Best PlacesHaines Borough, AK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Haines Borough, 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.
Haines Borough ranks 1,242nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Haines 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.
Haines Borough's strengths and weaknesses
Where Haines Borough ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of counties
- Short commute12.4 minutes each way, better than 99% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of counties
- QuietBetter than 94% of counties
Where Haines Borough ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 3% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 3% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 4% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Haines Borough
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Haines Borough home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $92,265, 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 Haines Borough's effective rate of 0.69%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Haines Borough
Haines Borough runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Haines Borough.
Who works in Haines Borough, and how
Work in Haines Borough centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in Haines Borough
Haines Borough has more restaurants and bars per resident than 86% of counties. The coast is about 8 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Haines Borough and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Haines Borough growing, and who is moving in?
Haines Borough has lost about 18% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Fairbanks, AK.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Haines Borough go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Haines Borough, month by month
Haines Borough sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 68 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs June through August.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 28° | 22° |
| April | 51° | 42° | 34° |
| July | 68° | 60° | 53° |
| October | 49° | 43° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Haines Borough
The nearest airport, Haines, is about 1 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ted Stevens Anchorage International, about 514 miles away.
The best schools in and around Haines Borough
Schools across Haines Borough average a C+, better than 48% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Haines ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Haines High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Haines Borough school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Haines 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 Haines Borough against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Haines Borough
Is Haines Borough a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Haines Borough ranks 1,242nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low taxes, short commutes, and heat safety, and lowest on cell coverage and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Haines Borough expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $293,513. The overall cost of living runs about 22% above the national average. Set against a $92,265 median income, cost of living beats 35% of counties.
Is Haines Borough safe?
Haines Borough is safer than 3% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,364 per resident a year.
Compare Haines Borough with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Haines Borough. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Haines 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.
Haines Borough detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Haines Borough: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Haines Borough: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Haines Borough: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Haines Borough: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Haines 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.