Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Public schools that outperform most of Maine.
The best of Pownal’s subject grades are an A for schools and an A− for incomes and health; the weakest is a D for walkability. Only 13 of Maine’s 285 towns score higher on incomes. Pownal’s trail density is 1.4 miles per square mile, above both Maine’s towns (0.7) and U.S. towns (0.4). Only 25 of Maine’s 285 towns score higher on the outdoors. Pownal's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) is stronger than in 89% of U.S. towns. Pownal has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Pownal beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Pownal Elementary School | PK–5 | 97 |
Jacob Randall HouseWhere Pownal’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 Pownal is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 2,043 in 1790, a low of 462 in 1930, 1,566 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1799 and 4 maps from 1892 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Pownal. Close and well known come first.
19 mi LighthousePortland Head Light22 mi Ancient sitePopham Colony
17 mi LandmarkFort Gorges
17 mi MuseumMaine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum
18 mi MuseumPortland Museum of Art22 mi LandmarkSpirit Pond runestonesPortland 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
Who provides power, water and the rest in Pownal, 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 Pownal.
Its public schools are run by RSU 05. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pownal Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 97 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within ME on state tests and graduation
The typical Pownal home is worth about $585,000, up 3.9% in a year, 42% above the Maine typical home.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Pownal beats the Maine average on 12 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 29% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Pownal, against 33% in Maine’s towns and 36% across U.S. towns. 28% of Pownal adults have obesity.
| Pownal | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 33% | 36% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 33% | 35% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 23% | 25% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 19% | 19% |
| What stands out | Pownal | ME |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7.7% | 10.7% |
| Fewer adults who get no exercise | 18.1% | 23.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 82% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Of the 144 Maine towns we compare, none has a lower share of working residents who work in town than Pownal. Jobs based in Pownal grew to 286 in 2023, 180 more than in 2013. 24% of workers work from home in Pownal.
| Pownal | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 24% | 14% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 30 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.1% | 12% | 8% |
| Median household income | $104,000 | $78,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Pownal has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. The July high in Pownal is 80°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
31 miles of trail in 8 parks and preserves. Bradbury Mountain State Park, at 696 acres with 19.9 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Bradbury Mountain State Park | 19.9 mi | 696 |
| 2. Bradbury-Pineland Corridor | 3.7 mi | 236 |
| 3. Pownal Town Woodlot | 0.9 mi | 222 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
4 within 15 miles of the center of Pownal
About 4 of every 100 Pownal residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Maine.
3 places in Pownal on the National Register of Historic Places.
Town in Maine, United States
Pownal is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. Pownal was included in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England City and Town Area. The population was 1,566 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine Metropolitan Statistical Area. Pownal is home to Bradbury Mountain State Park.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Pownal.
| Town | ME rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pownal | — | — | C+ | — | A | A− |
| North Yarmouth | #15 | A− | C− | — | A | A |
| Freeport | #9 | A | C− | B+ | A | A |
| Durham | #50 | B | C | — | A | B+ |
| New Gloucester | #13 | A | B | — | B− | A− |
Pownal has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Pownal, North Yarmouth, Durham and New Gloucester report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Pownal with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Public schools that outperform most of Maine.
That is 6.3 years of the area's median household income ($92,175 across the Portland-South Portland, ME metro 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+.
