Best PlacesThorndike, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Thorndike, 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.
Thorndike ranks 15,632nd 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 Thorndike
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.
Thorndike's strengths and weaknesses
Where Thorndike ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 97% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 90% of towns
Where Thorndike ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 11% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 23% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,023 a month, better than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Thorndike
A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Thorndike home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,343, 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 Thorndike's effective rate of 1.04%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Thorndike
Thorndike runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Thorndike.
Who works in Thorndike, and how
Work in Thorndike centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Thorndike
The coast is about 24 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Thorndike, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Thorndike, month by month
Thorndike sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 23° | 13° |
| April | 56° | 43° | 32° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 62° | 50° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Thorndike
The nearest airport, Bangor International, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 175 miles away.
The best schools in and around Thorndike
Schools across Thorndike average an A, better than 97% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Morse Memorial SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Troy Central SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Mt View Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mt View Middle SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
Top high schools
- Mt View High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Thorndike school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Thorndike 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 Thorndike against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Thorndike
Is Thorndike a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Thorndike ranks 15,632nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, low crime, and good schools, and lowest on state infrastructure and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Thorndike expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $177,811. The overall cost of living runs about 0% below the national average. Set against a $68,343 median income, cost of living beats 23% of towns.
Is Thorndike safe?
Yes, Thorndike is safer than 97% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $146 per resident a year.
Compare Thorndike with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Thorndike. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Thorndike 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.
Thorndike detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Thorndike: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Thorndike: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Thorndike: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Thorndike: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Thorndike 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.