Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 2,492, settled in 1775.
Manchester’s best subject grades are an A− for health, schools, and civic life; its weakest is a C for walkability. On hazard risk, just 2 of Maine’s 285 towns do better. 48% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Manchester, above both the Maine town median (32%) and the median of U.S. towns (29%). 15% of the land in Manchester is conserved, where Maine’s towns sit at 4.7% and U.S. towns at 4.3%. Jamies Pond Wildlife Management Area, at 907 acres with 4.6 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Manchester has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Manchester beats most towns.
Where Manchester’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 Manchester is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 813 in 1860, a low of 485 in 1920, 2,456 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1984 and 5 maps from 1892 on.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Manchester, 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 Manchester.
The FEMA risk score in Manchester is 13 of 100. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Manchester since 2012.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Its public schools are run by RSU 38. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 150 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within ME on state tests and graduation
Manchester beats the Maine average on 7 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 13% of adults binge drink in Manchester. Only 6 of the 144 Maine towns we compare have a lower share of adults who feel lonely than Manchester.
| Manchester | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 15% | 16% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 32% | 33% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 18% | 17% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 83% | 81% | 79% |
| What stands out | Manchester | ME |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7.5% | 10.7% |
| Fewer adults without reliable transportation | 5.9% | 7.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Most working residents leave Manchester for work: only 6% work in town. Manchester’s average trip to work is 20 minutes. Since 2013, Manchester has added 41 jobs, to 746 in 2023.
| Manchester | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 4.5% | 9% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $92,000 | $78,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 6.5% | 12% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Manchester has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 79°, January nights drop to 10° and about 69 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
24 miles of trail in 8 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Allen Whitney Memorial Forest | 10.2 mi | 702 |
| 2. Jamies Pond Wildlife Management Area | 4.6 mi | 907 |
| 3. Tyler Pond Wildlife Management Area | 1.4 mi | 135 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The typical Manchester home is worth about $393,000, up 0.8% in a year, close to the Maine typical home. 85% of Manchester households own their home.
| Manchester | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 85% | 81% | 73% |
| Median rent | $993 a month | $1,106 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Manchester. Close and well known come first.
5 mi MuseumMaine State Museum
39 mi LighthousePemaquid Point Light
34 mi GardenCoastal Maine Botanical Gardens
28 mi National MonumentFrances Perkins National Monument
31 mi MuseumMaine Maritime Museum
18 mi MuseumColby College Museum of ArtMaine State Museum: Stilfehler, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Pemaquid Point Light: WestportWiki, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens: CMBG editor, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Frances Perkins National Monument: Robert Reed, NPS employee (per the same source), Public domain · Maine Maritime Museum: Maine Maritime Museum, CC BY 3.0 · Colby College Museum of Art: Colby Mariam, CC BY-SA 4.0
1 within 15 miles of the center of Manchester
About 3 of every 100 Manchester residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Maine.
Town in Maine, United States
Manchester is a town in Kennebec County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,456 at the 2020 census. The southern part of the town bordering Cobbosseecontee Lake is a popular recreation spot in central Maine, and part of the Winthrop Lakes Region. Manchester is included in the Augusta, Maine micropolitan and included in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England City and Town Area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with Manchester.
| Town | ME rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester | — | — | C+ | — | A− | A− |
| Augusta | #140 | D− | C+ | D | D | C |
| Farmingdale | #93 | C | B− | — | B | C+ |
| Hallowell | #27 | A− | C | A | B | B |
| Readfield | #29 | A− | C | — | A− | A− |
| Winthrop | #48 | B | C+ | B+ | B+ | B |
| West Gardiner | #71 | B− | C+ | — | B− | B− |
| Belgrade | #45 | B+ | B− | — | B+ | A− |
Manchester has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Manchester, Farmingdale, Readfield, West Gardiner and Belgrade report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Manchester with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
That is 5.7 years of the area's median household income ($69,077 across the Augusta-Waterville, ME area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
