Best PlacesSearsport, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Searsport, 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.
Searsport ranks 10,882nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Searsport
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.
Searsport's strengths and weaknesses
Where Searsport ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 98% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 88% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 87% of towns
Where Searsport ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 15% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,023 a month, better than only 23% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Searsport
A household needs to earn about $61,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Searsport home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,822, 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 Searsport's effective rate of 1.12%, 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 Searsport
Searsport 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 Searsport.
Who works in Searsport, and how
Work in Searsport centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Searsport
The coast is about 7 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Searsport, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Searsport, month by month
Searsport sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 23° | 12° |
| April | 56° | 44° | 32° |
| July | 84° | 71° | 59° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Searsport
The nearest airport, Bangor International, is about 23 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 Searsport
Schools across Searsport average an A+, better than 98% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Monroe Elementary SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Miles Lane SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Kermit S Nickerson SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
Top middle schools
- Samuel L Wagner Middle SchoolA+ · 89% proficient
- Bucksport Middle SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Searsport District Middle SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
Top high schools
- Searsport District High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Bucksport High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Mt View High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Searsport school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Searsport 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 Searsport against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Searsport
Is Searsport a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Searsport ranks 10,882nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, good schools, and low crime, and lowest on state infrastructure and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Searsport expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $223,970. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $69,822 median income, cost of living beats 44% of towns.
Is Searsport safe?
Yes, Searsport is safer than 92% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $172 per resident a year.
Compare Searsport with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Searsport. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Searsport 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.
Searsport detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Searsport: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Searsport: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Searsport: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Searsport: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Searsport 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.