Best PlacesGoodnews Bay, AK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Goodnews Bay, 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.
Goodnews Bay ranks 47,126th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Goodnews Bay
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.
Goodnews Bay's strengths and weaknesses
Where Goodnews Bay ranks high
- Short commute5.0 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
Where Goodnews Bay ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 1% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Goodnews Bay
A household needs to earn about $25,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Goodnews Bay home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $45,819, 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 a national 0.90% effective rate, since no local rate is published, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Goodnews Bay
Goodnews Bay 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 Goodnews Bay.
Who works in Goodnews Bay, and how
Work in Goodnews Bay centers on public administration and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 12%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 81%
Life in Goodnews Bay
The coast is about 72 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Goodnews Bay, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Goodnews Bay, month by month
Goodnews Bay sees roughly 63 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 58 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 11. No month averages between 55 and 75 degrees.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 18° | 11° |
| April | 38° | 32° | 26° |
| July | 58° | 53° | 49° |
| October | 45° | 40° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Goodnews Bay
The nearest airport, Togiak, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ted Stevens Anchorage International, about 423 miles away.
The best schools in and around Goodnews Bay
Schools across Goodnews Bay average an F, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dillingham ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Dillingham Middle/high SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Goodnews Bay school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Goodnews Bay 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 Goodnews Bay against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Goodnews Bay
Is Goodnews Bay a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Goodnews Bay ranks 47,126th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, heat safety, and low property taxes, and lowest on thin health care access and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Goodnews Bay expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $92,600. The overall cost of living runs about 20% above the national average. Set against a $45,819 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Goodnews Bay safe?
Goodnews Bay is safer than 7% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $973 per resident a year.
Compare Goodnews Bay with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Goodnews Bay. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Goodnews Bay 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.
Goodnews Bay detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Goodnews Bay: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Goodnews Bay: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Goodnews Bay: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Goodnews Bay: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Goodnews Bay 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.