suits
Common questions about living in Maine
Is Maine a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Maine ranks 5th of 50 states. It scores highest on good schools, cheap car insurance, and tree cover, and lowest on empty homes and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Maine expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $330,053. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $82,078 median income, cost of living beats 21% of states.
Is Maine safe?
Yes, Maine is safer than 97% of states. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $205 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Maine?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 37 with lows near 17. That works out to about 72 pleasant days a year, more than 24% of states.
What are the best areas in Maine?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Cumberland County & York County, Sagadahoc County, Lincoln County & Knox County, and Penobscot County & Hancock County. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Maine good for families?
Schools beat 99% of states, crime safety beats 97%, and childcare runs $1,055 a month.
Is Maine good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 21% of states, though advertised internet speeds beat only 5% of states. About 16% of workers already work from home.
Compare Maine with other states
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Maine. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Maine 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.
Maine detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Maine: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Maine: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Maine: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Maine: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Maine 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.
- 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.