Best PlacesOrono, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Orono, 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.
Orono ranks 3,849th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Orono
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.
Orono's strengths and weaknesses
Where Orono ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute15.5 minutes each way, better than 97% of towns
Where Orono ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 5% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 14% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Orono
A household needs to earn about $85,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Orono home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $68,709, 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 Orono's effective rate of 1.83%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Orono
Orono runs younger 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 Orono.
Who works in Orono, and how
Work in Orono centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 19%
Life in Orono
Orono has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of towns. The coast is about 42 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Orono and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Orono, month by month
Orono sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 21° | 12° |
| April | 53° | 42° | 32° |
| July | 80° | 69° | 59° |
| October | 60° | 49° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Orono
The nearest airport, Bangor International, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 210 miles away.
The best schools in and around Orono
Schools across Orono average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Glenburn Elementary SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
- Veazie Community SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Asa C Adams SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
Top middle schools
- Orono Middle SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Holbrook SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
- Leonard Middle SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
Top high schools
- Bangor High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Old Town High SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
- Orono High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Orono school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Orono 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 Orono against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Orono
Is Orono a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Orono ranks 3,849th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, heat safety, and an educated workforce, and lowest on property taxes and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Orono expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $284,836. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $68,709 median income, cost of living beats 28% of towns.
Is Orono safe?
Yes, Orono is safer than 95% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $162 per resident a year.
Compare Orono with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Orono. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Orono 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.
Orono detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Orono: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Orono: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Orono: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Orono: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Orono 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.