Best PlacesFairbanks North Star Borough, AK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Fairbanks North Star Borough, 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.
Fairbanks North Star Borough ranks 695th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Fairbanks North Star 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.
The best areas in Fairbanks North Star Borough
The parts of Fairbanks North Star Borough, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
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.
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 North Star Borough run from about the 11th to the 88th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Fairbanks North Star Borough's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fairbanks North Star Borough ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of counties
- Household income$93,683 median, better than 89% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 87% of counties
Where Fairbanks North Star Borough ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,521 a month, better than only 2% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 5% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 13% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Fairbanks North Star Borough
A household needs to earn about $82,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fairbanks North Star Borough 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 North Star Borough'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, 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 North Star Borough
Fairbanks North Star Borough runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Fairbanks North Star Borough.
Who works in Fairbanks North Star Borough, and how
Work in Fairbanks North Star Borough 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 North Star Borough
Fairbanks North Star Borough has less late-night activity than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Fairbanks North Star Borough and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Fairbanks North Star Borough growing, and who is moving in?
Fairbanks North Star Borough 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 North Star Borough go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Fairbanks North Star Borough, month by month
Fairbanks North Star Borough 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 North Star Borough
The nearest airport, Fairbanks International, is about 7 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 North Star Borough
Schools across Fairbanks North Star Borough average a C+, better than 44% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Watershed Charter SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Delta Junction ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Crawford ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Randy Smith Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- North Pole Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Tanana Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Delta Junction Senior High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Ben Eielson Jr/sr High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Hutchison High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fairbanks North Star Borough school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fairbanks North Star 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 Fairbanks North Star Borough against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Fairbanks North Star Borough suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 7% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Fairbanks North Star Borough
Is Fairbanks North Star Borough a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fairbanks North Star Borough ranks 695th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low taxes, heat safety, and population health, and lowest on childcare costs and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fairbanks North Star Borough 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 52% of counties.
Is Fairbanks North Star Borough safe?
Fairbanks North Star Borough is safer than 52% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $555 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Fairbanks North Star Borough?
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 76% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Fairbanks North Star Borough?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Steele Creek & Farmers Loop, College, and Fairbanks. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Fairbanks North Star Borough with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fairbanks North Star Borough. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fairbanks North Star 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.
Fairbanks North Star Borough detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fairbanks North Star Borough: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fairbanks North Star Borough: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fairbanks North Star Borough: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fairbanks North Star Borough: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fairbanks North Star 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.