Best PlacesScarborough, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Scarborough, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Scarborough ranks 357th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Scarborough
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.
Scarborough's strengths and weaknesses
Where Scarborough ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Household income$142,217 median, better than 96% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
Where Scarborough ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 9% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,229 a month, better than only 13% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Scarborough
A household needs to earn about $153,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Scarborough home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $142,217; 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 Scarborough'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 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 Scarborough
Scarborough 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 Scarborough.
Who works in Scarborough, and how
Work in Scarborough centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Scarborough
Scarborough has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of towns. The coast is about 7 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Scarborough and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Scarborough, month by month
Scarborough sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 27° | 17° |
| April | 56° | 45° | 34° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 61° |
| October | 63° | 52° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Scarborough
The nearest airport, Portland International Jetport, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 91 miles away.
The best schools in and around Scarborough
Schools across Scarborough average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pond Cove ElementaryA+ · 98% proficient
- Wentworth SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
- Village Elementary School-gorhamA+ · 88% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cape Elizabeth Middle SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
- Gorham Middle SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
- Scarborough Middle SchoolA+ · 89% proficient
Top high schools
- Cape Elizabeth High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Maine Connections AcademyA+ · 98% proficient
- Gorham High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Scarborough school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Scarborough 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 Scarborough against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Scarborough suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 95% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 26% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Scarborough
Is Scarborough a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Scarborough ranks 357th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, cheap car insurance, and low crime, and lowest on noise and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Scarborough expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $569,784. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $142,217 median income, cost of living beats 95% of towns.
Is Scarborough safe?
Yes, Scarborough is safer than 97% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $149 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Scarborough?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 37 with lows near 17. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 32% of towns.
Is Scarborough good for families?
Schools beat 100% of towns, crime safety beats 97%, and childcare runs $1,229 a month.
Compare Scarborough with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Scarborough. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Scarborough 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.
Scarborough detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Scarborough: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Scarborough: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Scarborough: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Scarborough: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Scarborough 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.