Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Buxton grades A− overall, 31st among Maine's 142 graded towns, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. The median household earns $100K and CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 79% of the country. It also does better than most on safety: crime is low: it reports less per resident than 75% of U.S. towns. Its lowest everyday mark is in schools: its schools rank behind 63% of the state's. A typical home there costs about $469K, 5.1 years of the Portland metro’s $92K median household income. Buxton’s average trip to work is 34 minutes, where Maine’s towns sit at 25 minutes and U.S. towns at 25 minutes. On civic life, just 15 of Maine’s 285 towns do worse. Its National Register listings include Buxton Powder House and Royal Brewster House.
Where Buxton beats most towns.
Census counts: 1,508 in 1790, a low of 1,508 in 1790, 8,376 in 2020. The archive holds 24 old photos and papers going back to 1812 and 3 maps from 1891 on.
5 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Maine), ordered by how far Buxton is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Buxton. Close and well known come first.
17 mi LighthousePortland Head Light
39 mi LakeLake Winnipesaukee
16 mi LandmarkFort Gorges38 mi Ancient sitePopham Colony
33 mi LighthouseCape Neddick Light
9 mi Theme parkFuntown Splashtown USAPortland Head Light: Aniarku, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Lake Winnipesaukee: No machine-readable author provided. JohnJHenderson~commonswiki assumed (based o, Public domain · Fort Gorges: Dirk Ingo Franke, CC BY 3.0 · Cape Neddick Light: Stefan Hillebrand, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Funtown Splashtown USA: Paulec252, CC BY-SA 4.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Buxton, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Aug 3, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Buxton.
Buxton gets more snow than nearly all U.S. towns, has less tooth loss than most of Maine and is safe by national standards but not by Maine’s.
Its widest gap with Maine is tooth loss: 9.1% of those 65+ have lost all their teeth, against 14.8% statewide.
18% of Buxton adults binge drink. Buxton beats the Maine average on 14 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 9.1% of Buxton adults have diabetes.
| Buxton | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 15% | 16% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 9.1% | 11% | 12% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 14% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 23% | 25% |
| What stands out | Buxton | ME |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 9.1% | 14.8% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7.9% | 10.7% |
| More binge drinkers | 18.4% | 15.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by RSU 06/MSAD 06. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bonny Eagle Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 712 | C+ |
| Nfi Buxton - Beacon House PrivateLargest high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 7 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within ME on state tests and graduation
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 80% of U.S. communities. Since 1987, 5 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Buxton.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
At 10 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 60% of Maine’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 69 to 37 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Buxton’s property crime rate is 3.7 per 1,000 residents.
| Buxton | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.7 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.6 per 1,000 residents | 0.5 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The average commute for its 4,279 working residents takes 34.3 minutes, against 24.6 across Maine.
2.3% of residents live below the poverty line in Buxton. Jobs based in Buxton grew to 1,920 in 2023, 253 more than in 2013. Most working residents leave Buxton for work: only 8% work in town.
| Buxton | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 2.3% | 9% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $100,000 | $78,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 8.8% | 15% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 7.9% | 12% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
19 miles of trail in 7 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Town Farm Park, at 171 acres.
| Buxton | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3.7% | 4.8% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Pleasant Point Park | 2 mi | 47 |
| 2. Moses Woodman Preserve | 1.5 mi | 65 |
| 3. Town Farm Park | 0.8 mi | 171 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The Hollis weather station, 7 miles away, records that 81 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 95% of U.S. towns. The Hollis weather station, 7 miles away, records that about 7 days a year reach 90°: fewer than most of the country, but more than 90% of Maine places with climate records.
Buxton has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. The July high in Buxton is 81°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The typical Buxton home is worth about $469,000, up 2.2% in a year, 14% above the Maine typical home.
| Buxton | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,613 a month | $1,106 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 80% | 81% | 73% |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Adults 35 to 64 are 44% of residents (40% statewide). Buxton has grown 3.5% since 2020, to 8,681 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 30% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 36% across Maine.
| Buxton | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 16% | 18% | 22% |
| Median age | 45.5 years | 44.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 19% | 22% | 18% |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±4.7 points. Across Maine, 50.7% of residents are women. Among residents 18 to 24, 65% are men (ME 51%).
| Buxton | ME | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 7.7% | 9.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8.4% | 8.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 10.1% | 8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 10.3% | 12% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.9% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 15% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 16.5% | 15.1% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13.1% | 13.4% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.1% | 8.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 1.5% | 5.2% | 10.4% |
| High school | 37.7% | 30.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 14.7% | 18.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 15.8% | 10.4% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 21.1% | 22.5% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 9.2% | 13.7% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
4 within 15 miles of the center of Buxton
About 4 of every 100 Buxton residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Maine.
Where Buxton’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
5 places in Buxton on the National Register of Historic Places.
7 notable people were born in Buxton.
Town in Maine, United States
Buxton is a town in York County, Maine, United States. It is part of the Portland metropolitan area. The population was 8,376 at the 2020 census. Buxton includes the villages of Salmon Falls/Tory Hill, Chicopee, Groveville, Bar Mills, West Buxton, and Buxton Center. The old town Common is east of Union Falls, which is the location of Skelton Dam, operated by Central Maine Power, and near historic location of the original settlement at Pleasant Point.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Buxton.
Gorham next door grades higher for schools (A to Buxton’s C+) and lower for cost of living (C− to B−).
| Town | ME rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buxton | #31 | A− | B− | A− | C+ | A− |
| Hollis | #61 | B | B | — | C+ | B |
| Dayton | — | — | B− | — | B+ | B |
| Gorham | #2 | A+ | C− | A | A | A |
| Standish | #35 | B+ | B+ | — | C+ | B+ |
| Saco | #22 | A− | C | B | A− | A− |
Dayton has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Hollis, Dayton and Standish report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Buxton with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Buxton grades A− overall, better than 75% of U.S. towns and #31 of 142 in Maine. It grades A− for health, A− for safety and C+ for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
7 notable people were born here, including Alanson M. Kimball and Cyrus W. Davis.
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