Best PlacesChugiak, AK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Chugiak, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Chugiak ranks 2,887th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Chugiak
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.
Chugiak's strengths and weaknesses
Where Chugiak ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$128,776 median, better than 95% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 94% of towns
Where Chugiak ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,590 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 22% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 25% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 29% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Chugiak
A household needs to earn about $126,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chugiak home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $128,776, 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 Chugiak's effective rate of 1.09%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Chugiak
Chugiak runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Chugiak.
Who works in Chugiak, and how
Work in Chugiak centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Chugiak
The coast is about 5 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Chugiak, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Chugiak, month by month
Chugiak sees roughly 118 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 69 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 8. The comfortable stretch runs June through August.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 16° | 8° |
| April | 47° | 38° | 27° |
| July | 69° | 60° | 52° |
| October | 45° | 36° | 29° |
Flying in and out of Chugiak
The nearest airport, Merrill Field, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ted Stevens Anchorage International, about 24 miles away.
The best schools in and around Chugiak
Schools across Chugiak average a B+, better than 70% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Chugiak ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Birchwood Abc ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Fire Lake ElementaryC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mirror Lake Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Chugiak High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Chugiak school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Chugiak 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 Chugiak against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Chugiak
Is Chugiak a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chugiak ranks 2,887th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, low taxes, and clean air, and lowest on childcare costs and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Chugiak expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $464,162. The overall cost of living runs about 19% above the national average. Set against a $128,776 median income, cost of living beats 87% of towns.
Is Chugiak safe?
Yes, Chugiak is safer than 71% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $416 per resident a year.
Compare Chugiak with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chugiak. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chugiak 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.
Chugiak detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chugiak: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chugiak: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chugiak: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chugiak: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chugiak 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.