Sanford, Maine

Area Profile

22,247 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Sanford, in York County.

65out of 100
Area Score
Top 32% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 26% of 3,904 published cities68
Schools1645th of 2,668 published cities43
Growth1518th of 2,973 published cities50
Housing affordabilityTop 36% of 4,223 published cities88
Climate3662nd of 4,223 published cities60
Physical resilienceTop 27% of 4,182 published cities78
Access3697th of 4,226 published cities70
Economic stabilityTop 48% of 4,226 published cities62
The quick read

Unemployment is 2.7% and median household income $72,524, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

In the public schools here, 77% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 13.9 students for every teacher.

Residential permitting has slowed: 63 units authorized over the past twelve months, 44% below the prior year.

At a glance

Population
22,247
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$72,524
Top 42% nationally
Density
466/sq mi
47.8 sq mi of land
Median age
42.1
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
York County
Maine
Metro area
Portland-South Portland, ME
Nearest major airport
MHT
48 mi · Manchester Boston Rgnl
Median home value
$280,200
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 2.7% is lower than 98% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 1.3% over the past year, to 11,577 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$7,262$72,524Top 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,970$39,027Top 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate10.3%Bottom 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute30.2 minTop 33%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher24.8%Top 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment11,577Bottom 5%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)1.3%Top 30%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.3%Bottom 39%June 2026
Labor force11,893Bottom 5%June 2026
Labor force participation65.5%Top 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$70,020Top 45%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$56,960Top 28%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.1%Top 47%June 2026
Unemployment rate2.7%Bottom 2%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/065.01.9
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 2.7% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202473k66k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $72,524 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Portland-South Portland, ME
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons8,510$37,320
Home Health and Personal Care Aides8,150$38,580
Fast Food and Counter Workers8,040$35,300
General and Operations Managers7,160$105,390
Registered Nurses6,970$88,470
Cashiers5,610$36,210

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

77% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 77% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.9 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
6
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.9
across all schools here
Math proficiency
76.8%
Top 50% in Maine
Reading proficiency
76.5%
Bottom 17% in Maine
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Sanford High SchoolSanford Public Schools1,11518.0
Sanford Middle SchoolSanford Public Schools92013.777%74%
Carl J Lamb SchoolSanford Public Schools43611.269%75%
Margaret Chase SmithSanford Public Schools39611.082%87%
Sanford Pride Elementary SchoolSanford Public Schools38312.880%73%
Sanford Regional Technical CenterSanford Public Schools0

54.6% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Maine’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,152 takes 19% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.9 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
19.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.9×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,152
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$280,200
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.86Top 29%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate71.2%Bottom 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±40810,246Top 6%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$72$1,152Top 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$10,030$280,200Top 31%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income19.1%Top 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate6.0%Bottom 33%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
50/ 100
Ranks 1518 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing — 2 consecutive years, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 2% since 2020, reaching 22,497 in 2024.

At 2.8 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
63
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
2.8
Top 44% nationally
Year over year
−44%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
55.6%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202422k22k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
20202021202220232024202514760
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+27%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 82°F and January a low of 15°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 41.2 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 34, in the Good band, and one day a year passes 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

0°20°40°60°80°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station ROCHESTER SKYHAVEN AP, 13.0 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.4"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index45.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation41.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low15°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high82°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10012024 calendar year
Median air quality index34.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing47°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
34
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
45
90th percentile index
Days above 100
1
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

78 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, coastal flooding and ice storm.

Ice stormElevated
HurricaneElevated
Coastal floodingHigh
EarthquakeElevated
LightningModerate
LandslideModerate
DroughtModerate

Low or minimal exposure: inland flooding, winter weather, wildfire, heat wave, strong wind, cold wave, tornado, hail, avalanche.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

York County records 1.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 5.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 22.9 per 100,000 residents in York County.

Homicide
1.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
5.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
22.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
16.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for York County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Sanford rather than Sanford itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 48 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Manchester Boston RgnlMHT48 mi9,250 ft
General Edward Lawrence Logan IntlBOS74 mi10,083 ft
Rhode Island TF Green IntlPVD122 mi8,700 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
65
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Other cities in Portland-South Portland, ME

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
PortlandCumberland County68,85468vs Sanford
South PortlandCumberland County26,93071vs Sanford
BiddefordYork County22,49863vs Sanford
SacoYork County20,81972vs Sanford
WestbrookCumberland County20,77571vs Sanford
BrunswickCumberland County17,652vs Sanford

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Compare

Put Sanford side by side with a similar place.

Sanford vs YorktownSanford vs RochesterSanford vs BiddefordSanford vs Weston

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Sanford

2 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
0407317,414$72,91765
040834,833$72,20768