Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,281.
The best of Sullivan’s subject grades are an A− for cost of living and a B+ for the outdoors; the weakest is a D for incomes. Sullivan’s July high is 77°F, where Maine’s towns sit at 79°F and U.S. towns at 85°F. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 74% of U.S. towns. 15% of the land in Sullivan is conserved, against 4.7% in Maine’s towns and 4.3% across U.S. towns. The biggest park or preserve is Donnell Pond Public Reserved Land, at 1,043 acres. Sullivan has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Sullivan beats most towns.
Coastal flooding makes up 12% of the storm damage FEMA expects here.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA · OpenStreetMap
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Maine), ordered by how far Sullivan is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 504 in 1790, 1,219 in 2020. The archive holds 4 old photos and papers going back to 1870 and 4 maps from 1932 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Sullivan. Close and well known come first.
Big draw8 mi National ParkAcadia National Park4.1M visitors a year
13 mi MountainCadillac Mountain
32 mi LandmarkFort Knox
24 mi LighthouseBass Harbor Head Light
11 mi MuseumAbbe Museum36 mi MuseumUniversity of Maine Museum of ArtAcadia National Park: Plh1234us, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Cadillac Mountain: The original uploader was NightThree at English Wikipedia., CC BY 2.0 · Fort Knox: Unknown, Public domain · Bass Harbor Head Light: G. Edward Johnson, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Abbe Museum: AbbeMuseum, CC BY-SA 4.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Sullivan, 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 Sullivan.
Its public schools are run by RSU 24. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain View SchLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 152 | C− |
| Sumner Memorial High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 214 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within ME on state tests and graduation
Most working residents leave Sullivan for work: only 8% work in town. Since 2013, Sullivan has added 80 jobs, to 187 in 2023. 14% of Sullivan residents live below the poverty line.
| Sullivan | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 14% | 9% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $60,000 | $78,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 8.1% | 12% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Sullivan has cold winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. Sullivan’s January low is 14°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Long Ledges Preserve | 3.2 mi | 250 |
| 2. Schoodic Bog Preserve | 3.1 mi | 563 |
| 3. Schoodic Connector Trail | 1.1 mi | 318 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 63% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The typical Sullivan home is worth about $367,000, up 9.2% in a year, 11% below the Maine typical home. The median rent in Sullivan is $883 a month.
| Sullivan | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 85% | 81% | 73% |
| Median rent | $883 a month | $1,106 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Sullivan tracks Maine closely on all 32 CDC measures. 28% of adults have been diagnosed with depression in Sullivan.
| Sullivan | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 27% | 23% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 15% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 17% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 14% | 14% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
1 within 15 miles of the center of Sullivan
About 5 of every 100 Sullivan residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Maine.
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
Town in Maine, United States
Sullivan is a town in Hancock County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,219 at the 2020 census. The town was named for Daniel Sullivan, an early settler. Colloquially referred to as "Sully" or "the Sullivans"—like many Maine municipalities composed of villages with geographic designations of the town proper—the municipality was incorporated in 1789. Located in the Upper Schoodic Peninsula sub-region of Maine's Downeast Acadia region, the municipality has been known as "Waukeag", "New Bristol", and later Sullivan; and once included the nearby communities of Hancock, Sorrento, and what would later be (parts of Gouldsboro Point TWP, Tunk Lake TWP, the Schoodic Foothills, Hog Bay, and …
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.
