Best PlacesProspect Harbor, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Prospect Harbor, 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.
Prospect Harbor ranks 13,726th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Prospect Harbor
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.
Prospect Harbor's strengths and weaknesses
Where Prospect Harbor ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
Where Prospect Harbor ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Short commute34.0 minutes each way, better than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Prospect Harbor
A household needs to earn about $71,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Prospect Harbor home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $64,007; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Prospect Harbor's effective rate of 0.46%, 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 Prospect Harbor
Prospect Harbor 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 Prospect Harbor.
Who works in Prospect Harbor, and how
Work in Prospect Harbor centers on construction and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Prospect Harbor
The coast is about 10 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Prospect Harbor, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Prospect Harbor, month by month
Prospect Harbor sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 25° | 16° |
| April | 53° | 42° | 32° |
| July | 79° | 67° | 58° |
| October | 61° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Prospect Harbor
The nearest airport, Hancock County/Bar Harbor, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 206 miles away.
The best schools in and around Prospect Harbor
Schools across Prospect Harbor average an A, better than 98% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Conners-emerson SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
- Peninsula SchA+ · 85% proficient
Top high schools
- Sumner Memorial High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Prospect Harbor school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Prospect Harbor 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 Prospect Harbor against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Prospect Harbor
Is Prospect Harbor a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Prospect Harbor ranks 13,726th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, good schools, and quiet, 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 Prospect Harbor expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $285,321. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $64,007 median income, cost of living beats 22% of towns.
Is Prospect Harbor safe?
Yes, Prospect Harbor is safer than 94% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $163 per resident a year.
Compare Prospect Harbor with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Prospect Harbor. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Prospect Harbor 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.
Prospect Harbor detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Prospect Harbor: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Prospect Harbor: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Prospect Harbor: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Prospect Harbor: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Prospect Harbor 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.