Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 9,982. 2.3 times the library visits per person than the typical Maine town.
Topsham grades A− overall, ranked 30th of 142 in Maine, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. Its public schools beat 78% of Maine towns on state tests and graduation and CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 77% of the country. It also does better than most on incomes: the median household earns $91K. Its lowest everyday mark is in cost of living: the typical home is worth about $469K, 5.1 years of the Portland metro’s $92K median household income. Topsham’s concentration of trails is 1.3 miles per square mile, where Maine’s towns sit at 0.7 and U.S. towns at 0.4. Topsham has 7 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Pejepscot Paper Company and Topsham Historic District. Topsham's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) is stronger than in 81% of U.S. towns.
Where Topsham beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Woodside Elementary School | K–5 | 294 |
| Williams-Cone School | PK–5 | 224 |
| Mt Ararat Middle School | 6–8 | 533 |
Coastal flooding makes up 10% 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 Topsham is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 826 in 1790, a low of 826 in 1790, 9,560 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1764 and 6 maps from 1894 on.
7 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Topsham takes its name from Topsham in Devon, England, 3,040 miles across the Atlantic.
UKUK editionTopsham takes its name from Topsham, a town in Devon, England.
Named after: each U.S. town’s Wikipedia article. Grades compare each town with towns in its own country, so they aren’t a head-to-head.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Topsham. Close and well known come first.
27 mi LighthousePortland Head Light17 mi Ancient sitePopham Colony
25 mi LandmarkFort Gorges17 mi LandmarkSpirit Pond runestones
24 mi LighthousePemaquid Point Light
4 mi MuseumBowdoin College Museum of ArtPortland Head Light: Aniarku, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fort Gorges: Dirk Ingo Franke, CC BY 3.0 · Pemaquid Point Light: WestportWiki, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Bowdoin College Museum of Art: Charles Follen McKim. Uploaded 28 September 2005 to en:Wikipedia by Hugh Manate, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Topsham, 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 Topsham.
Topsham sees little violent crime and gets more snow than most of the country, though not than most of Maine.
The biggest park or preserve is Merrymeeting Bay Wildlife Management Area, at 426 acres. Count the trails in 22 parks and preserves and they come to 46 miles.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Transfer Station Trails | 6.1 mi | 186 |
| 2. Cathance River Nature Preserve | 4.3 mi | 234 |
| 3. Topsham Recreation Fields | 1.6 mi | 75 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
RSU 75/MSAD 75 runs its public schools. The largest public high school is Mt Ararat High School, with 732 students. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mt Ararat Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 533 | C+ |
| Mt Ararat High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 732 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within ME on state tests and graduation
16% of Topsham adults say their health is fair or poor. Among 143 Maine towns, just 10 have a lower share of adults who sleep under 7 hours than Topsham. The town beats the Maine average on 6 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. In Topsham, 29% of adults have obesity, and 29% feel lonely.
| Topsham | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 33% | 36% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 33% | 35% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 32% | 33% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 83% | 81% | 79% |
| What stands out | Topsham | ME |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 11.5% | 14.8% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 7.7% | 9.8% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.3% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The national flood insurance program has paid 2 claims in Topsham since 1987. Compared with 73% of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage here is lower. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Topsham after 8 declared disasters, most recently in 2024. Expected losses in Topsham break down as 38% from inland flooding and 22% from hurricanes.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Violent crime is rare: 3 reported in 2025, 0.3 per 1,000 residents.
In Topsham, the rate of reported violence is 0.3 per 1,000 residents, close to Maine’s towns (0.6) and below U.S. towns (1.6). Maine has less reported crime than most states, so among its own towns Topsham sits closer to the middle. Its rate of thefts and burglaries comes in at 11 per 1,000 residents.
| Topsham | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.3 per 1,000 residents | 0.6 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 11 per 1,000 residents | 7.4 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The Brunswick Nas weather station, 5 miles away, records that 67 inches of snow fall in a normal winter: more than most of the country, but less than 91% of Maine places with climate records.
The peak summer temperature in Topsham is 79°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Between 2013 and 2023, jobs in Topsham rose by 380, to 3,674. Half commute less than 15 miles. Among workers in the town, 17% do their job from home. The top destinations are Brunswick (16%), Portland (12%) and Bath (8%).
| Topsham | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 17% | 14% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 6.4% | 9% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $91,000 | $78,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 13% | 12% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Homes sold in Topsham spent a median 25 days on the market. In Topsham, 50% of sales closed above the list price. For Topsham, the median rent is $1,355 a month.
| Topsham | Maine towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,355 a month | $1,106 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 79% | 81% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
1 within 15 miles of the center of Topsham
About 5 of every 100 Topsham residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Maine.
7 places in Topsham on the National Register of Historic Places.
6 notable people were born in Topsham.
Town in Maine, United States
Topsham (US: TOP-sum) is a town in Sagadahoc County, Maine, United States. Topsham was included in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England City and Town Area. The population was 9,560 at the 2020 census. The town contains the census-designated place of the same name. It is part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with Topsham.
| Town | ME rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Topsham | #30 | A− | C | B+ | A− | A− |
| Lisbon Falls | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Lisbon | #62 | B− | C+ | A− | C | B− |
| Brunswick | #24 | A− | C− | B | A− | A |
| Bowdoinham | #80 | C+ | C | — | A− | B |
| Durham | #50 | B | C | — | A | B+ |
| Bath | #36 | B+ | C+ | A− | B+ | B |
| Bowdoin | #41 | B+ | B | — | A− | B |
Bowdoinham, Durham and Bowdoin report no FBI crime data of their own. Lisbon Falls isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Topsham with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Topsham grades A− overall, better than 76% of U.S. towns and #30 of 142 in Maine. It grades A− for health, B+ for safety and A− for schools.
Yes, by national standards. Maine has less crime than most states, so among its own towns Topsham sits nearer the middle.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
6 notable people were born here, including Benjamin Randall and Holman S. Melcher.
