Best PlacesPalermo, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Palermo, 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.
Palermo ranks 3,621st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Palermo
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.
Palermo's strengths and weaknesses
Where Palermo ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 94% of towns
Where Palermo ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 23% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,024 a month, better than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Palermo
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Palermo home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $88,404, 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 Palermo's effective rate of 0.93%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Palermo
Palermo 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 Palermo.
Who works in Palermo, and how
Work in Palermo centers on health care & social and manufacturing. 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 Palermo
The coast is about 32 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Palermo, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Palermo, month by month
Palermo sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 23° | 13° |
| April | 56° | 43° | 32° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 62° | 50° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Palermo
The nearest airport, Augusta State, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 161 miles away.
The best schools in and around Palermo
Schools across Palermo average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- China Primary SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Palermo Consolidated SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Windsor Elementary SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
Top middle schools
- China Middle SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Mt View Middle SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
Top high schools
- Messalonskee High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Winslow High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Mt View High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Palermo school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Palermo 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 Palermo against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Palermo
Is Palermo a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Palermo ranks 3,621st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, good schools, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on state infrastructure and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Palermo expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $257,085. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $88,404 median income, cost of living beats 67% of towns.
Is Palermo safe?
Yes, Palermo is safer than 100% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $102 per resident a year.
Compare Palermo with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Palermo. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Palermo 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.
Palermo detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Palermo: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Palermo: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Palermo: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Palermo: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Palermo 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.