Best PlacesAmbler, AK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ambler, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ambler ranks 44,163rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ambler
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Ambler's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ambler ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute7.0 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of towns
Where Ambler ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ambler
A household needs to earn about $21,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ambler home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $41,750, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses a national 0.90% effective rate, since no local rate is published, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ambler
Ambler runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ambler.
Who works in Ambler, and how
Work in Ambler centers on public administration and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 11%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 66%
Life in Ambler
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ambler.
What the weather is like in Ambler, month by month
Ambler sees roughly 102 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 69 degrees. January highs sit near 6, with lows near -10. The comfortable stretch runs June and July.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6° | -2° | -10° |
| April | 33° | 23° | 14° |
| July | 69° | 59° | 50° |
| October | 35° | 28° | 22° |
Flying in and out of Ambler
The nearest airport, Selawik, is about 67 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ted Stevens Anchorage International, about 472 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ambler
Schools across Ambler average a D+, better than 19% of towns.
Top high schools
- Meade River SchoolD− · 8% proficient
- Ambler SchoolF · 5% proficient
- Nuiqsut Trapper SchoolF · 3% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ambler school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ambler measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Ambler against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ambler
Is Ambler a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ambler ranks 44,163rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, short commutes, and low property taxes, and lowest on thin health care access and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ambler expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $79,500. The overall cost of living runs about 56% above the national average. Set against a $41,750 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Ambler safe?
Ambler is safer than 1% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,616 per resident a year.
Compare Ambler with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ambler. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ambler represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Ambler detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ambler: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ambler: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ambler: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ambler: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ambler detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.