What Are the Best Beach Towns to Live in York County, Maine?

York County holds most of Maine's sand. The coastline from Kittery to Old Orchard Beach runs about 40 miles and contains almost every beach town in the state with a real year-round population.

The towns along it are less alike than people assume. Here is what each one actually offers and what it costs.

Kittery

The southernmost town in Maine, directly across the Piscataqua from Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Kittery is more working town than resort. Portsmouth Naval Shipyard sits on Seavey Island and is one of the largest employers in the region. The Foreside district has grown into a dining and retail area with a following well beyond the town.

Beaches are small and rocky rather than sandy. Seapoint Beach and Crescent Beach in Kittery Point are the main ones, with resident parking restrictions in season. Fort Foster on Gerrish Island offers shoreline, trails, and a pier.

The draw here is access. Portsmouth is five minutes. Boston is roughly an hour.

York

Four villages that function almost independently: York Village, York Harbor, York Beach, and Cape Neddick.

Long Sands Beach runs nearly two miles with roadside parking along Route 1A. Short Sands sits in the middle of York Beach's arcade and shop district. York Harbor Beach is smaller and more sheltered.

The Cliff Walk and the Fisherman's Walk connect harbor and beach areas on foot. Nubble Light at Cape Neddick is one of the most photographed lighthouses in the country, which tells you something about summer traffic on that stretch.

York has a genuine year-round population and its own services. Housing runs from small beach cottages to substantial harbor properties across a wide price range.

Ogunquit

Small in land area and heavily seasonal, with some of the highest per square foot pricing in Maine.

Ogunquit Beach stretches roughly three miles north toward Wells, with the Ogunquit River behind it. The Marginal Way, a mile and a quarter of paved shoreline path from the village to Perkins Cove, is one of the best coastal walks in New England and stays open year round.

The village is walkable and dense with restaurants, galleries, and the Ogunquit Playhouse. Inventory is thin and turnover is limited.

Winter is quiet. A meaningful share of the businesses close.

Wells

Seven miles of beach and the largest land area of the southern coastal towns, which gives it more housing variety than its neighbors.

Wells Beach, Drakes Island, and Moody Beach each have their own character and their own parking situations. The Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge headquarters is here, with the Carson Trail running through salt marsh and estuary.

Wells also has the Wells Regional Transportation Center, where the Amtrak Downeaster stops. That is a real advantage if you travel to Boston or Portland without wanting to drive.

Because Wells extends well inland along Route 109 toward Sanford, it offers price points the smaller coastal towns cannot. You can buy in Wells without buying beachfront.

Kennebunk and Kennebunkport

Two separate towns that people constantly conflate.

Kennebunk holds the beaches: Gooch's, Middle, and Mother's Beach, plus the Parsons Way walk. It has a larger year-round population, a working Main Street, and inland areas at lower price points.

Kennebunkport holds Dock Square, Cape Porpoise, and Goose Rocks Beach. It prices at the top of York County and carries heavy second-home ownership.

Arundel

Not a beach town itself, sitting just inland of Kennebunk and Biddeford, but worth naming for anyone who wants coastal access without coastal pricing.

Arundel is rural, with larger lots and more land per dollar. Beaches in Kennebunk and Biddeford sit ten to fifteen minutes away.

Biddeford

Biddeford has changed more than any other town in York County over the past fifteen years. The mill district along the Saco River redeveloped into housing, restaurants, and commercial space, and the downtown followed.

The coastal side is often overlooked. Biddeford Pool, Fortunes Rocks, and Hills Beach offer real ocean frontage, and East Point Sanctuary at the Pool is one of the better birding spots on the Maine coast.

Biddeford still prices below the towns south of it. The University of New England's main campus is here, and Southern Maine Health Care operates a hospital in town.

Saco

Immediately north of Biddeford across the river, with Bay View, Ferry Beach, and Camp Ellis on the coast and Ferry Beach State Park protecting a stretch of it.

Camp Ellis has ongoing erosion issues tied to the Saco River jetty, and that is worth understanding before buying there. Ask specifically about erosion history and any Army Corps activity.

Saco has a functioning downtown, its own school system, a Downeaster stop, and easy I-95 access. It sits about 20 minutes from Portland.

Old Orchard Beach

Seven miles of sand, a pier, and Palace Playland. Old Orchard is the most tourism-dependent town on this list and the most seasonal in character.

Housing runs from small year-round homes to seasonal cottages to condominium buildings along the beach. Price points sit among the lowest of any town with this much beachfront in Southern Maine.

Short-term rental income is a real factor here. If that is part of your plan, confirm current town regulations before you buy, since ordinances have been changing across Southern Maine.

How to narrow it down

York County's June 2026 median sale price was $583,725. Individual towns range widely around that.

Four questions sort most buyers quickly.

Do you need it year round? Ogunquit and parts of Old Orchard go quiet in winter. York, Wells, Kennebunk, Saco, and Biddeford do not.

Do you need frontage or is access enough? Deeded access, walking distance, and a short drive price very differently. Access without frontage is usually where the value sits.

How much summer traffic can you live with? Route 1 and Route 1A congest from late June through Labor Day. Drive your daily route on a July Saturday before you commit.

Are you commuting? Portland is 20 minutes from Saco, 35 to 40 from Kennebunk, and closer to an hour from Kittery. Portsmouth reverses that order.

Two practical notes for any coastal purchase here: get a flood zone determination and an insurance quote early, and if the property sits within 250 feet of water, confirm what Maine's shoreland zoning permits before you plan any changes.

If you want to compare two or three of these towns against your actual budget and commute, send me the list. The differences between them are larger than the map suggests.