Best PlacesSagadahoc County, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Sagadahoc County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Sagadahoc County ranks 127th of 3,144 U.S. counties 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 Sagadahoc County
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.
The best areas in Sagadahoc County
The parts of Sagadahoc County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Topsham
Fewer homes sit empty, more households have young kids, and biking is better.
Bowdoin
Crime runs lower and tree cover is thicker.
Bath
Local pay stretches less far and incomes run lower.
Scores across Sagadahoc County run from about the 45th to the 96th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Sagadahoc County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sagadahoc County ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 99% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of counties
Where Sagadahoc County ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 7% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 17% of counties
- Cheap childcare$964 a month, better than only 19% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 73 pleasant days a year, better than only 27% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Sagadahoc County
A household needs to earn about $90,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sagadahoc County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $91,416, 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 Sagadahoc County's effective rate of 1.02%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sagadahoc County
Sagadahoc County 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 Sagadahoc County.
Who works in Sagadahoc County, and how
Work in Sagadahoc County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Sagadahoc County
The coast is about 22 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Sagadahoc County, which the map shows.
Is Sagadahoc County growing, and who is moving in?
Sagadahoc County has grown about 7% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Portland, OR metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Sagadahoc County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Sagadahoc County, month by month
Sagadahoc County sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 26° | 15° |
| April | 56° | 44° | 32° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Sagadahoc County
The nearest airport, Augusta State, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 124 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sagadahoc County
Schools across Sagadahoc County average an A+, better than 99% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- West Bath SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
- Georgetown Central SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Dresden Elementary SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
Top middle schools
- Gardiner Regional Middle SchoolA+ · 86% proficient
- Bath Middle SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Mt Ararat Middle SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
Top high schools
- Morse High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Gardiner Area High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Boothbay Region High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sagadahoc County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sagadahoc County 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 Sagadahoc County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Sagadahoc County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 82% of counties and 17% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Sagadahoc County
Is Sagadahoc County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sagadahoc County ranks 127th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on good schools, cheap car insurance, and low crime, 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 Sagadahoc County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $335,867. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $91,416 median income, cost of living beats 82% of counties.
Is Sagadahoc County safe?
Yes, Sagadahoc County is safer than 99% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $191 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Sagadahoc County?
July highs average about 82 degrees, and January highs near 36 with lows near 15. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 27% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Sagadahoc County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Topsham, Bowdoin, and Bath. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Sagadahoc County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sagadahoc County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sagadahoc County 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.
Sagadahoc County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sagadahoc County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sagadahoc County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sagadahoc County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sagadahoc County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sagadahoc County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.