Best PlacesFort Wainwright, AK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fort Wainwright, 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.
Fort Wainwright ranks 18,101st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Fort Wainwright
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.
Fort Wainwright's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fort Wainwright ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute11.3 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 93% of towns
Where Fort Wainwright ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,521 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 5% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 9% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fort Wainwright
A household needs to earn about $81,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fort Wainwright home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $72,451; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Fort Wainwright's effective rate of 1.11%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Fort Wainwright
Fort Wainwright runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Fort Wainwright.
Who works in Fort Wainwright, and how
Work in Fort Wainwright centers on health care & social and hospitality & food. Unemployment runs well above the national rate.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 26%
Life in Fort Wainwright
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Fort Wainwright.
What the weather is like in Fort Wainwright, month by month
Fort Wainwright sees roughly 121 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 Fort Wainwright
The nearest airport, Fairbanks International, is about 6 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 Fort Wainwright
Schools across Fort Wainwright average a C+, better than 43% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ladd ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
- Arctic Light ElementaryC · 33% proficient
- Hunter ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tanana Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Ryan Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- 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 Fort Wainwright school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fort Wainwright 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 Fort Wainwright against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fort Wainwright
Is Fort Wainwright a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fort Wainwright ranks 18,101st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, low taxes, and short commutes, and lowest on civic engagement and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fort Wainwright expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $296,448. The overall cost of living runs about 17% above the national average. Set against a $72,451 median income, cost of living beats 12% of towns.
Is Fort Wainwright safe?
Fort Wainwright is safer than 21% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $686 per resident a year.
Compare Fort Wainwright with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fort Wainwright. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fort Wainwright 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.
Fort Wainwright detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fort Wainwright: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fort Wainwright: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fort Wainwright: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fort Wainwright: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fort Wainwright 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.