Best PlacesWells Branch, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wells Branch, 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.
Wells Branch ranks 1,895th 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 Wells Branch
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.
Wells Branch's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wells Branch ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Household income$131,146 median, better than 95% of towns
Where Wells Branch ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 12% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,184 a month, better than only 14% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wells Branch
A household needs to earn about $119,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wells Branch home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $131,146, 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 Wells Branch's effective rate of 0.92%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Wells Branch
Wells Branch 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 Wells Branch.
Who works in Wells Branch, and how
Work in Wells Branch centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Wells Branch
The coast is about 16 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Wells Branch, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Wells Branch, month by month
Wells Branch sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 25° | 14° |
| April | 57° | 44° | 32° |
| July | 85° | 71° | 58° |
| October | 64° | 51° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Wells Branch
The nearest airport, Portland International Jetport, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 74 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wells Branch
Schools across Wells Branch average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sea Road SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
Top high schools
- Kennebunk High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wells Branch school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wells Branch 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 Wells Branch against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wells Branch
Is Wells Branch a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wells Branch ranks 1,895th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, cheap car insurance, and civic engagement, and lowest on state infrastructure and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wells Branch expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $447,700. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $131,146 median income, cost of living beats 93% of towns.
Is Wells Branch safe?
Yes, Wells Branch is safer than 96% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $148 per resident a year.
Compare Wells Branch with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wells Branch. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wells Branch 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.
Wells Branch detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wells Branch: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wells Branch: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wells Branch: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wells Branch: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wells Branch 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.