Editor’s Note: This is not investment advice, and we are not financial advisers.
Suppose real estate is the most significant investment a majority of people make in their lifetime. In that case, it’s best to understand the places in Maine with best potential return on investment.
After working in real estate adjacent roles for over a decade, I had the hypothesis that the best place to buy for a return on investment would be up-and-coming cities. Smaller cities where crime might be high now, but people still move to.
To test my hypothesis, we are going to look at places in Maine that are growing faster than average, but where home prices are below average, and crime rates are higher than average.
In everyday terms, these might be “deals”. The best deal in Maine at the moment according to Saturday Night Science? That would be Gardiner.
0.7% population growth · -4.0% home price growth
Located in
Kennebec County, Maine
Gardiner is a city in Kennebec County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,800 at the 2010 census. Popular with tourists, Gardiner is noted for its culture and old architecture. Gardiner is included in the Augusta, Maine micropolitan New England City and Town Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
0.0% population growth · -1.5% home price growth
Located in
Waldo County, Maine
Belfast is a city in Waldo County, Maine, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 6,668. Located at the mouth of the Passagassawakeag River estuary on Penobscot Bay, Belfast is the county seat of Waldo County. The seaport has a wealth of antique architecture in several historic districts, and remains popular with tourists.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
0.6% population growth · -3.4% home price growth
Located in
Knox County, Maine
Rockland is a city in Knox County, Maine, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 7,297. It is the county seat of Knox County. The city is a popular tourist destination. It is a departure point for the Maine State Ferry Service to the islands of Penobscot Bay: Vinalhaven, North Haven and Matinicus.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
0.4% population growth · -3.4% home price growth
Old Town is a city in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The population was 7,840 at the 2010 census. The city’s developed area is chiefly located on relatively large Marsh Island, though its boundaries extend beyond that. The island is surrounded and defined by the Penobscot River to the east, and the Stillwater River to the west.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
-0.6% population growth · 1.3% home price growth
Located in
Aroostook County, Maine
Caribou is the second largest city in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. Its population was 8,189 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
1.3% population growth · -2.9% home price growth
Located in
Hancock County, Maine
Ellsworth is a city in and the county seat of Hancock County, Maine, United States. The 2010 Census determined it had a population of 7,741. Ellsworth was Maine’s fastest growing city from 2000-2010, with a growth rate of nearly 20 percent. With historic buildings and other points of interest, Ellsworth is popular with tourists.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
0.2% population growth · -0.7% home price growth
Located in
Sagadahoc County, Maine
Bath is a city in Sagadahoc County, Maine, in the United States. The population was 8,514 at the 2010 census, and 8,357 as of 2013, the population has had a change of -10.2% since 2000. It is the county seat of Sagadahoc County, which includes one city and 10 towns. The city is popular with tourists, many drawn by its 19th-century architecture. It is home to the Bath Iron Works and Heritage Days Festival, held annually on the Fourth of July weekend. It is commonly known as “The City of Ships.” Bath is part of the metropolitan statistical area of Greater Portland.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
-0.0% population growth · -0.8% home price growth
Located in
Penobscot County, Maine
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
0.0% population growth · -0.2% home price growth
Located in
Aroostook County, Maine
Presque Isle is the commercial center and largest city in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 9,171 in 2015 as estimated by the US Census, a decrease from the count of 9,692 in the 2010 Census. The city is home to the University of Maine at Presque Isle, Northern Maine Community College, Husson University Presque Isle, Northern Maine Fairgrounds, The Aroostook Centre Mall, and the Northern Maine Regional Airport.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
2.2% population growth · -1.9% home price growth
Located in
Kennebec County, Maine
Waterville is a city in Kennebec County of the U.S. state of Maine, United States, on the west bank of the Kennebec River. Home to Colby College and Thomas College, the population was 15,722 at the 2010 census. Waterville is also the latter of the cities which make up the Augusta-Waterville, ME Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Maine’s statewide median.
Maine statewide median: $407,566
On the map
Where Maine’s best buys are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How do you determine the best places to buy a home in Maine for 2026?
We were in real estate for almost five years and have worked on this site for over a decade. Suffice it to say we’ve put a lot of thought into finding an excellent place to buy a home.
So all that thinking has come to this moment where we get to spell out how we’d approach finding an up-and-coming place to live in Maine. Put differently, the analysis will try to find places in Maine with undervalued homes relative to pent-up demand using Saturday Night Science.
To do that, we looked at the most recent American Community Survey Census data for 2020-2024 and compared it to the previous vintage. Specifically, we used the following criteria:
- Y-o-Y Change In Population (People want to live here)
- Y-o-Y Change In Median Home Prices (People are willing to pay for it)
- Home Prices Relative To The State Average (It’s still kinda cheap)
We want places that are growing, have seen home prices increase in recent years, and are still “cheap” for Maine, with these caveats: home prices had to be within 20% of the state average, home prices increased in the last year, and the city had above 6,000 people.
So of the 132 cities and towns in Maine, only 19 places made it through our initial filters to even be considered.
We then ranked each place from 1 to 19 for the above criteria, with 1 being the best. We averaged the rankings to create a “best place to buy” index, with the place having the lowest index being the best.
Turns out that Gardiner is the best potential gem in the not-so-rough in the Pine Tree State.
The full plate
Best Places To Buy A Home In Maine
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Median Home Price | Population Change | Home Price Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gardiner | 6,088 | $284,200 | 0.7% | -4.0% |
| 2 | Belfast | 6,986 | $380,697 | 0.0% | -1.5% |
| 3 | Rockland | 7,035 | $340,484 | 0.6% | -3.4% |
| 4 | Old Town | 7,470 | $246,067 | 0.4% | -3.4% |
| 5 | Caribou | 7,382 | $156,306 | -0.6% | 1.3% |
| 6 | Ellsworth | 8,657 | $346,769 | 1.3% | -2.9% |
| 7 | Bath | 8,815 | $365,662 | 0.2% | -0.7% |
| 8 | Brewer | 9,652 | $297,006 | -0.0% | -0.8% |
| 9 | Presque Isle | 8,736 | $171,303 | 0.0% | -0.2% |
| 10 | Waterville | 17,077 | $243,116 | 2.2% | -1.9% |
| 11 | Augusta | 19,077 | $273,948 | 0.4% | -1.7% |
| 12 | Westbrook | 20,775 | $449,009 | 1.4% | 0.1% |
| 13 | Saco | 20,819 | $520,612 | 0.9% | -0.0% |
| 14 | Biddeford | 22,498 | $505,512 | 0.2% | -0.2% |
| 15 | Auburn | 24,602 | $321,213 | 1.3% | -0.9% |
| 16 | South Portland | 26,930 | $517,132 | 0.6% | 0.9% |
| 17 | Bangor | 31,938 | $281,560 | 0.9% | -0.5% |
| 18 | Lewiston | 38,324 | $296,288 | 1.2% | -0.1% |
| 19 | Portland | 68,854 | $557,760 | 0.5% | -0.2% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024 via Saturday Night Science. 19 Maine cities cleared the filters.
Summary
Summary: The Best Places To Purchase A House In Maine for 2026
There’s our analysis of the best places to buy a house in Maine. And, to be clear, we aren’t necessarily saying these places are the best places to live, just that it looks like they might be in a couple of years based on the data.
In fact, every place in the following table meets our criteria, so even though it may not look super long, remember we started off with all 132 places in the state.
The best cities to buy a house in Maine are Gardiner, Belfast, Rockland, Old Town, Caribou, Ellsworth, Bath, Brewer, Presque Isle, and Waterville.
So if we could rent or buy in these cities, we’d definitely buy.
