Best PlacesFairbanks, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fairbanks, 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.
Fairbanks ranks 50,073rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Long commutes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on civic engagement.
The best neighborhoods in Fairbanks
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.
Fairbanks' strengths and weaknesses
Where Fairbanks ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 88% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 85% of towns
- QuietBetter than 79% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 67% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 64% of towns
Where Fairbanks ranks low
- Short commute62.1 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 52 pleasant days a year, better than only 2% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 2% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fairbanks
A household needs to earn about $27,000 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 $52,281, 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 0.78%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Fairbanks
Fairbanks's age mix sits close to the national median.
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 manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Fairbanks
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Fairbanks.
What the weather is like in Fairbanks, month by month
Fairbanks sees roughly 52 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 35° | 25° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 44° |
| July | 89° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 74° | 59° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Fairbanks
The nearest airport, Blue Grass, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 41 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fairbanks
Schools across Fairbanks average a D+, better than 15% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Owen County Elementary/primary SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top middle schools
- Maurice Bowling Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Owen County High SchoolD · 20% 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 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fairbanks
Is Fairbanks a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fairbanks ranks 50,073rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, tree cover, and quiet, and lowest on long commutes and the weather. 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 $104,598. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $52,281 median income, cost of living beats 15% of towns.
Is Fairbanks safe?
Fairbanks is safer than 8% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $543 per resident a year.
Compare Fairbanks with other towns
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.
- 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.