Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,769.
The best of Gouldsboro’s subject grades is an A+ for safety; the weakest is a D for walkability. Gouldsboro’s average trip to work is 36 minutes, against 25 minutes in Maine’s towns and 25 minutes across U.S. towns. Only 2 of Maine’s 92 towns score higher on safety. Gouldsboro has 4 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Prospect Harbor Light Station and West Gouldsboro Union Church. Gouldsboro has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Gouldsboro beats most towns.
Coastal flooding makes up 25% of the storm damage FEMA expects here.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA · OpenStreetMap
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Maine), ordered by how far Gouldsboro is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 267 in 1790, 1,703 in 2020. The archive holds 11 old photos and papers going back to 1995 and 4 maps from 1904 on.
4 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Gouldsboro. Close and well known come first.
Big draw4 mi National ParkAcadia National Park4.1M visitors a year
9 mi MountainCadillac Mountain
37 mi LandmarkFort Knox
20 mi LighthouseBass Harbor Head Light
7 mi MuseumAbbe Museum
14 mi MuseumIslesford Historical Museum and Blue Duck Ships StoreAcadia National Park: Plh1234us, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Cadillac Mountain: The original uploader was NightThree at English Wikipedia., CC BY 2.0 · Fort Knox: Unknown, Public domain · Bass Harbor Head Light: G. Edward Johnson, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Abbe Museum: AbbeMuseum, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Islesford Historical Museum and Blue Duck Ships Store: Thomson M, CC BY 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Gouldsboro, 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 Gouldsboro.
Gouldsboro’s property crime rate is 1.1 per 1,000 residents, below both Maine’s towns (7.5) and U.S. towns (9.9). The violent crime rate in Gouldsboro is 0 per 1,000 residents.
| Gouldsboro | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.1 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0 per 1,000 residents | 0.6 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Its public schools are run by RSU 24. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peninsula SchLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 65 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within ME on state tests and graduation
Gouldsboro’s median age is 60.2 years. Gouldsboro has grown 4.1% since 2020, to 1,769 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 13% of Gouldsboro residents are under 18.
| Gouldsboro | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 60.2 years | 44.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 13% | 18% | 22% |
Somewhere between 43% and 65% women
The Census survey reached too few of Gouldsboro’s residents to say more: its margin here is ±11.4 points. Across Maine, 50.7% of residents are women.
| Gouldsboro | ME | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 6.6% | 9.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 6.4% | 8.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5.8% | 8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 3.8% | 12% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 8.4% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 20.2% | 15.1% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 19.5% | 13.4% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 19.3% | 8.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 3.7% | 5.2% | 10.4% |
| High school | 44.6% | 30.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 11.2% | 18.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 10.2% | 10.4% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 18.6% | 22.5% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 11.8% | 13.7% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,800, single groups can be off by several points
Since 2013, Gouldsboro has added 94 jobs, to 308 in 2023. The top destinations are Ellsworth (14%), Winter Harbor (9%) and Bar Harbor (7%). Half commute less than 18 miles.
| Gouldsboro | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $61,000 | $78,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 7.2% | 9% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 13% | 12% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Gouldsboro has cold winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 77° and January nights drop to 14°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
20 miles of trail in 11 parks and preserves. Forbes Pond Preserve, at 989 acres with 3 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Gouldsboro | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 9.9% | 4.7% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Forbes Pond Preserve | 3 mi | 989 |
| 2. Day Ridges Preserve | 3 mi | 300 |
| 3. Acadia National Park | 1.7 mi | 323 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Gouldsboro beats the Maine average on 3 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 6. 29% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Gouldsboro. Among 144 Maine towns, just 5 have a higher share of adults who had a checkup this year than Gouldsboro.
| Gouldsboro | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 33% | 36% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 84% | 81% | 79% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 15% | 16% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 35% | 35% |
| What stands out | Gouldsboro | ME |
|---|---|---|
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 80.9% | 76.4% |
| More adults getting a yearly checkup | 84.1% | 81.2% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 12.3% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 55% of U.S. communities. Since 1997, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Gouldsboro.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The typical Gouldsboro home is worth about $411,000, up 6% in a year, close to the Maine typical home.
| Gouldsboro | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 83% | 81% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,298 a month | $1,106 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
1 within 15 miles of the center of Gouldsboro
About 2 of every 100 Gouldsboro residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Maine.
Where Gouldsboro’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
4 places in Gouldsboro on the National Register of Historic Places.
Town in Maine, United States
Gouldsboro is a town and municipality in Hancock County, Maine, United States on the Schoodic Peninsula. The town was named for Robert Gould, a landholder in the town. The town has many historically separate fishing villages, summer colonies and communities, including Birch Harbor, Prospect Harbor, South Gouldsboro, West Gouldsboro, Summer Harbor, Wonsqueak Harbor, Bunker's Harbor, Chicken Mill, Jones' Pond, Westbay, and Corea. The population was 1,703 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Gouldsboro.
| Town | ME rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gouldsboro | — | — | C+ | A+ | C | B |
| Steuben | — | — | A− | — | C | D |
| Winter Harbor | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Bar Harbor | #18 | A− | D | A | A+ | A− |
| Sorrento | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Sullivan | — | — | A− | — | C | C+ |
| Hancock | #112 | C− | C+ | — | D | B+ |
Gouldsboro, Steuben and Sullivan have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Steuben, Sullivan and Hancock report no FBI crime data of their own. Winter Harbor and Sorrento aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Gouldsboro with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
That is 5.6 years of the area's median household income ($72,744 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+.
