Best PlacesFairbanks, AK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Fairbanks metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Quintin Soloviev, CC BY-SA 4.0, via commons
Fairbanks ranks 170th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on low taxes and heat safety. The weaker spots are cell coverage, distance from a big city, and childcare costs.
The best neighborhoods in the Fairbanks metro
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.
The best areas in Fairbanks
The towns and districts of the Fairbanks metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Steele Creek & Farmers Loop
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and homes cost less.
College
More adults hold degrees, though fewer households have young kids.
Downtown Fairbanks
Biking is better, though it is noisier.
Fort Wainwright
Fewer residents vote and crime runs higher.
Badger, Eielson AFB & North Pole
Fewer homes sit empty.
Scores across Fairbanks run from about the 11th to the 88th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Fairbanks' strengths and weaknesses
Fairbanks lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low taxes is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. Heat safety and quiet follow.
The one real hole is cell coverage, near the bottom of the country. Distance from a big city and childcare costs also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Fairbanks ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than 98% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Short commute19.2 minutes each way, better than 91% of metro areas
Where Fairbanks ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$1,521 a month, better than only 5% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than only 12% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than only 13% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Fairbanks
A household needs to earn about $82,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fairbanks home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $93,683, 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 Fairbanks' effective rate of 1.09%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Fairbanks
Fairbanks runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Fairbanks.
Who works in Fairbanks, and how
Work in Fairbanks centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Fairbanks
Fairbanks has less parkland per resident than most metro areas and less late-night activity than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Fairbanks and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Fairbanks growing, and who is moving in?
Fairbanks has lost about 4% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Anchorage, AK.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Fairbanks go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Fairbanks, month by month
Fairbanks sees roughly 123 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 75 degrees. January highs sit near 5, with lows near -16. The comfortable stretch runs June through August.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5° | -5° | -16° |
| April | 45° | 33° | 19° |
| July | 75° | 64° | 52° |
| October | 38° | 29° | 21° |
Flying in and out of Fairbanks
The nearest airport, Fairbanks International, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ted Stevens Anchorage International, about 263 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fairbanks
Schools across Fairbanks average a C+, better than 32% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Pearl Creek ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Barnette Magnet SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Chinook Montessori Charter SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Randy Smith Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- North Pole Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Tanana Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- West Valley High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Lathrop High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- North Pole High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fairbanks school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fairbanks 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 Fairbanks against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Fairbanks suits
Retirees
The weather beats 75% of metro areas and it is quieter than 98%.
Common questions about living in Fairbanks
Is Fairbanks a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fairbanks ranks 170th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low taxes, heat safety, and quiet, and lowest on cell coverage 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 Fairbanks expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $300,602. The overall cost of living runs about 15% above the national average. Set against a $93,683 median income, cost of living beats 26% of metro areas.
Is Fairbanks safe?
Fairbanks is safer than 48% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $555 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Fairbanks?
July highs average about 75 degrees, and January highs near 5 with lows near -16. That works out to about 123 pleasant days a year, more than 75% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Fairbanks?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Steele Creek & Farmers Loop, College, and Downtown Fairbanks. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Fairbanks good for families?
Schools beat 32% of metro areas, crime safety beats 48%, and childcare runs $1,521 a month.
Is Fairbanks good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 26% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 30% of metro areas. About 7% of workers already work from home.
Compare Fairbanks with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fairbanks. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fairbanks 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.
Fairbanks detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fairbanks: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fairbanks: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fairbanks: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fairbanks: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fairbanks 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.