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Place dossier plate
SheetME-SOUTH-BERWICK-ME · South Berwick, ME 3,441 pop · income 59th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around South Berwick
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest South Berwick on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Evergreen · lowest
38,098
Evergreen · lowest
38,098 median HH income
18.4% of the leader · rank #1
South Berwick · this city
77,493
South Berwick · this city
77,493 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #2
Garner · near
77,496
Garner · near
77,496 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #3
Thorsby · near
77,500
Thorsby · near
77,500 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #4
Noatak · near
77,500
Noatak · near
77,500 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #5
Scotia · near
77,500
Scotia · near
77,500 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #6
Moreland Hills · highest
206,818
Moreland Hills · highest
206,818 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for South Berwick on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 3,441.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
South Berwick - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, South Berwick lands in the 59th percentile for household income and the 87th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
59th
percentile, household income
71st
percentile, home value
69th
percentile, median rent
87th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: South Berwick, ME
South Berwick is a small town in Maine, home to 3,441 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in South Berwick report a median income of $77,493 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 3.6%. Home values in South Berwick run a median of $340,800, and the median resident age is 45.8 years. Educational attainment runs 40.3% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 66.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
South Berwick reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 446.0 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Maine tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Maine at 97.1 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Near Average). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,448 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Maine's average monthly utility costs around $273 (state average). FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 56.7 out of 100 (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of South Berwick's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from schools and households to housing and income to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For South Berwick, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the education layer cover for South Berwick?
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 40.3% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
How far does income reach against housing in South Berwick?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 3.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
Which cities make useful reference points for South Berwick?
Within Maine, the closest population matches are Lisbon (3,453 residents, $72,066 income); Lake Arrowhead (3,273 residents, $84,221 income); Camden (3,665 residents, $80,897 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Fetters Hot Springs-Agua Caliente, CA (3,441 residents); Alma, GA (3,441 residents); Shannondale, WV (3,441 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
What does the journey to work look like in South Berwick?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 74.1%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in South Berwick?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 446.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 80% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
420.5
Violent rate
25.5
Total reported rate
446.0
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Above median income · poverty 3.6% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Maine average
B-
City profile score · South Berwick, ME
69/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Violent crime A+
26 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share B+
40.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate B
3.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income C
$77,493
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Cost of living C-
97.1 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
South Berwick profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 90/100 (A+) · 26 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 75/100 (B+) · 40.3%
Poverty rate: 74/100 (B) · 3.6%
Household income: 57/100 (C) · $77,493
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Where South Berwick sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
South Berwick's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - South Berwick highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
South Berwick, ME (this city): home $340,800, crime 446/100k
Alma, GA : home $92,300, crime 4,989/100k
Westville, IL : home $98,800, crime 1,689/100k
Lisbon, ME : home $217,200, crime 668/100k
Camden, ME : home $473,800, crime 1,168/100k
Norway, ME : home $121,200, crime 1,923/100k
Bucksport, ME : home $193,800, crime 595/100k
Calais, ME : home $111,800, crime 1,465/100k
How does South Berwick compare to other US cities?
Where South Berwick sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income59% higher than other cities
Home value71% pricier than other cities
Median rent69% pricier than other cities
Safety87% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Maine and the picture shifts: South Berwick ranks #10 of 73 Maine cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares South Berwick against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Maine only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Maine-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places South Berwick near the bottom of Maine's cities
Among the 154 Maine cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, South Berwick ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares South Berwick only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#33 of 145
77th percentile in Maine
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 154
0th percentile in Maine
Median Home Value
#38 of 151
75th percentile in Maine
Poverty Rate
#110 of 154
28th percentile in Maine
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#45 of 154
71st percentile in Maine
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Maine only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
59th percentile nationally for median household income · 87th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
South Berwick's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
South Berwick's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How South Berwick's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$340,80029th percentilemore affordable than 29% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
South Berwick's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,763 of 15,516
More affordable than 24% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,038 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.4×, South Berwick sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,763 of 15,516 and #9,038 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$77,493South Berwick, ME median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context South Berwick, ME median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for South Berwick, ME.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)40.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)66.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,441
Median Income
$77,493
Median Home Value
$340,800
Median Age
45.8
Poverty Rate
3.6%
Labor force participation
66.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
40.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
446.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
25.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
420.5
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
74.1%
Carpool
4.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.7%
Work from Home
15.8%
Other
3.7%
Based on 1,835 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Maine statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $273
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Maine at $273 (electricity about $130 , water and sewer about $48 ).
These are Maine statewide averages, not a meter reading for South Berwick. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Maine's BEA cost-of-living index is 97.1 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around South Berwick is $1,448/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Maine statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 56.7 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Maine statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county South Berwick sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How South Berwick compares to similar-size Maine cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.