Best PlacesRockland, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rockland, 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.
Rockland ranks 14,479th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rockland
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.
Rockland's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rockland ranks high
- Short commute12.4 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 91% of towns
Where Rockland ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 16% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rockland
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rockland home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $60,268, 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 Rockland's effective rate of 1.32%, 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 Rockland
Rockland 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 Rockland.
Who works in Rockland, and how
Work in Rockland centers on manufacturing and hospitality & food. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Rockland
Rockland has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of towns. The coast is about 1 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Rockland and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rockland, month by month
Rockland sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 78 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 26° | 16° |
| April | 53° | 43° | 33° |
| July | 78° | 67° | 58° |
| October | 61° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Rockland
The nearest airport, Knox County Regional, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 154 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rockland
Schools across Rockland average an A+, better than 98% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Camden-rockport Elementary SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Hope Elementary SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Thomaston Grammar SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- Camden-rockport Middle SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
- Oceanside Middle SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
Top high schools
- Camden Hills Regional H SA+ · 98% proficient
- Oceanside High SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rockland school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rockland 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 Rockland against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rockland
Is Rockland a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rockland ranks 14,479th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, cheap car insurance, and good schools, 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 Rockland expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $272,862. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $60,268 median income, cost of living beats 25% of towns.
Is Rockland safe?
Rockland is safer than 36% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $363 per resident a year.
Compare Rockland with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rockland. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rockland 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.
Rockland detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rockland: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rockland: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rockland: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rockland: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rockland 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.