Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,484.
The best of Searsmont’s subject grades are a B+ for civic life and a B for history; the weakest is a C for schools. 14% of residents are under 18 in Searsmont, against 18% in Maine’s towns and 22% across U.S. towns. Among 144 Maine towns, just 4 have a lower share of working residents who work in town than Searsmont. Searsmont has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Hardscrabble Farm and Moody Farm. Searsmont has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Maine), ordered by how far Searsmont is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 675 in 1820, a low of 482 in 1980, 1,400 in 2020. The archive holds 5 old photos and papers going back to 1908 and 4 maps from 1915 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Who provides power, water and the rest in Searsmont, 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 Searsmont.
Since 2013, Searsmont has added 95 jobs, to 265 in 2023. Only 3% of working residents stay in Searsmont for work; the rest commute out. Among residents here, 6.6% live below the poverty line, where Maine’s towns sit at 9% and U.S. towns at 9.6%. Half commute less than 15 miles.
| Searsmont | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 6.6% | 9% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $87,000 | $78,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its one school is below. Enrollment at Searsmont’s public school: 122 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ames Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades 2–5 | Grades 2–5 | 122 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within ME on state tests and graduation
Searsmont’s going rate for rent stands at $940 a month. Home values are up 5.2% over the year to September 2026. The share of households in Searsmont who live in a home they own: 91%.
| Searsmont | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 91% | 81% | 73% |
| Median rent | $940 a month | $1,106 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Among adults 25 and older, 32% have a four-year degree or more, against 36% across Maine. Searsmont has grown 5.4% since 2020, to 1,484 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. In Searsmont, the midpoint age is 44.5 years.
| Searsmont | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 44.5 years | 44.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 21% | 22% | 18% |
Somewhere between 30% and 61% women
The Census survey reached too few of Searsmont’s residents to say more: its margin here is ±15.2 points. Across Maine, 50.7% of residents are women.
| Searsmont | ME | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 3.9% | 9.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.9% | 8.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 11.7% | 8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 6.7% | 12% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 18.3% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.1% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 17.4% | 15.1% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 12.8% | 13.4% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 8.1% | 8.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 3.1% | 5.2% | 10.4% |
| High school | 36.6% | 30.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 15.2% | 18.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 13.6% | 10.4% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 20.5% | 22.5% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 11.1% | 13.7% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,500, single groups can be off by several points
Among adults in Searsmont, 29% have been diagnosed with depression. The town tracks Maine closely on all 32 CDC measures. In Searsmont, nearly a fifth of adults report frequent mental distress, and 15% report frequent physical distress.
| Searsmont | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 27% | 23% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 17% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 14% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 15% | 14% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Storm and flood damage is expected to run lower than in 54% of U.S. communities. Expected losses in Searsmont break down as 38% from inland flooding and 27% from hurricanes. Also worth knowing: households here have drawn federal disaster aid in 8 declared disasters, most recently in 2024.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
In 3 parks and preserves, walkers have 16 miles of trail. The biggest park or preserve is James Dorso Wildlife Management Area, at 414 acres. Searsmont’s concentration of trails comes in at 0.4 miles per square mile.
| Searsmont | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3.4% | 4.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Gibson Preserve | 2.6 mi | 153 |
| 2. James Dorso Wildlife Management Area | — | 414 |
| 3. Porter Preserve | 0.1 mi | 13 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Searsmont. Close and well known come first.
Big draw35 mi National ParkAcadia National Park4.1M visitors a year
23 mi LandmarkFort Knox
20 mi MuseumFarnsworth Art Museum12 mi Ski areaCamden Snow Bowl31 runs · 836 ft vertical
31 mi National MonumentFrances Perkins National Monument
29 mi MuseumMaine State MuseumAcadia National Park: Plh1234us, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fort Knox: Unknown, Public domain · Farnsworth Art Museum: Panoramio user MementoMori, CC BY 3.0 · Frances Perkins National Monument: Robert Reed, NPS employee (per the same source), Public domain · Maine State Museum: Stilfehler, CC BY-SA 3.0
1 within 15 miles of the center of Searsmont
About 10 of every 100 Searsmont residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Maine.
Where Searsmont’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
3 notable people were born in Searsmont.
Town in Maine, United States
Searsmont is a town in Waldo County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,400 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
That is 4.4 years of the area's median household income ($72,782 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.
Searsmont has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places. 3 notable people were born here, including Charles West Kendall and Marlboro Packard.
