Best PlacesMonhegan, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Monhegan, 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.
Monhegan ranks 3,830th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Monhegan
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.
Monhegan's strengths and weaknesses
Where Monhegan ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute7.8 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
Where Monhegan ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Monhegan
A household needs to earn about $179,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Monhegan home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $100,598, 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 Monhegan's effective rate of 0.61%, 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 Monhegan
Monhegan runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Monhegan.
Who works in Monhegan, and how
Work in Monhegan centers on other services and arts & entertainment. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 20%
- Work from home 44%
- Transit, walk, or bike 36%
Life in Monhegan
The coast is about 0 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Monhegan, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Monhegan, month by month
Monhegan 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 Monhegan
The nearest airport, Knox County Regional, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 129 miles away.
The best schools in and around Monhegan
Schools across Monhegan average an A+, better than 94% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- St George SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
Top high schools
- Boothbay Region High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Oceanside High SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Monhegan school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Monhegan 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 Monhegan against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Monhegan
Is Monhegan a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Monhegan ranks 3,830th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, short commutes, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on cell coverage and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Monhegan expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $701,900. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $100,598 median income, cost of living beats 71% of towns.
Is Monhegan safe?
Yes, Monhegan is safer than 70% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $236 per resident a year.
Compare Monhegan with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Monhegan. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Monhegan 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.
Monhegan detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Monhegan: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Monhegan: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Monhegan: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Monhegan: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Monhegan 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.