Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
4.7 times the nonprofits per person than the typical Maine town.
Damariscotta’s best subject grades are an A− for schools, an A+ for civic life, and an A for history; its weakest is a C− for cost of living. 31% of residents are 65 or older in Damariscotta, above both Maine’s towns (22%) and U.S. towns (18%). On civic life, just 7 of Maine’s 285 towns do better. Salt Bay Farm, at 112 acres with 3 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Damariscotta has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Damariscotta beats most towns.
Chapman-Hall House
Census counts: 1,328 in 1850, a low of 771 in 1910, 2,297 in 2020. The archive holds 30 old photos and papers going back to 1754 and 5 maps from 1893 on.
7 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Maine), ordered by how far Damariscotta is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Damariscotta, 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 Damariscotta.
About one in 4 of Damariscotta’s working residents works in town. At $59,000, Damariscotta’s median household income is where Maine’s towns sit at $78,000 and U.S. towns at $80,000. Since 2013, Damariscotta has added 196 jobs, to 2,395 in 2023.
| Damariscotta | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 23% | 12% | 8% |
| Median household income | $59,000 | $78,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 12% | 9% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by Great Salt Bay CSD. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Great Salt Bay Community SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–8 | Grades PK–8 | 397 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within ME on state tests and graduation
The median age in Damariscotta is 49.3 years. 42% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 36% across Maine.
| Damariscotta | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 49.3 years | 44.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 42% | 32% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 19% | 18% | 22% |
57% women, 43% men
About 77 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±5.1 points). Across Maine, 50.7% of residents are women. Among residents 45 to 54, 63% are women (ME 50%).
| Damariscotta | ME | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 11.6% | 9.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 7.8% | 8.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 2.5% | 8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.8% | 12% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.1% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 7.8% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 14.2% | 15.1% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 17.9% | 13.4% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 13.2% | 8.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 3.6% | 5.2% | 10.4% |
| High school | 27.9% | 30.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 21.3% | 18.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 5.3% | 10.4% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 23.2% | 22.5% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 18.7% | 13.7% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 2,300, single groups can be off by several points
Damariscotta has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. Damariscotta’s July high is 77°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 65% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 7 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Damariscotta.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
12% of adults binge drink in Damariscotta. Among 144 Maine towns, just 7 have a lower share of adults who sleep under 7 hours than Damariscotta. 13% of adults smoke cigarettes in Damariscotta.
| Damariscotta | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 15% | 16% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 33% | 36% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 85% | 81% | 79% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 35% | 35% |
| What stands out | Damariscotta | ME |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer binge drinkers | 12.1% | 15.5% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 8% | 9.8% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 13.1% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The typical Damariscotta home is worth about $477,000, down 2.6% in a year, 16% above the Maine typical home. 70% of Damariscotta households own their home.
| Damariscotta | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 70% | 81% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,027 a month | $1,106 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Damariscotta's reported crime rate is close to Maine's. Most reported incidents are property crimes, mainly thefts. Violent crime is rare: 2 reported in 2024.
| Damariscotta | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2024) | 0.9 per 1,000 residents | 0.6 | 1.7 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2024) | 12.6 per 1,000 residents | 10 | 11.5 |
FBI crime data, 2024 · crimes reported to police
| Damariscotta | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 6.2% | 4.7% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Salt Bay Farm | 3 mi | 112 |
| 2. Castner Brook Community Forest | 1.2 mi | 89 |
| 3. Round Top Farm | 0.9 mi | 26 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Damariscotta. Close and well known come first.
13 mi LighthousePemaquid Point Light
3 mi National MonumentFrances Perkins National Monument
13 mi GardenCoastal Maine Botanical Gardens25 mi LandmarkSpirit Pond runestones
20 mi MuseumFarnsworth Art MuseumPemaquid Point Light: WestportWiki, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Frances Perkins National Monument: Robert Reed, NPS employee (per the same source), Public domain · Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens: CMBG editor, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Farnsworth Art Museum: Panoramio user MementoMori, CC BY 3.0
None within 15 miles of Damariscotta; the nearest are
About 2 of every 100 Damariscotta residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Maine.
Where Damariscotta’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
7 places in Damariscotta on the National Register of Historic Places.
8 notable people were born in Damariscotta.
Town in Maine, United States
Damariscotta (/dæmrɪˈskɒtə/ DAM-rih-SKOT-ə) is a town in Lincoln County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,297 at the 2020 census. A popular tourist destination known for its oysters, the towns of Damariscotta and Newcastle are linked by the Main Street bridge over the Damariscotta River, forming the "Twin Villages". The name Damariscotta derives from an Algonquian word 'Madamescontee' which means place of abundance of small fish (alewives), and is shared with a census-designated place located within the town.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Damariscotta.
| Town | ME rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Damariscotta | — | — | C− | — | A− | B |
| Newcastle | — | — | D | — | A− | B+ |
| Bremen | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Nobleboro | — | — | C+ | — | A− | B |
| Bristol | #14 | A− | B− | — | A+ | A− |
| Waldoboro | #54 | B | B | B+ | C | B+ |
Damariscotta, Newcastle and Nobleboro have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Damariscotta, Newcastle, Nobleboro and Bristol report no FBI crime data of their own. Bremen isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Damariscotta with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
4.7 times the nonprofits per person than the typical Maine town.
Yes. That is 6.2 years of the area's median household income ($76,875 across the county). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
8 notable people were born here, including Anna Belknap and Kate Aldrich.
