Best PlacesDenali Borough, AK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Denali Borough, 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.
Denali Borough ranks 1,643rd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and walkability ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Denali Borough
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.
Denali Borough's strengths and weaknesses
Where Denali Borough ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of counties
- QuietBetter than 99% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of counties
- Short commute15.5 minutes each way, better than 94% of counties
Where Denali Borough ranks low
- WalkabilityBetter than only 1% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of counties
- BikingBetter than only 2% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,537 a month, better than only 2% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 2% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Denali Borough
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Denali Borough home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,948, 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 Denali Borough's effective rate of 0.14%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Denali Borough
Denali Borough runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, 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 Denali Borough.
Who works in Denali Borough, and how
Work in Denali Borough centers on mining & oil & gas and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 64%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 31%
Life in Denali Borough
Denali Borough has more restaurants and bars per resident than 95% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Denali Borough and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Denali Borough growing, and who is moving in?
Denali Borough has lost about 15% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Riverside, CA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Denali Borough go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Denali Borough, month by month
Denali Borough sees roughly 96 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 69 degrees. January highs sit near 13, with lows near -6. The comfortable stretch runs June and July.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 13° | 2° | -6° |
| April | 43° | 31° | 18° |
| July | 69° | 58° | 46° |
| October | 39° | 28° | 19° |
Flying in and out of Denali Borough
The nearest airport, Fairbanks International, is about 74 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ted Stevens Anchorage International, about 188 miles away.
The best schools in and around Denali Borough
Schools across Denali Borough average a B+, better than 71% of counties.
Top high schools
- Distance Learning/corresp. Ctr.A+ · 75% proficient
- Tri-valley SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Anderson SchoolC− · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Denali Borough school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Denali Borough 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 Denali Borough against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Denali Borough
Is Denali Borough a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Denali Borough ranks 1,643rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low property taxes, low taxes, and quiet, and lowest on walkability and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Denali Borough expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $273,880. The overall cost of living runs about 26% above the national average. Set against a $80,948 median income, cost of living beats 36% of counties.
Is Denali Borough safe?
Denali Borough is safer than 3% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,187 per resident a year.
Compare Denali Borough with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Denali Borough. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Denali Borough 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.
Denali Borough detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Denali Borough: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Denali Borough: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Denali Borough: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Denali Borough: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Denali Borough 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.