Best PlacesWindemere, ME Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Windemere, 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.
Windemere ranks 16,402nd 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 Windemere
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.
Windemere's strengths and weaknesses
Where Windemere ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 97% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 90% of towns
Where Windemere ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 14% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,023 a month, better than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Windemere
A household needs to earn about $61,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Windemere home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,414, 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 Windemere's effective rate of 1.06%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Windemere
Windemere runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Windemere.
Who works in Windemere, and how
Work in Windemere centers on education and hospitality & food. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 55%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 23%
Life in Windemere
The coast is about 30 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Windemere, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Windemere, month by month
Windemere sees roughly 76 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 Windemere
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 178 miles away.
The best schools in and around Windemere
Schools across Windemere average an A, better than 97% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Troy Central SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Vickery SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Mt View Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Warsaw Middle SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
- 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 Windemere school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Windemere 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 Windemere against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Windemere
Is Windemere a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Windemere ranks 16,402nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, low crime, and good schools, and lowest on state infrastructure and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Windemere expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $226,110. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $61,414 median income, cost of living beats 14% of towns.
Is Windemere safe?
Yes, Windemere is safer than 98% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $139 per resident a year.
Compare Windemere with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Windemere. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Windemere 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.
Windemere detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Windemere: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Windemere: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Windemere: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Windemere: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Windemere 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.