Best PlacesNorway, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Norway, 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.
Norway ranks 21,618th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Norway
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.
Norway's strengths and weaknesses
Where Norway ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 98% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 93% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 87% of towns
Where Norway ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 14% of towns
- Short commute34.6 minutes each way, better than only 15% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Norway
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Norway home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,643, 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 Norway's effective rate of 0.97%, 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 Norway
Norway 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 Norway.
Who works in Norway, and how
Work in Norway centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Norway
Norway has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of towns and more parkland per resident than 94% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Norway and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Norway, month by month
Norway sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 23° | 12° |
| April | 56° | 43° | 32° |
| July | 83° | 70° | 58° |
| October | 62° | 50° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Norway
The nearest airport, Augusta State, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 130 miles away.
The best schools in and around Norway
Schools across Norway average an A+, better than 98% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Woodstock SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Paris Elementary SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
- Guy E Rowe SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Telstar Middle SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Oxford Hills Middle SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
Top high schools
- Oxford Hills Comprehensive H SA+ · 90% proficient
- Telstar High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Norway school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Norway 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 Norway against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Norway
Is Norway a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Norway ranks 21,618th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, good schools, and clean air, and lowest on an overheated housing market and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Norway expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $202,754. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $62,643 median income, cost of living beats 21% of towns.
Is Norway safe?
Yes, Norway is safer than 56% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $287 per resident a year.
Compare Norway with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Norway. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Norway 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.
Norway detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Norway: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Norway: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Norway: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Norway: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Norway 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.