Best PlacesBarrow, AK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Barrow, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Barrow ranks 9,186th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Barrow
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.
Barrow's strengths and weaknesses
Where Barrow ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute10.3 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of towns
Where Barrow ranks low
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 9% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Barrow
A household needs to earn about $72,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Barrow home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $105,873, 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 Barrow's effective rate of 0.45%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Barrow
Barrow 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 Barrow.
Who works in Barrow, and how
Work in Barrow centers on public administration and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Barrow
The coast is about 1 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Barrow, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Barrow, month by month
Barrow sees roughly 110 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 51 degrees. January highs sit near 1, with lows near -13. No month averages between 55 and 75 degrees.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 1° | -5° | -13° |
| April | 13° | 6° | -2° |
| July | 51° | 43° | 37° |
| October | 32° | 27° | 22° |
Flying in and out of Barrow
The nearest airport, Wiley Post-Will Rogers Memorial, is about 1 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ted Stevens Anchorage International, about 723 miles away.
The best schools in and around Barrow
Schools across Barrow average an F, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Fred Ipalook ElementaryF · 8% proficient
Top middle schools
- Eben Hopson Middle SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top high schools
- Barrow High SchoolF · 8% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Barrow school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Barrow 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 Barrow against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Barrow
Is Barrow a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Barrow ranks 9,186th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, clean air, and heat safety, and lowest on the schools and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Barrow expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $287,768. The overall cost of living runs about 47% above the national average. Set against a $105,873 median income, cost of living beats 27% of towns.
Is Barrow safe?
Barrow is safer than 13% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $789 per resident a year.
Compare Barrow with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Barrow. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Barrow 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.
Barrow detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Barrow: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Barrow: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Barrow: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Barrow: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Barrow 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.