Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Gray grades B overall, 60th among Maine's 142 graded towns, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. Residents are healthier than 86% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates and the median household earns $95K. Its lowest everyday mark is in cost of living: the typical home is worth about $520K, 5.6 years of the Portland metro’s $92K median household income. Only 22 of Maine’s 285 towns score higher on hazard risk. Gray has 4 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Pennell Institute and Stimson Memorial Hall. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 83% of U.S. towns.
Where Gray beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Gray | ME |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 9.7% | 14.8% |
Pennell Institute
Census counts: 577 in 1790, a low of 577 in 1790, 8,269 in 2020. The archive holds 23 old photos and papers going back to 1795 and 4 maps from 1894 on.
4 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Maine), ordered by how far Gray is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Gray. Close and well known come first.
21 mi LighthousePortland Head Light
18 mi LandmarkFort Gorges31 mi Ancient sitePopham Colony
39 mi Scenic railwayConway Scenic Railroad
18 mi MuseumMaine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum
18 mi MuseumPortland Museum of ArtPortland Head Light: Aniarku, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fort Gorges: Dirk Ingo Franke, CC BY 3.0 · Conway Scenic Railroad: Pi.1415926535, CC BY-SA 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
Who provides power, water and the rest in Gray, 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 Gray.
For Gray, the density of trails is 0.9 miles per square mile. Trails total 41 miles in 13 parks and preserves. Pineland Public Land, at 423 acres with 3.2 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Gray | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.9 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 5% | 4.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Libby Hill Forest | 5 mi | 86 |
| 2. Pineland Public Land | 3.2 mi | 423 |
| 3. Thayer Brook Preserve | 2 mi | 148 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by RSU 15/MSAD 15. Below: Two of its 4 schools, each with why it was picked. The largest public high school is Gray-New Gloucester High School, with 573 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gray-New Gloucester Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 5–8 | Grades 5–8 | 519 | A− |
| Gray-New Gloucester High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 573 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within ME on state tests and graduation
Gray: 12% of adults report frequent physical distress. Only 10 of the 143 Maine towns we compare have a lower share of adults who have diabetes than Gray. 30% of adults sleep under 7 hours locally, below both Maine’s towns (33%) and U.S. towns (36%). Among adults in the town, 17% get no exercise outside work and 18% binge drink.
| Gray | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 33% | 35% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 23% | 25% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 15% | 16% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 33% | 36% |
| What stands out | Gray | ME |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 9.7% | 14.8% |
| Fewer adults who get no exercise | 16.7% | 23.1% |
| More binge drinkers | 18.3% | 15.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Paid flood insurance claims in Gray since 1978: 5. Compared with 81% of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage in the town is lower. FEMA puts just over two fifths of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 25% to hurricanes. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Gray after 14 declared disasters, most recently in 2024.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
3.5% of residents live below the poverty line in Gray, against 9% in Maine’s towns and 9.6% across U.S. towns. Between 2013 and 2023, jobs in the town rose by 386, to 2,382. For half of commuters, work is under 16 miles away. In Gray, the typical journey to work is 29 minutes.
| Gray | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 3.5% | 9% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 29 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $95,000 | $78,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 12% | 15% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Gray’s typical rent comes in at $1,371 a month. Home values are up 7.5% over the year to September 2026. Among households locally, 82% are owner-occupiers.
| Gray | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,371 a month | $1,106 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 82% | 81% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
The Gray weather station, 6 miles away, records that 84 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 95% of U.S. towns. The Gray weather station, 6 miles away, records that about 5 days a year reach 90°: fewer than most of the country, but more than 93% of Maine places with climate records.
Gray’s peak summer temperature stands at 80°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Gray is growing: up 5.2% since 2020, to 8,676 residents (2025 estimate). Age groups here sit within 4 points of the Maine average. For adults 25 and older locally, the share who hold a bachelor’s degree or more is 45%.
| Gray | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 45% | 32% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 19% | 18% | 22% |
| Median age | 43.4 years | 45 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 19% | 22% | 18% |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3 points. Across Maine, 50.7% of residents are women.
| Gray | ME | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10.7% | 9.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8.3% | 8.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5.2% | 8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.6% | 12% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.1% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 13.2% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 15.7% | 15.1% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13% | 13.4% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.3% | 8.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.1% | 5.2% | 10.4% |
| High school | 23.4% | 30.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 17.6% | 18.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 10.2% | 10.4% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 32.3% | 22.5% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 12.5% | 13.7% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
2 within 15 miles of the center of Gray
About 5 of every 100 Gray residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Maine.
Where Gray’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
4 places in Gray on the National Register of Historic Places.
3 notable people were born in Gray.
Town in Maine, United States
Gray is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 8,269 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area. and included in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England City and Town Area. Gray is located at the intersection of state Routes 4, 26, 100, 115, 202 and the Maine Turnpike exit 63 midway between the state's two largest cities, Portland and Lewiston. The town includes frontage on Little Sebago Lake, Crystal Lake, and Forest Lake. Gray is home to regional headquarters for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (Maine Wildlife Park), which maintains a fish hatchery and wildlife park. It is also …
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Gray.
All 5 graded towns on its borders grade higher than its B; North Yarmouth (A−) is closest. Cumberland next door grades higher for schools (A to Gray’s B−) and lower for cost of living (D to C).
| Town | ME rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gray | #60 | B | C | — | B− | A |
| Windham | #6 | A | B− | A− | B | A |
| New Gloucester | #13 | A | B | — | B− | A− |
| Raymond | #5 | A | B+ | — | B | A |
| North Yarmouth | #15 | A− | C− | — | A | A |
| Cumberland | #1 | A+ | D | A+ | A | A+ |
Gray, New Gloucester, Raymond and North Yarmouth report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Gray with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Gray grades B overall, better than 56% of U.S. towns and #60 of 142 in Maine. It grades A for health and B− for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a C−.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
3 notable people were born here, including Samuel Mayall and Cuke Barrows.
