Cape Elizabeth, ME Real Cost: Prices and Taxes

How Maine Taxes Work: Property Tax Plus a State Income Tax

As with every Maine market this site covers, Cape Elizabeth is not New Hampshire: Maine levies a state personal income tax on top of local property tax bills, while coastal New Hampshire towns lean on property tax alone. That distinction matters here specifically because Cape Elizabeth's mill rate, covered in detail below, looks moderate next to some of its own Cumberland County neighbors, and a moderate-looking property-tax figure on its own is not the whole story of what it costs to own here.

Anyone comparing Cape Elizabeth to a York County town like Wells, Kennebunkport, or Ogunquit on tax burden should not stop at the mill rate. Those towns post meaningfully lower nominal rates in part because their higher underlying property values generate more tax revenue per mill, not because their actual tax burden is lower, and none of them offset a state income tax the way New Hampshire towns do either, since Maine's income tax applies statewide. Run both numbers, the local property tax rate and Maine's state income tax on your own income, before concluding one town is cheaper than another.

What a Cape Elizabeth Home Actually Costs

Zillow's Home Value Index puts Cape Elizabeth's typical home value at $894,401 as of a May 31, 2026 snapshot, up 1.9 percent year over year. The same snapshot shows a genuinely thin, tightly held market: only 26 active for-sale listings and 14 new listings townwide, against a median list price of $1,159,133, well above the ZHVI itself, and an average rent of $2,880.

The Census Bureau's 2020-2024 American Community Survey estimate puts Cape Elizabeth's median home value at $731,600, meaningfully below Zillow's current-market figure. That is not a contradiction, it is a different kind of measure, a trailing multi-year blended estimate across the full owner-occupied housing stock rather than a snapshot of what is listed or selling right now, and the gap between the two, an ACS figure trailing a live market index, is the same pattern this site has documented in other Maine markets. Present Cape Elizabeth home values as roughly $731,600 by the historical Census baseline and $894,401 by Zillow's current index, not as one clean number.

A clean, current Redfin median-sale-price or days-on-market figure specific to Cape Elizabeth was not independently confirmed in the research behind this page. Check redfin.com directly for current sale-price and days-on-market data before relying on a third figure here.

Why Cape Elizabeth Costs So Much More Than Portland

Portland's own Zillow ZHVI, from the same May 31, 2026 snapshot used above, is $566,265, actually down 0.9 percent year over year. Cape Elizabeth's $894,401 typical value is roughly 58 percent higher than Portland's, despite the two towns sitting directly across the harbor mouth from each other, close enough that Cape Elizabeth's own Portland Head Light is commonly, and incorrectly, assumed to be a Portland landmark. It is not. The lighthouse stands at 1000 Shore Road inside Fort Williams Park, on land the Town of Cape Elizabeth itself has owned and managed since 1964, with the U.S. Coast Guard maintaining only the light and fog signal.

That price gap is not explained by distance or by a harbor that Cape Elizabeth does not have. It is a land-constrained, low-turnover, high-income small town sitting immediately adjacent to a larger city with a much more varied and abundant housing stock, and buyers weighing the two should expect to pay a real premium for Cape Elizabeth's headland lots, schools, and quiet-suburb character rather than for any additional commercial or working-waterfront infrastructure.

Cape Elizabeth Versus Scarborough: Same Commute, Different Price Tag

Scarborough, Cape Elizabeth's other immediate neighbor, is the larger town of the two, with roughly 24,000 residents against Cape Elizabeth's roughly 9,800, and its home prices sit meaningfully lower. A dedicated comparison of the two towns describes Scarborough's median home prices as typically running from the mid $600s to the mid $700s, while Cape Elizabeth's medians trend near or above the $900s into the $1 million-plus range, especially near the water, consistent with the ZHVI figures above.

The same comparison notes that commute times into Portland are nearly identical either way, around 19 minutes from Scarborough and 21 to 22 minutes from Cape Elizabeth. In other words, commute convenience does not explain the price gap between these two adjacent towns. Price itself, not drive time, is the real differentiator, and buyers choosing between the two should weigh that directly rather than assume a shorter Portland commute justifies Cape Elizabeth's higher price tag.

