Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For most people who can afford it, yes. South Berwick grades A− overall, 20th among Maine's 142 graded towns. It reports less crime per resident than 91% of U.S. towns. CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 87% of the country and its schools outperform 80% of the state's. The catch is cost: the typical home is worth about $526K, 5.7 years of the Portland metro’s $92K median household income. History is its standout character grade: an A+, better than 97% of U.S. towns, with 9 places on the National Register. 22% of the land in South Berwick is conserved, where Maine’s towns sit at 4.7% and U.S. towns at 4.3%. Its National Register listings include Jonathan Hamilton House and Sarah Orne Jewett House. On the outdoors, just 19 of Maine’s 285 towns do better.
Where South Berwick beats most towns.
Jonathan Hamilton House is one of 2 National Historic Landmarks here, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 1,475 in 1820, 7,467 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1850 and 5 maps from 1916 on.
9 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Maine), ordered by how far South Berwick is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around South Berwick. Close and well known come first.
38 mi LakeLake Winnipesaukee
39 mi LighthousePortland Head Light
35 mi Ancient siteAmerica's Stonehenge
9 mi LighthouseCape Neddick Light
11 mi MuseumStrawbery Banke
40 mi LandmarkFort GorgesLake Winnipesaukee: No machine-readable author provided. JohnJHenderson~commonswiki assumed (based o, Public domain · Portland Head Light: Aniarku, CC BY-SA 3.0 · America's Stonehenge: User:Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Cape Neddick Light: Stefan Hillebrand, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Strawbery Banke: Ken Gallager (Ken Gallager from en.wikipedia), Public domain · Fort Gorges: Dirk Ingo Franke, CC BY 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in South Berwick, 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 South Berwick.
South Berwick sends many workers across the state line to Portsmouth, has less food insecurity than most of Maine and gets more snow than most of the country, though not than most of Maine.
South Berwick’s concentration of trails is 1.1 miles per square mile, against 0.7 in Maine’s towns and 0.4 across U.S. towns. 34 miles of trail in 15 parks and preserves. Mount Agamenticus Conservation Region, at 1,505 acres with 3.7 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Mount Agamenticus Conservation Region | 3.7 mi | 1,505 |
| 2. Vaughan Woods State Park | 3.3 mi | 152 |
| 3. Orris Falls Conservation Area | 2.9 mi | 181 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
That grade comes with a D for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $526K.
Two of its 4 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. The largest public high school is Marshwood High School, with 659 students. Public schools: RSU 35/MSAD 35.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–3 | Grades PK–3 | 402 | C+ |
| Marshwood High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 659 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within ME on state tests and graduation
In South Berwick, the level of property crime is 3.7 per 1,000 residents. The town’s violent crime rate is 0.5 per 1,000 residents.
| South Berwick | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.7 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.5 per 1,000 residents | 0.6 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Its widest gap with Maine is food insecurity: 6.7% of its 5,758 adults worry about having enough food, against 10.7% statewide.
South Berwick: 14% of adults say their health is fair or poor. Only 9 of the 143 Maine towns we compare have a lower share of adults who worry about having enough food than South Berwick. Against the Maine average, South Berwick comes out ahead on 18 CDC measures out of 32, and behind on 1.
| South Berwick | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 15% | 16% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 14% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 23% | 25% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 8.5% | 11% | 12% |
| What stands out | South Berwick | ME |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 6.7% | 10.7% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 9.4% | 14.8% |
| More binge drinkers | 18.9% | 15.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
23% of working residents cross a state line to work, Portsmouth among the top destinations.
The average commute for South Berwick comes to 27 minutes. Most working residents leave South Berwick for work: only 11% work in town. 3.4% of residents live below the poverty line in the town. Employers in South Berwick added 179 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 1,199.
| South Berwick | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 3.4% | 9% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 18% | 14% | 11% |
| Median household income | $100,000 | $78,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The median property tax bill is $4,956, against $3,036 across Maine, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
A typical home in South Berwick is worth about $526,000, up 3% in a year, 28% above the Maine typical home. For South Berwick, the midpoint rent is $1,726 a month. The share of households in South Berwick who own their home: 78%.
| South Berwick | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,726 a month | $1,106 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 78% | 81% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Children under 18 are 27% of residents (18% statewide); people 65 and older are 16% of residents (22% statewide). South Berwick has grown 6.4% since 2020, to 7,941 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. For adults 25 and older in the town, the share who hold a bachelor’s degree or more is 42%.
| South Berwick | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 42% | 32% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 16% | 22% | 18% |
| Median age | 39 years | 45 years | 40.5 years |
51% women, 49% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.3 points. Across Maine, 50.7% of residents are women.
| South Berwick | ME | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.6% | 9.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 17.1% | 8.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 4.4% | 8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 12% | 12% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 14.8% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 13.5% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.9% | 15.1% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 10.6% | 13.4% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 5.2% | 8.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 1.7% | 5.2% | 10.4% |
| High school | 15.7% | 30.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 25.6% | 18.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 15.2% | 10.4% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 27.6% | 22.5% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 14.3% | 13.7% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
The Eliot weather station, 9 miles away, records that 56 inches of snow fall in a normal winter: more than most of the country, but less than 95% of Maine places with climate records. July afternoons average 81.7°: cooler than most of the country, but hotter than 100% of Maine places with climate records; January nights average 14.4°.
The peak summer temperature in South Berwick is 82°F.
| South Berwick | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 82°F | 79°F | 85°F |
| January low | 14°F | 10°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The national flood insurance program has paid 17 claims in South Berwick since 1991. Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in nearly two thirds of U.S. communities. Federal disaster aid has reached households in South Berwick after 16 declared disasters, most recently in 2024.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
3 within 15 miles of the center of South Berwick
About 4 of every 100 South Berwick residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Maine.
22.3% of the town is conserved land, across 15 parks and preserves.
9 places in South Berwick on the National Register of Historic Places.
7 notable people were born in South Berwick.
Town in Maine, United States
South Berwick is a town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 7,467 at the 2020 census. South Berwick is home to Berwick Academy, a private, co-educational university-preparatory day school founded in 1791, along with the two public elementary schools, and one high school. The town was set off from Berwick in 1814, followed by North Berwick in 1831. It is part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area. The primary village in the town is the South Berwick census-designated place.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with South Berwick.
North Berwick next door grades lower for schools (B− to South Berwick’s A−) and higher for cost of living (C+ to D).
| Town | ME rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Berwick | #20 | A− | D | A | A− | A |
| Eliot | #11 | A | D | A+ | A− | A− |
| Berwick | #55 | B | C | B+ | B− | A− |
| York | #7 | A | C− | A | A | A− |
| Wells | #32 | A− | C | B+ | A | B+ |
| North Berwick | #38 | B+ | C+ | A | B− | B+ |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. South Berwick grades A− overall, better than 81% of U.S. towns and #20 of 142 in Maine. It grades A for health, A for safety and A− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
7 notable people were born here, including Sarah Orne Jewett and John Noble Goodwin.
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