Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Dayton’s best subject grade is an A for incomes; its weakest is a C for walkability. On incomes, just 5 of Maine’s 285 towns do better. Only 7 of Maine’s 285 towns score lower on the outdoors. Levi Foss House is on the National Register of Historic Places. Only 25 of Maine’s 285 towns score lower on civic life. Dayton has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Dayton beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Dayton Consolidated School | PK–5 | 128 |
Levi Foss HouseWhere Dayton’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Maine), ordered by how far Dayton is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 701 in 1860, a low of 379 in 1930, 2,129 in 2020. The archive holds 4 old photos and papers going back to 2016 and 3 maps from 1891 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Dayton. Close and well known come first.
38 mi LakeLake Winnipesaukee
19 mi LighthousePortland Head Light
19 mi LandmarkFort Gorges
11 mi MuseumSeashore Trolley Museum
27 mi LighthouseCape Neddick Light
8 mi Theme parkFuntown Splashtown USALake Winnipesaukee: No machine-readable author provided. JohnJHenderson~commonswiki assumed (based o, Public domain · Portland Head Light: Aniarku, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fort Gorges: Dirk Ingo Franke, CC BY 3.0 · Seashore Trolley Museum: Rene Schwietzke from Jena, Germany, CC BY 2.0 · 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 Dayton, 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 Dayton.
Most working residents leave Dayton for work: only 5% work in town. At 31 minutes, Dayton’s average trip to work is above both Maine’s towns (25 minutes) and U.S. towns (25 minutes). Dayton’s median household income is $114,000.
| Dayton | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 31 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $114,000 | $78,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 3.7% | 9% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 16% | 14% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by the Dayton Public Schools. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dayton Consolidated SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 128 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within ME on state tests and graduation
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 78% of U.S. communities. Since 2006, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Dayton.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Dayton has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. At 81°F, Dayton’s July high is above the Maine town median (79°F) but below the median of U.S. towns (85°F).
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
People 65 and older are 14% of residents (22% statewide); adults 35 to 64 are 44% of residents (40% statewide). Dayton has grown 2.7% since 2020, to 2,182 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 28% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 36% across Maine.
| Dayton | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 14% | 22% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 20% | 18% | 22% |
| Median age | 42.1 years | 44.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 28% | 32% | 29% |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±4.3 points. Across Maine, 50.7% of residents are women.
| Dayton | ME | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 8.9% | 9.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 11.5% | 8.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 10.9% | 8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 10.3% | 12% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.3% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 13.6% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 20.1% | 15.1% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 7.8% | 13.4% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.5% | 8.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 3.7% | 5.2% | 10.4% |
| High school | 36.6% | 30.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 14.6% | 18.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 17.5% | 10.4% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 24.5% | 22.5% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 3.1% | 13.7% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 2,200, single groups can be off by several points
The typical Dayton home is worth about $492,000, up 1.1% in a year, 19% above the Maine typical home. 90% of households own their home in Dayton.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Dayton beats the Maine average on 7 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 2. 18% of Dayton adults binge drink. Among 144 Maine towns, just 8 have a lower share of adults who had a checkup this year than Dayton.
| Dayton | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 15% | 16% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 18% | 17% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 27% | 23% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 9.7% | 11% | 12% |
| What stands out | Dayton | ME |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 6.5% | 7.6% |
| Fewer adults with diabetes | 9.7% | 11.2% |
| More binge drinkers | 17.9% | 15.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
5.4 miles of trail in 0 parks and preserves. Among 144 Maine towns, just 10 have a lower share of conserved land than Dayton.
| Dayton | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.3% | 4.7% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
2 within 15 miles of the center of Dayton
About 5 of every 100 Dayton residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Maine.
Town in Maine, United States
Dayton is a town in York County, Maine, United States; the town is located near the Saco-Biddeford city area. Dayton borders Biddeford by land, and borders Saco on the Saco River. It is also part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area. The population was 2,129 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Dayton.
| Town | ME rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dayton | — | — | B− | — | B+ | B |
| Hollis | #61 | B | B | — | C+ | B |
| Buxton | #31 | A− | B− | A− | C+ | A− |
| Saco | #22 | A− | C | B | A− | A− |
| Biddeford | #115 | C− | C− | C− | C− | B |
| Lyman | #44 | B+ | B | — | B+ | B |
Dayton has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Dayton, Hollis and Lyman report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Dayton with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
That is 5.3 years of the area's median household income ($92,175 across the Portland-South Portland, ME metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
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