Best PlacesWest Harrington, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around West Harrington, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
West Harrington ranks 15,036th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in West Harrington
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.
West Harrington's strengths and weaknesses
Where West Harrington ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 92% of towns
- QuietBetter than 92% of towns
- Short commute19.6 minutes each way, better than 89% of towns
Where West Harrington ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in West Harrington
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median West Harrington home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,454, 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 West Harrington's effective rate of 0.99%, 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 West Harrington
West Harrington 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 West Harrington.
Who works in West Harrington, and how
Work in West Harrington centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in West Harrington
The coast is about 29 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across West Harrington, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in West Harrington, month by month
West Harrington sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 25° | 16° |
| April | 53° | 42° | 32° |
| July | 79° | 67° | 58° |
| October | 61° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of West Harrington
The nearest airport, Hancock County/Bar Harbor, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 221 miles away.
The best schools in and around West Harrington
Schools across West Harrington average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Harrington Elementary SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
Top high schools
- Narraguagus High SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every West Harrington school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
West Harrington 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 West Harrington against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in West Harrington
Is West Harrington a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, West Harrington ranks 15,036th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, cheap car insurance, and clean air, and lowest on an overheated housing market and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is West Harrington expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $175,760. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $63,454 median income, cost of living beats 36% of towns.
Is West Harrington safe?
Yes, West Harrington is safer than 85% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $194 per resident a year.
Compare West Harrington with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to West Harrington. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in West Harrington 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.
West Harrington detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for West Harrington: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in West Harrington: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of West Harrington: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in West Harrington: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
West Harrington 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.