Cost of Living in Alaska Cities 2026: Anchorage to Fairbanks
This comparison is for people thinking about leaving a large Lower 48 metro for one of the three Alaska cities this site covers: Anchorage, Juneau and Fairbanks. It puts their Census housing, income and commute figures side by side, then adds the state-level tax rules that apply to all three. Anchorage is not a small city; it is the state’s largest, and it is included because many movers compare it against the two smaller options.
Anchorage, Juneau and Fairbanks side by side in Census data
All figures in the table come from the U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2019-2023 5-year (tables B01003, B19013, B25064, B25077, B08013 and B08012). Rent as a share of income is median gross rent times 12 divided by median household income. Price-to-income is median home value divided by median household income. Mean commute is aggregate travel time divided by workers who commute, so people working from home are left out. These are medians for the whole place, not asking prices for listings today.
| Place | Population | Median household income | Median gross rent | Median home value | Rent as % of income | Price-to-income ratio | Mean commute |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anchorage (municipality) | 289,069 | $98,152 | $1,453 | $375,900 | 17.8% | 3.8 | 19.0 min |
| Juneau (city and borough) | 31,969 | $100,513 | $1,462 | $432,500 | 17.5% | 4.3 | 15.8 min |
| Fairbanks (city) | 32,242 | $72,077 | $1,470 | $255,700 | 24.5% | 3.5 | 14.1 min |
| Alaska (state) | 733,971 | $89,336 | $1,388 | $333,300 | 18.6% | 3.7 | 19.5 min |
| United States | 332,387,540 | $78,538 | $1,348 | $303,400 | 20.6% | 3.9 | 26.6 min |
Three things stand out. Median rents in the three cities sit within $17 of each other, from $1,453 in Anchorage to $1,470 in Fairbanks, all above the Alaska median of $1,388 and the U.S. median of $1,348 (ACS 2019-2023 5-year). Incomes, however, are far apart: Juneau’s median household income of $100,513 is about $28,400 higher than Fairbanks’ $72,077, which is why the same rent takes a much bigger bite in Fairbanks. And commutes are short everywhere, with means of 14.1 to 19.0 minutes against 26.6 minutes nationally (ACS 2019-2023 5-year).
Anchorage: the state’s largest city, priced like one
Anchorage is Alaska’s largest city by a wide margin. Its 289,069 residents are about 39.4% of the state’s 733,971 people (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2019-2023 5-year), so it is the Alaska option for someone who wants a city-sized job market rather than a small town. Its median household income of $98,152 keeps rent at 17.8% of income, close to Juneau’s 17.5%, and its price-to-income ratio of 3.8 is slightly under the U.S. figure of 3.9 (ACS 2019-2023 5-year). The mean commute of 19.0 minutes is the longest of the three but still well below the national 26.6.
Our Anchorage cost of living guide notes a homeownership rate of 63.7%, which matches the Census tenure count (68,751 owner-occupied of 107,868 occupied units, table B25003, ACS 2019-2023 5-year). The guide also points out that the city runs a bus system, People Mover; Wikipedia’s Anchorage article describes it as having a downtown hub plus satellite hubs at Dimond Center and Muldoon Mall. The same article notes that the municipality takes in almost all of Chugach State Park.
Juneau: the capital, the highest home values, and no road out
Juneau is the state capital and, in these Census figures, has the highest median household income of the three at $100,513 and the highest median home value at $432,500 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2019-2023 5-year). That puts its price-to-income ratio at 4.3, the steepest of the group and above the U.S. ratio of 3.9, so buying here costs more relative to local pay than in Anchorage or Fairbanks. Renting is a different story: the $1,462 median rent works out to 17.5% of median income, the lowest rent burden in this comparison. The mean commute is 15.8 minutes.
The site’s Juneau cost of living guide stresses that no roads connect the city to the rest of the continent, so people arrive by plane or ferry. Wikipedia’s Juneau article confirms there are no roads connecting the city to the rest of the state or to the contiguous United States. The guide names Bartlett Regional Hospital as the main hospital, which the same Wikipedia article also lists as the city and borough’s primary hospital. Anyone used to driving out of town on a weekend should weigh that isolation alongside the dollar figures.
Fairbanks: the lowest home prices, the heaviest rent burden
Fairbanks has the lowest median home value of the three at $255,700 and a price-to-income ratio of 3.5, the most favorable for buyers in this comparison and below both the Alaska ratio of 3.7 and the U.S. ratio of 3.9 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2019-2023 5-year). Rent is the catch. The median gross rent of $1,470 is the highest of the three, while median household income is the lowest at $72,077, so rent equals 24.5% of median income, compared with 20.6% nationally. Its mean commute of 14.1 minutes is the shortest in the table.
Our Fairbanks cost of living guide ties the city’s young median age of 28.6 years to the University of Alaska Fairbanks and Fort Wainwright. The median age matches the Census figure (table B01002, ACS 2019-2023 5-year), and Wikipedia’s Fairbanks article confirms both the university and the Army post. The guide also reports a homeownership rate of 40.5%, which the Census tenure count supports (4,941 owner-occupied of 12,203 occupied units, table B25003, ACS 2019-2023 5-year). That means about six in ten occupied homes in the city are rented, far more than in Anchorage or Juneau.
What Alaska takes and gives back: taxes and the Permanent Fund Dividend
A few state-level rules apply in all three cities, and they matter for anyone comparing an Alaska paycheck with one from a state that taxes income.
- No state income tax on individuals. Alaska does not have an individual income tax (Tax Foundation, Alaska page, viewed September 2026).
- No statewide sales tax. Alaska does not levy a state sales tax, but local governments can; the average combined state and local sales tax rate is 1.82% (Tax Foundation, Alaska page, viewed September 2026). Check the rate in the specific city before budgeting.
- Property tax. The Tax Foundation puts Alaska’s effective property tax rate on owner-occupied housing at 0.94% (Tax Foundation, Alaska page, viewed September 2026). Rates vary by municipality.
- The Permanent Fund Dividend. Eligible residents receive an annual dividend; the 2025 amount was $1,000 per person, according to the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend Division. The amount changes every year and requires meeting residency rules, so it should not be counted on as fixed income.
On the local side, the City of Fairbanks Finance Department lists the taxes it collects within city limits as a hotel and motel bed tax, a marijuana sales tax, a tax on alcoholic beverages, a gasoline excise tax and a tobacco distribution tax, and notes that real property taxes are collected by the Fairbanks North Star Borough on the city’s behalf. We could not confirm current general sales tax rates for Anchorage or Juneau from an official page for this update, so they are not listed here.
Taken together, the Census data suggests a simple split. Anchorage and Juneau offer higher incomes that keep rent near 18% of income, with Juneau the more expensive place to buy. Fairbanks is the cheapest place to buy a home but the hardest on renters relative to local pay. Each city guide linked above goes further into day-to-day costs.
How this guide was made. Figures come from the sources named next to each number. A first draft was written with the help of an AI language model; every place name, price, date and claim was then checked against primary sources by the Small City Guide editors (see About and Methodology). Last verified: September 26, 2026.
What changed: Rewritten in September 2026 from Census ACS 2019-2023 data; replaces an earlier version.
Photo: Frank K. from Anchorage, Alaska, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
