Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Eliot grades A overall, ranked 11th of 142 in Maine. It reports less crime per resident than 98% of U.S. towns. CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 81% of the country and its schools outperform 80% of the state's. What holds it back is price: the typical home is worth about $610K, 6.6 years of the Portland metro’s $92K median household income. Eliot has 4 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Frost Garrison and House and Paul Family Farm. Only 3 of the 79 Maine towns we compare have a lower property crime rate than Eliot. The biggest park or preserve is Mount Agamenticus Wildlife Management Area, at 194 acres.
Where Eliot beats most towns.
Where Eliot’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 Eliot is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for safety (better than 98% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 13%), so the A overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,650 in 1810, 6,717 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1830 and 5 maps from 1916 on.
4 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Eliot. Close and well known come first.
30 mi Ancient siteAmerica's Stonehenge
9 mi LighthouseCape Neddick Light
5 mi MuseumStrawbery Banke
6 mi LandmarkFort William and Mary
34 mi Theme parkCanobie Lake Park
15 mi LighthouseBoon Island LightAmerica's Stonehenge: User:Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Cape Neddick Light: Stefan Hillebrand, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Strawbery Banke: Ken Gallager (Ken Gallager from en.wikipedia), Public domain · Fort William and Mary: AlexiusHoratius, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Canobie Lake Park: Alex1961, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Boon Island Light: Originally uploaded by Dk69, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Eliot, 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 Eliot.
Eliot sends many workers across the state line to Dover and reports less crime than South Berwick or any other graded neighbor, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of Maine.
Its A+ tops all 3 graded towns on its borders; South Berwick (A) comes closest. Violent crime is rare: 1 reported in 2025, 0.1 per 1,000 residents.
Eliot’s violent crime rate is 0.1 per 1,000 residents, where Maine’s towns sit at 0.6 and U.S. towns at 1.6.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Its A− for schools comes with a D for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $610K.
Its public schools are run by RSU 35/MSAD 35. One of its 3 schools is below, with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marshwood Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 490 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within ME on state tests and graduation
At 6.6 years of the Portland metro’s $92K median household income, the typical home (about $610K) costs more against local pay than in 86% of Maine towns; that ratio is one input to its D for cost of living.
Eliot’s median rent is $1,948 a month, above both the Maine town median ($1,106 a month) and the median of U.S. towns ($1,185 a month). The typical Eliot home is worth about $610,000, up 0.6% in a year, 48% above the Maine typical home.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its widest gap with Maine is tooth loss: 9% of those 65+ have lost all their teeth, against 14.8% statewide.
29% of Eliot adults sleep under 7 hours. Eliot beats the Maine average on 12 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 20% of Eliot adults get no exercise outside work.
| Eliot | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 33% | 36% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 32% | 33% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 23% | 25% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 14% | 14% |
| What stands out | Eliot | ME |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 9% | 14.8% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7.4% | 10.7% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
13 miles of trail in 8 parks and preserves.
| Eliot | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 6.8% | 4.7% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Eliot Town Forest | 2.9 mi | 154 |
| 2. Goodwin Forest | 1.5 mi | 86 |
| 3. Douglas Memorial Woods | 0.9 mi | 29 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
38% of working residents cross a state line to work, Dover among the top destinations. Jobs based here grew from 1,043 in 2013 to 1,480.
Jobs based in Eliot grew to 1,480 in 2023, 437 more than in 2013. The median household income in Eliot is $102,000. Most working residents leave Eliot for work: only 11% work in town.
| Eliot | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $102,000 | $78,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 4.8% | 9% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 17% | 14% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 69% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 8 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Eliot.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The Eliot weather station records that 56 inches of snow fall in a normal winter: more than most of the country, but less than 95% of Maine places with climate records. July afternoons average 81.2°: cooler than most of the country, but hotter than 99% of Maine places with climate records; January nights average 15.2°.
Eliot has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. Eliot’s July high is 81°F.
| Eliot | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 81°F | 79°F | 85°F |
| January low | 15°F | 10°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
People 65 and older are 28% of residents (22% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 16% of residents (20% statewide). 44% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Eliot. Eliot has grown 14% since 2020, to 7,643 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Eliot | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 50.8 years | 44.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 44% | 32% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 16% | 18% | 22% |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.2 points. Across Maine, 50.7% of residents are women.
| Eliot | ME | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.6% | 9.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 6.6% | 8.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5.9% | 8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 9.7% | 12% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.2% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.2% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 16.8% | 15.1% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 19.3% | 13.4% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 8.5% | 8.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 0.6% | 5.2% | 10.4% |
| High school | 28.5% | 30.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 13.7% | 18.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 13.5% | 10.4% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 25.2% | 22.5% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 18.4% | 13.7% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
3 within 15 miles of the center of Eliot
About 2 of every 100 Eliot residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Maine.
4 places in Eliot on the National Register of Historic Places.
Town in Maine, United States
Eliot is a town in York County, Maine, United States. Originally settled in 1623, it was formerly a part of Kittery, to its east. After Kittery, it is the next most southern town in the state of Maine, lying on the Piscataqua River across from Portsmouth and Newington, New Hampshire. The population was 6,717 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area. The town contains the census-designated place of South Eliot. Eliot is home to Ambush Rock, Green Acre, and the Raitt Homestead Farm Museum.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with Eliot.
| Town | ME rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eliot | #11 | A | D | A+ | A− | A− |
| South Berwick | #20 | A− | D | A | A− | A |
| South Eliot | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Kittery | #43 | B+ | D | B+ | B | A− |
| York | #7 | A | C− | A | A | A− |
South Eliot isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Eliot with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Eliot grades A overall, better than 86% of U.S. towns and #11 of 142 in Maine. It grades A− for health, A+ for safety and A− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
2 notable people were born here, including John Fremont Hill and Rick McKenney.
.jpg){kind=link}