Best PlacesUpper Gloucester, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Upper Gloucester, 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.
Upper Gloucester ranks 1,070th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Upper Gloucester
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.
Upper Gloucester's strengths and weaknesses
Where Upper Gloucester ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Household income$127,076 median, better than 94% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
Where Upper Gloucester ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,229 a month, better than only 13% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 66 pleasant days a year, better than only 18% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Upper Gloucester
A household needs to earn about $97,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Upper Gloucester home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $127,076, 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 Upper Gloucester's effective rate of 1.00%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Upper Gloucester
Upper Gloucester's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Upper Gloucester.
Who works in Upper Gloucester, and how
Work in Upper Gloucester 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 79%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Upper Gloucester
The coast is about 33 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Upper Gloucester, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Upper Gloucester, month by month
Upper Gloucester sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 23° | 12° |
| April | 56° | 43° | 32° |
| July | 83° | 70° | 58° |
| October | 62° | 50° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Upper Gloucester
The nearest airport, Portland International Jetport, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 118 miles away.
The best schools in and around Upper Gloucester
Schools across Upper Gloucester average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Burchard A Dunn SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
Top middle schools
- Gray-new Gloucester Middle SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
Top high schools
- Gray-new Gloucester High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Upper Gloucester school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Upper Gloucester 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 Upper Gloucester against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Upper Gloucester
Is Upper Gloucester a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Upper Gloucester ranks 1,070th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, cheap car insurance, and heat safety, and lowest on state infrastructure and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Upper Gloucester expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $362,763. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $127,076 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is Upper Gloucester safe?
Yes, Upper Gloucester is safer than 93% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $166 per resident a year.
Compare Upper Gloucester with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Upper Gloucester. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Upper Gloucester 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.
Upper Gloucester detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Upper Gloucester: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Upper Gloucester: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Upper Gloucester: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Upper Gloucester: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Upper Gloucester 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.