Best PlacesRangeley, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rangeley, 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.
Rangeley ranks 16,260th 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 Rangeley
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.
Rangeley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rangeley ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 89% of towns
Where Rangeley ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Short commute33.2 minutes each way, better than only 19% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rangeley
A household needs to earn about $107,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rangeley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $66,704, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Rangeley's effective rate of 0.83%, 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 Rangeley
Rangeley 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 Rangeley.
Who works in Rangeley, and how
Work in Rangeley centers on real estate and professional & technical. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Rangeley
Rangeley has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Rangeley and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rangeley, month by month
Rangeley sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 75 degrees. January highs sit near 24, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24° | 17° | 10° |
| April | 46° | 38° | 30° |
| July | 75° | 66° | 58° |
| October | 54° | 46° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Rangeley
The nearest airport, Augusta State, is about 62 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 180 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rangeley
Schools across Rangeley average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Stratton Elementary SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
Top high schools
- Mt Abram Regional High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Pittsburg School (high)D+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rangeley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rangeley 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 Rangeley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rangeley
Is Rangeley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rangeley ranks 16,260th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, cheap car insurance, and civic engagement, 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 Rangeley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $406,398. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $66,704 median income, cost of living beats 23% of towns.
Is Rangeley safe?
Rangeley is safer than 51% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $316 per resident a year.
Compare Rangeley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rangeley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rangeley 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.
Rangeley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rangeley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rangeley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rangeley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rangeley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rangeley 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.