Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 12,982.
Because it does well by almost any measure. Falmouth earns an A, 4th of 142 graded towns in Maine. Residents are healthier than 98% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates, its schools outperform 97% of the state's, and the median household earns $151K. The exception is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $890K, 9.7 years of the Portland metro’s $92K median household income. 73% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Falmouth, above both Maine’s towns (32%) and U.S. towns (29%). On the outdoors, just 5 of Maine’s 285 towns do better. Falmouth has 8 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Baxter Summer Home and Payson House at Thornhurst.
Where Falmouth beats most towns.
13.8% of the town is conserved land, across 49 parks and preserves.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Maine), ordered by how far Falmouth is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for health (better than 98% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 6%), so the A overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 2,994 in 1790, a low of 1,488 in 1910, 12,444 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1781 and 5 maps from 1893 on.
8 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Falmouth. Close and well known come first.
9 mi LighthousePortland Head Light
6 mi LandmarkFort Gorges24 mi Ancient sitePopham Colony
6 mi MuseumMaine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum
6 mi MuseumPortland Museum of Art
17 mi Theme parkFuntown Splashtown USAPortland Head Light: Aniarku, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fort Gorges: Dirk Ingo Franke, CC BY 3.0 · Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum: No machine-readable author provided. Gwernol assumed (based on copyright claims), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Portland Museum of Art: John Phelan, CC BY 3.0 · Funtown Splashtown USA: Paulec252, CC BY-SA 4.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Falmouth, 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 Falmouth.
Falmouth is among the three healthiest towns in Maine and has schools in the top 5% of Maine, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of Maine.
At 9.7 years of the Portland metro’s $92K median household income, the typical home (about $890K) costs more against local pay than in 99% of Maine towns; that ratio is one input to its D for cost of living. Its typical home is the priciest on its borders; Cumberland is next at $747K.
84% of Falmouth households own their home. The typical Falmouth home is worth about $890,000, up 2.9% in a year, about twice the Maine typical home. On the market in the town: a median 22 days to sell.
| Falmouth | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,120 a month | $1,106 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 84% | 81% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
That grade ranks #2 of the 142 Maine towns we grade for schools. It is the best School Grade on its borders; Cumberland (A) is next.
Three of its 5 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. Its public schools are run by the Falmouth Public Schools. The largest public high school is Falmouth High School, with 669 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Falmouth Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 871 | A+ |
| Falmouth High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 669 | A+ |
| Falmouth Middle SchoolTop results in townGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 438 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within ME on state tests and graduation
Its A for the outdoors ranks #4 of 143 in Maine.
More trails than any other town in Maine. North Falmouth Community Forest, at 426 acres with 6.9 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Trails total 104 miles in 49 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. North Falmouth Community Forest | 6.9 mi | 426 |
| 2. Blackstrap Hill Preserve | 6.2 mi | 334 |
| 3. Hadlock Community Forest | 4.8 mi | 308 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
It ranks #2 of the 143 Maine towns we grade on the CDC estimates behind the Health Grade. Its widest gap with Maine is tooth loss: 6.3% of those 65+ have lost all their teeth, against 14.8% statewide.
For adults in Falmouth, the share who have diabetes is 8.5%. Of the 143 Maine towns we compare, none has a lower share of adults who have obesity than Falmouth. Also worth knowing: the town does better than the Maine average on 26 of 32 CDC measures and worse on 1.
| Falmouth | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 33% | 36% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 33% | 35% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 7.8% | 15% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 18% | 17% |
| What stands out | Falmouth | ME |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 6.3% | 14.8% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 4.9% | 10.7% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.2% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Reported crimes fell from 87 to 55 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings. Violent crime is rare: 4 reported in 2025, 0.3 per 1,000 residents.
Falmouth’s level of violent crime is 0.3 per 1,000 residents. Its level of property crime is 3.9 per 1,000 residents.
| Falmouth | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.9 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.3 per 1,000 residents | 0.6 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Falmouth’s FEMA risk score stands at 23 of 100. Expected losses in Falmouth break down as 42% from inland flooding and 25% from hurricanes. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Falmouth after 15 declared disasters, most recently in 2024.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The Portland Intl Jetport weather station, 6 miles away, records that 69 inches of snow fall in a normal winter: more than most of the country, but less than 85% of Maine places with climate records. The Portland Intl Jetport weather station, 6 miles away, records that about 5 days a year reach 90°: fewer than most of the country, but more than 79% of Maine places with climate records.
In Falmouth, the midsummer high is 79°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
33.6% of workers work from home, against 15.9% across Maine.
Since 2013, Falmouth has added 1,272 jobs, to 7,204 in 2023. Most people who work leave Falmouth to do it: just 13% work in town. No town among the 143 in Maine we compare has a higher share of workers working from home than Falmouth. In Falmouth, 2.3% of residents live below the poverty line.
| Falmouth | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 34% | 14% | 11% |
| Median household income | $151,000 | $78,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 2.3% | 9% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
5 within 15 miles of the center of Falmouth
About 5 of every 100 Falmouth residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Maine.
11,185 counted in 2010 and 12,444 in 2020; an estimated 12,982 in 2025.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
8 places in Falmouth on the National Register of Historic Places.
7 notable people were born in Falmouth.
Town in Maine, United States
Falmouth ( FAL-məth) is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. Falmouth is included in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England City and Town Area. The population was 12,444 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area. A northern suburb of Portland, Falmouth borders Casco Bay and offers one of the largest anchorages in Maine.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Falmouth.
Windham next door grades lower for schools (B to Falmouth’s A+) and higher for cost of living (B− to D).
| Town | ME rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Falmouth | #4 | A | D | A | A+ | A+ |
| Portland | #102 | C | D | C | D | A |
| Westbrook | #78 | C+ | C− | B− | D | A− |
| Cumberland | #1 | A+ | D | A+ | A | A+ |
| Long Island | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Windham | #6 | A | B− | A− | B | A |
Long Island isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Falmouth with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Falmouth grades A overall, better than 95% of U.S. towns and #4 of 142 in Maine. It grades A+ for health, A for safety and A+ for schools, and has the most trail per square mile in the state. 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.
7 notable people were born here, including Joseph Cummings and Daniel Ilsley. Its 104 miles of trails, 2.9 per square mile, are the densest network of any Maine town.
