Best PlacesStetson, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Stetson, 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.
Stetson ranks 11,617th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Stetson
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.
Stetson's strengths and weaknesses
Where Stetson ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 98% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 92% of towns
Where Stetson ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 15% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Stetson
A household needs to earn about $59,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Stetson home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,211, 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 Stetson's effective rate of 1.07%, 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 Stetson
Stetson runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Stetson.
Who works in Stetson, and how
Work in Stetson centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Stetson
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Stetson.
What the weather is like in Stetson, month by month
Stetson sees roughly 64 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 Stetson
The nearest airport, Bangor International, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 198 miles away.
The best schools in and around Stetson
Schools across Stetson average an A+, better than 98% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Carmel Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Sebasticook Valley Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Ridge View Community SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
Top middle schools
- Central Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Nokomis Regional Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
Top high schools
- Nokomis Regional High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Central High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Dexter Regional High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Stetson school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Stetson 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 Stetson against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Stetson
Is Stetson a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Stetson ranks 11,617th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, good schools, and low crime, and lowest on cell coverage and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Stetson expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $217,237. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $77,211 median income, cost of living beats 44% of towns.
Is Stetson safe?
Yes, Stetson is safer than 96% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $150 per resident a year.
Compare Stetson with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Stetson. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Stetson 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.
Stetson detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Stetson: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Stetson: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Stetson: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Stetson: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Stetson 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.