Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,614. Home to 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
The best of New Sharon’s subject grades is an A− for history; the weakest is a C for health. Only 15 of Maine’s 285 towns score lower on hazard risk. Its National Register listings include New Sharon Congregational Church and Arnold Trail to Quebec. New Sharon has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where New Sharon beats most towns.
Where New Sharon’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 New Sharon is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 359 in 1800, a low of 359 in 1800, 1,458 in 2020. The archive holds 9 old photos and papers going back to 1870 and 3 maps from 1924 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Who provides power, water and the rest in New Sharon, 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 New Sharon.
90% of New Sharon households live in a home they own, where Maine’s towns sit at 81% and U.S. towns at 73%. In the year to September 2026, typical home values climbed 8.8%. The town’s median rent comes in at $961 a month.
| New Sharon | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 90% | 81% | 73% |
| Median rent | $961 a month | $1,106 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its one school is below. The public schools here belong to RSU 09. 169 students attend New Sharon’s public school.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Cod Hill Elem SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 169 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within ME on state tests and graduation
In New Sharon, the typical household income is $64,000. Only 4% of working residents stay in New Sharon for work; the rest commute out. The town’s mean commuting time stands at 30 minutes, against 25 minutes in Maine’s towns and 25 minutes across U.S. towns. Employers in New Sharon added 24 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 140.
| New Sharon | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 30 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 8.7% | 14% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 4.1% | 12% | 8% |
| Median household income | $64,000 | $78,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The share of adults in New Sharon who sleep under 7 hours: 36%. CDC measures, 32 in all: New Sharon beats Maine on 1 and trails on 7. 16% of adults in New Sharon report frequent physical distress; 18% smoke cigarettes.
| New Sharon | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 27% | 23% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 14% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 15% | 14% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 35% | 32% | 33% |
| What stands out | New Sharon | ME |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 12% | 14.8% |
| More smokers | 18.1% | 14.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
New Sharon’s midsummer high stands at 79°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
FEMA puts 49% of New Sharon’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 18% to hurricanes. Storm and flood damage is expected to run higher than in 60% of U.S. communities. Households locally have drawn federal disaster aid in 9 declared disasters, most recently in 2023.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Maine has 36% of adults 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or more; here it is 30%. No age group stands out against Maine: all are within 4 points. Also worth knowing: 1,614 people lived in New Sharon by the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate, 10% more than in 2020. Among residents in the town, 24% are 65 or older.
| New Sharon | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 24% | 22% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 20% | 18% | 22% |
| Median age | 43.9 years | 44.9 years | 40.5 years |
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±5.2 points. Across Maine, 50.7% of residents are women.
| New Sharon | ME | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12.5% | 9.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 7.5% | 8.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9% | 8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11% | 12% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.2% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10.1% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 16% | 15.1% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 17.4% | 13.4% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.4% | 8.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.8% | 5.2% | 10.4% |
| High school | 36.4% | 30.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 18.6% | 18.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 10.3% | 10.4% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 19.1% | 22.5% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 10.8% | 13.7% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,600, single groups can be off by several points
The biggest park or preserve is Kennebec Highlands, at 417 acres. Trails run 22 miles in 3 parks and preserves. The trail network density in New Sharon is 0.5 miles per square mile.
| New Sharon | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 5.3% | 4.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Kennebec Highlands | 0.6 mi | 417 |
| 2. Sandy River Public Boat Access | — | 7 |
| 3. Sandy River Canoe Access | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around New Sharon. Close and well known come first.
31 mi Ski areaSugarloaf137 runs · 2,769 ft vertical
33 mi Ski areaSaddleback Mountain72 runs · 1,847 ft vertical
26 mi MuseumMaine State Museum
18 mi MuseumColby College Museum of Art40 mi Ski areaMount Abram43 runs · 1,037 ft vertical31 mi Ski areaBlack Mountain of Maine29 runs · 1,227 ft verticalSugarloaf: Bubblecuffer, Public domain · Saddleback Mountain: petersent, Public domain · Maine State Museum: Stilfehler, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Colby College Museum of Art: Colby Mariam, CC BY-SA 4.0
1 within 15 miles of the center of New Sharon
About 3 of every 100 New Sharon residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Maine.
2 places in New Sharon on the National Register of Historic Places.
Town in Maine, United States
New Sharon is a town in Franklin County, Maine, United States, incorporated in 1794. The population was 1,458 at the 2020 census. The town is roughly bisected by the Sandy River, a tributary of the Kennebec River.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with New Sharon.
| Town | ME rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Sharon | — | — | B | — | C+ | C |
| Chesterville | — | — | C+ | — | C+ | C+ |
| Mercer | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Industry | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Starks | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Farmington | #99 | C | C+ | B− | C+ | C+ |
| Vienna | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Rome | — | — | B− | — | B+ | B− |
New Sharon, Chesterville and Rome have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. New Sharon, Chesterville and Rome report no FBI crime data of their own. Mercer, Industry, Starks and Vienna aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare New Sharon with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Home to 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
That is 4.5 years of the area's median household income ($58,675 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 B.
New Sharon has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places. 2 notable people were born here, including Ellen Russell Emerson and Charles Franklin Thwing.
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