Best PlacesOxford, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oxford, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Oxford ranks 14,131st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Oxford
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.
Oxford's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oxford ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 98% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 87% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 82% of towns
Where Oxford ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 17% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 29% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Oxford
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oxford home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,305, 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 Oxford's effective rate of 0.91%, 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 Oxford
Oxford runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Oxford.
Who works in Oxford, and how
Work in Oxford centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Oxford
Oxford has more restaurants and bars per resident than 82% of towns and more parkland per resident than 96% of towns. The coast is about 50 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Oxford and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Oxford, month by month
Oxford sees roughly 65 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 Oxford
The nearest airport, Portland International Jetport, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 125 miles away.
The best schools in and around Oxford
Schools across Oxford average an A+, better than 98% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Poland Community SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Otisfield Community SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Elm Street School-mechanic FallsA+ · 73% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bruce M Whittier Middle SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Oxford Hills Middle SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
- Lake Region Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
Top high schools
- Oxford Hills Comprehensive H SA+ · 90% proficient
- Poland Regional H SA+ · 85% proficient
- Lake Region High SchoolA · 78% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oxford school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oxford 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 Oxford against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Oxford
Is Oxford a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oxford ranks 14,131st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, good schools, and clean air, and lowest on state infrastructure and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oxford expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $234,763. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $73,305 median income, cost of living beats 40% of towns.
Is Oxford safe?
Yes, Oxford is safer than 66% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $267 per resident a year.
Compare Oxford with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oxford. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oxford 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.
Oxford detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oxford: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oxford: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oxford: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oxford: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oxford 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.