Augusta, the state capital · Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0How Maine stacks up
No state reports less violent crime per resident than Maine: 95.0 violent crimes per 100,000 residents in 2025. Standish and Wells rank near the top of the country for home ownership; Portland and Lewiston sit near the bottom. Put together, the eight subjects come to a B+, 18th in the country.
Each subject puts the official state figure beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
3rd of 51A+96/100 Safe overall, unusually split. The gap between towns is wide: 15% of residents live in bottom-quarter places like Bangor. Maine tops the country on this measure: 95.0 violent crimes per 100,000 residents in 2025.
With property crime counted (property + 4 × violent), it places 2nd lowest.
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, state estimate 2025.
Measure: reported crime per resident over the engine’s three crime years (property + 4 × violent), as in our Safety grades. 21 Maine towns of 10,000+ against 3,410 nationally.
Two very different kinds of town
Most states with towns this safe have few at the other end; New Hampshire and Rhode Island have almost none. Orono leads its towns at #20 of 3,410 nationally, with Gorham and York close behind. Biddeford and Augusta sit at the high-crime end of the national ranking.
| State | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | 42% | 0% | |
| Rhode Island | 37% | 0% | |
| New Jersey | 35% | 20% | |
| Pennsylvania | 29% | 37% | |
| Maine | 29% | 15% | |
| Massachusetts | 29% | 24% |
Nearly every town counted
In Maine, 98% of residents of 10,000+ towns are covered. Standish reports no crime of its own, usually a sign that county or state police patrol it.
Schools
43rd of 51C−16/100 Students score below most states. Spending ranks 16th; results rank 42nd. Measured on the one test every state gives, 27% of its students reach Proficient (10th lowest). Only 0% of residents live in a town in the national top quarter, led by Falmouth.
In the class of 2023, 87.3% graduated on time, 22nd highest; graduation counts as much as test results in the grade.
Spending: $20,630 per pupil, 16th highest. Shown for context, not graded.
Source: NCES, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2024, public schools; EDFacts graduation rates; Census school finance.
Measure: graduation rate and test results, averaged; each district’s state-test proficiency is put on the NAEP yardstick (its result ÷ the state average × the state’s NAEP proficiency) so districts compare across states. 22 Maine towns of 10,000+ against 5,230 nationally.
Cost of living
35th of 51C32/100 Pricier than the typical state. At $3,036, the typical property-tax bill is the 20th highest among the states. Town by town it lands near the middle, with Standish its best at #507 of 5,235.
Home values run 4.0 times the median household income, 24th highest.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: our cost-of-living score: home value, rent and tax bill against area income, plus the share paying 30%+ for housing. 22 Maine towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Health
29th of 51C+44/100 Slightly worse health than average. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Falmouth ranks highest, at #229. 19% of adults describe their health as fair or poor, against 19% nationally.
Source: CDC PLACES 2025 release (BRFSS model estimates).
Measure: our health score: seven CDC PLACES measures (general, physical and mental health, obesity, diabetes, smoking, inactivity). 22 Maine towns of 10,000+ against 5,218 nationally.
Housing
3rd of 51A+96/100 High home ownership overall, unusually split. Home ownership stands at 74%, the 2nd highest rate of the 50 states and D.C. Its towns run the full range: Standish and Wells rank near the top of the country, Portland and Lewiston near the bottom.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: share of occupied homes that are owner-occupied. 22 Maine towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Natural hazards
9th of 51A−84/100 Low risk, town after town. 45% of residents live in top-quarter towns such as Brunswick and Portland, and almost none at the bottom. FEMA expects $99 of damage a year for every $100,000 of buildings, 36% below the national figure (10th lowest). Inland flooding leads the list (56%), then hurricanes (24%).
Federal major-disaster declarations, 2015–2025: 11, 24th fewest.
Share of expected building damage: inland flooding 56%, hurricane 24%, ice storm 8%.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (Dec. 2025): expected annual building loss over building value, all census tracts; FEMA disaster declarations.
Measure: FEMA National Risk Index: expected yearly building loss from 18 natural hazards, as a share of building value. 22 Maine towns of 10,000+ against 5,239 nationally.
Commute
16th of 51B+70/100 Consistently short commutes. Town after town lands in the national top quarter: 56% of residents live in one. Getting to work takes 24.6 minutes on average (23rd shortest).
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: average one-way commute of the town’s workers. 22 Maine towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Growth
38th of 51C26/100 Growing slower than most states. Permits point the other way: 5.5 new homes per 1,000 residents in 2025 (20th most). The population grew 2.6% between the 2010 and 2020 censuses, against 7.4% nationally (9th slowest). 16% of residents live in a top-quarter town, 22% in a bottom-quarter one; Sanford ranks highest.
Building: 5.5 new homes permitted per 1,000 residents in 2025, 20th most.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 and 2020 decennial counts; Census building permits.
Measure: population change between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. 22 Maine towns of 10,000+ against 5,079 nationally.
How Maine compares to its neighbors
Maine beats every neighbor on cost of living, natural hazards and the commute; on safety, schools and health, every neighbor beats it.
| Maine | New Hampshire | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall | B+ 6618th of 51 | A− 849th of 51 |
| Safety | A+ 961st official · 29% in top towns | A+ 1003rd official · 42% in top towns |
| Schools | C− 1642nd official · 0% in top towns | A 906th official · 31% in top towns |
| Cost of living | C 3232nd official · 6% in top towns | C− 1850th official · 8% in top towns |
| Health | C+ 4427th official · 16% in top towns | A 902nd official · 40% in top towns |
| Housing | A+ 962nd official · 21% in top towns | A+ 986th official · 25% in top towns |
| Natural hazards | A− 8410th official · 45% in top towns | C 3225th official · 0% in top towns |
| Commute | B+ 7023rd official · 56% in top towns | C− 1640th official · 12% in top towns |
| Growth | C 2643rd official · 16% in top towns | C− 1631st official · 2% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the state’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of residents of 10,000+ towns living in a nationally top-quarter town. Neighbor names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is the figure a state agency or federal survey publishes for the whole state, ranked against the other 49 states and D.C. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the state’s towns and cities of 10,000+, the share whose town falls in the national top quarter of 10,000+ towns. A state can do well on one and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the state’s standing among the 50 states and D.C.: the two measures’ percentiles averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. 100 is the best state, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, commute 10, housing 8, natural hazards 8, growth 8 (out of 100). D.C., a single city, is left out of the town measure and graded on official figures alone.
What it is not. A state figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a state is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out towns under 10,000 and towns missing data. Neither says anything about any one neighborhood.
Schools use the Nation’s Report Card because each state’s own tests are set to different bars. Hazards use FEMA’s expected building damage, the same loss rate behind our town hazard grades. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work