The Tax Rate, and a Real Increase in Progress

Cape Elizabeth's FY2025 mill rate was $11.00 per $1,000 of assessed value, a moderate figure next to Scarborough's $11.33 and Portland's post-revaluation $11.98, though above York County towns like Wells, Kennebunkport, and Ogunquit, whose lower nominal rates reflect higher underlying property values rather than a lower actual burden, per the section above. A FY2026 increase is real and already reported in town budget coverage, but the exact finalized FY2026 rate and the town's current assessment ratio were not independently confirmed in the research behind this page. Check capeelizabeth.gov directly for the current, official rate before relying on a specific FY2026 number here.

What is confirmed is the shape of that increase. Cape Elizabeth's proposed FY2026 municipal budget runs $19.55 million, roughly $871,000, or 4.67 percent, higher than the prior year, driving an estimated 4.85 to 4.9 percent property-tax increase. The town chose not to draw down its unassigned fund balance this cycle, after drawing $850,000 from reserves the prior year, and added a new $200,000 senior property-tax-relief allocation. New taxable property value grew only $5 million, or 0.13 percent, essentially flat, and the town's unassigned fund balance sits at just 6 percent of the overall budget, below a recommended 12.5 percent policy target.

Town Manager Patrick Fox has described the underlying structural challenge as a very small commercial tax base and very limited growth year to year, meaning Cape Elizabeth's residential property owners carry most of the town's tax burden with little commercial offset, a genuinely different fiscal picture than towns with more commercial or tourism-tax base to draw on.

Who Lives Here: Income, Homeownership, and a Wealth-Ranking Correction

Cape Elizabeth's median household income is $145,821, with a per-capita income of $77,799, an 88.0 percent homeownership rate, and a median gross rent of $2,185, all per the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 American Community Survey estimates. Those figures describe a genuinely affluent, high-homeownership commuter suburb rather than a seasonal vacation-rental market.

Cape Elizabeth has long been described as the wealthiest Portland suburb, and for years that was accurate. A January 15, 2025 Portland Press Herald report on new Census data found that Cumberland, Maine had overtaken both Cape Elizabeth and Falmouth, posting a median household income of $154,375. The honest framing today is that Cape Elizabeth remains one of the wealthiest towns in Maine and historically the wealthiest Portland suburb, not that it currently holds that title outright.

What This Research Could Not Confirm

Two figures that would normally round out a real-cost picture were genuinely thin in the research behind this page and should not be treated as settled. First, no clean, current Redfin median-sale-price or days-on-market figure specific to Cape Elizabeth was confirmed; check redfin.com directly. Second, Cape Elizabeth's finalized FY2026 mill rate and current assessment ratio were not independently confirmed as a single final number; the FY25 rate of $11.00 and the roughly 4.85 to 4.9 percent tax-increase estimate above are the most current confirmed figures, and capeelizabeth.gov is the direct source to check for the finalized current rate.

A Practical Checklist Before You Rely on Any Number Here

First, do not anchor to a single home-value figure. Zillow's $894,401 and the Census Bureau's $731,600 are two different kinds of numbers from two different time horizons, and the Zillow figure describes current market conditions far more closely than the trailing Census estimate does.

Second, verify the current mill rate directly with the Town of Cape Elizabeth's assessing office before relying on the $11.00 FY25 figure for a FY2026 tax estimate, since a real increase is already underway and this research could not confirm the exact finalized current rate, and re-verify current Maine state income tax brackets with Maine Revenue Services. The two together, not the property tax rate alone, make up a Cape Elizabeth buyer's real tax burden.

Third, treat the Portland and Scarborough comparisons above as directional, not a guarantee of any specific property's value, since both towns' own markets move independently of Cape Elizabeth's. Fourth, pull a current Redfin listing directly for sale-price and days-on-market data, since this research could not confirm one for Cape Elizabeth specifically.

Confirm every figure on this page directly with the Town of Cape Elizabeth, the U.S. Census Bureau, Maine Revenue Services, and a Maine-licensed real estate agent or tax professional before relying on it financially. Nothing here is tax, legal, or financial advice.