Best PlacesPerham, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Perham, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Perham ranks 19,529th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Perham
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.
Perham's strengths and weaknesses
Where Perham ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of towns
- QuietBetter than 93% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 87% of towns
Where Perham ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 7% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Perham
A household needs to earn about $33,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Perham home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $55,130, 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 Perham's effective rate of 1.10%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Perham
Perham 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 Perham.
Who works in Perham, and how
Work in Perham centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Perham
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Perham.
What the weather is like in Perham, month by month
Perham sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 6. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 16° | 6° |
| April | 51° | 39° | 28° |
| July | 82° | 68° | 56° |
| October | 59° | 47° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Perham
The nearest airport, Presque Isle International, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 340 miles away.
The best schools in and around Perham
Schools across Perham average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Woodland Consolidated SchA+ · 78% proficient
- Washburn District Elem SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
Top high schools
- Washburn District High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Caribou High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Perham school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Perham 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 Perham against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Perham
Is Perham a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Perham ranks 19,529th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, cheap car insurance, and clean air, and lowest on distance from a big city and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Perham expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $122,544. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $55,130 median income, cost of living beats 25% of towns.
Is Perham safe?
Yes, Perham is safer than 77% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $223 per resident a year.
Compare Perham with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Perham. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Perham 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.
Perham detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Perham: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Perham: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Perham: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Perham: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Perham 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.