Best PlacesHappy Valley, AK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Happy Valley, 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.
Happy Valley ranks 35,539th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Happy Valley
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.
Happy Valley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Happy Valley ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 87% of towns
Where Happy Valley ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Happy Valley
A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Happy Valley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $54,792, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Happy Valley's effective rate of 0.42%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Happy Valley
Happy Valley 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 Happy Valley.
Who works in Happy Valley, and how
Work in Happy Valley 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 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Happy Valley
The coast is about 6 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Happy Valley, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Happy Valley, month by month
Happy Valley sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 64 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs July and August.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 27° | 20° |
| April | 47° | 40° | 31° |
| July | 64° | 57° | 49° |
| October | 49° | 42° | 34° |
Flying in and out of Happy Valley
The nearest airport, Homer, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ted Stevens Anchorage International, about 105 miles away.
The best schools in and around Happy Valley
Schools across Happy Valley average a B, better than 67% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mcneil Canyon ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Chapman SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Tustumena ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Skyview Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- River City AcademyB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Happy Valley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Happy Valley 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 Happy Valley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Happy Valley
Is Happy Valley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Happy Valley ranks 35,539th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, clean air, and low taxes, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Happy Valley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $254,100. The overall cost of living runs about 32% above the national average. Set against a $54,792 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Happy Valley safe?
Happy Valley is safer than 14% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $818 per resident a year.
Compare Happy Valley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Happy Valley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Happy Valley 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.
Happy Valley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Happy Valley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Happy Valley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Happy Valley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Happy Valley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Happy Valley 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.