Best PlacesWaldo County, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Waldo County, 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.
Waldo County ranks 456th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Waldo County
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.
The best areas in Waldo County
The parts of Waldo County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Winterport
Fewer homes sit empty, prices have run up less, and local pay stretches further.
Belfast
Streets are more walkable, though fewer households have young kids.
Searsport
Advertised internet is faster, though it is noisier.
Unity
Fewer adults hold degrees and incomes run lower.
Scores across Waldo County run from about the 39th to the 91st percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Waldo County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Waldo County ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of counties
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 99% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 98% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 91% of counties
Where Waldo County ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 5% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 7% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 11% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,023 a month, better than only 16% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Waldo County
A household needs to earn about $72,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Waldo County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,811, 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 Waldo County'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, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Waldo County
Waldo County 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 Waldo County.
Who works in Waldo County, and how
Work in Waldo County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Waldo County
The coast is about 16 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Waldo County, which the map shows.
Is Waldo County growing, and who is moving in?
Waldo County has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Bangor, ME.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Waldo County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Waldo County, month by month
Waldo County sees roughly 72 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 Waldo County
The nearest airport, Bangor International, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 176 miles away.
The best schools in and around Waldo County
Schools across Waldo County average an A+, better than 99% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Lincolnville Central SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Appleton Village SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Monroe Elementary SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
Top middle schools
- Reeds Brook Middle SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Samuel L Wagner Middle SchoolA+ · 89% proficient
- Troy A Howard Middle SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
Top high schools
- Camden Hills Regional H SA+ · 98% proficient
- Hampden AcademyA+ · 98% proficient
- Searsport District High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Waldo County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Waldo County 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 Waldo County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Waldo County suits
Common questions about living in Waldo County
Is Waldo County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Waldo County ranks 456th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low crime, good schools, and cheap car insurance, 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 Waldo County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $268,115. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $72,811 median income, cost of living beats 44% of counties.
Is Waldo County safe?
Yes, Waldo County is safer than 100% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $159 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Waldo County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 33 with lows near 12. That works out to about 72 pleasant days a year, more than 25% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Waldo County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Winterport, Belfast, and Searsport. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Waldo County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Waldo County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Waldo County 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.
Waldo County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Waldo County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Waldo County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Waldo County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Waldo County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Waldo County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.