Best PlacesNew Portland, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around New Portland, 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.
New Portland ranks 20,094th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in New Portland
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.
New Portland's strengths and weaknesses
Where New Portland ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 98% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 89% of towns
Where New Portland ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 6% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in New Portland
A household needs to earn about $70,000 a year to comfortably buy the median New Portland home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $54,339, 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 New Portland's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 New Portland
New Portland 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 New Portland.
Who works in New Portland, and how
Work in New Portland centers on hospitality & food and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in New Portland
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across New Portland.
What the weather is like in New Portland, month by month
New Portland sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 17° | 9° |
| April | 50° | 38° | 29° |
| July | 79° | 67° | 58° |
| October | 57° | 47° | 39° |
Flying in and out of New Portland
The nearest airport, Augusta State, is about 68 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 207 miles away.
The best schools in and around New Portland
Schools across New Portland average an A+, better than 98% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Stratton Elementary SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Piscataquis Community ElementaryA+ · 85% proficient
- Carrabec Community SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
Top high schools
- Piscataquis Community Secondary SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Carrabec High SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Upper Kennebec Valley Middle/senior High SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every New Portland school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
New Portland 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 New Portland against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in New Portland
Is New Portland a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, New Portland ranks 20,094th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, good schools, and clean air, and lowest on cell coverage and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is New Portland expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $274,047. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $54,339 median income, cost of living beats 13% of towns.
Is New Portland safe?
Yes, New Portland is safer than 83% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $205 per resident a year.
Compare New Portland with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to New Portland. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in New Portland 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.
New Portland detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for New Portland: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in New Portland: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of New Portland: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in New Portland: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
New Portland 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.