Best PlacesParis, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Paris, 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.
Paris ranks 7,579th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Paris
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.
Paris' strengths and weaknesses
Where Paris ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 93% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 87% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 84% of towns
Where Paris ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 63 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 33% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 35% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Paris
A household needs to earn about $71,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Paris home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,287, 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 Paris' effective rate of 0.56%, 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 Paris
Paris 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 Paris.
Who works in Paris, and how
Work in Paris centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Paris
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Paris.
What the weather is like in Paris, month by month
Paris sees roughly 63 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 Paris
The nearest airport, Augusta State, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 134 miles away.
The best schools in and around Paris
Schools across Paris average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hartford-sumner Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Paris Elementary SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
Top middle schools
- Oxford Hills Middle SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
Top high schools
- Oxford Hills Comprehensive H SA+ · 90% proficient
- Buckfield Jr-sr High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Paris school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Paris 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 Paris against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Paris
Is Paris a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Paris ranks 7,579th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, cheap car insurance, 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 Paris expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $280,799. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $85,287 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Paris safe?
Yes, Paris is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $267 per resident a year.
Compare Paris with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Paris. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Paris 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.
Paris detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Paris: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Paris: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Paris: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Paris: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Paris 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.