Best PlacesHarding-Birch Lakes, AK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Harding-Birch Lakes, 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.
Harding-Birch Lakes ranks 28,147th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Harding-Birch Lakes
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.
Harding-Birch Lakes' strengths and weaknesses
Where Harding-Birch Lakes ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 96% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 80% of towns
Where Harding-Birch Lakes ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,521 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Harding-Birch Lakes
A household needs to earn about $75,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Harding-Birch Lakes home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $91,458, 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 Harding-Birch Lakes' effective rate of 0.76%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Harding-Birch Lakes
Harding-Birch Lakes runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Harding-Birch Lakes.
Who works in Harding-Birch Lakes, and how
Work in Harding-Birch Lakes centers on retail trade and professional & technical. Unemployment is low.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 1%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Harding-Birch Lakes
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Harding-Birch Lakes.
What the weather is like in Harding-Birch Lakes, month by month
Harding-Birch Lakes sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 74 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° | -6° | -16° |
| April | 46° | 33° | 19° |
| July | 74° | 63° | 50° |
| October | 38° | 27° | 18° |
Flying in and out of Harding-Birch Lakes
The nearest airport, Fairbanks International, is about 42 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ted Stevens Anchorage International, about 244 miles away.
The best schools in and around Harding-Birch Lakes
Schools across Harding-Birch Lakes average a C+, better than 52% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Delta Junction ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Salcha ElementaryC · 31% proficient
Top middle schools
- Delta Junction Junior High SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- North Pole Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Delta Junction Senior High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- North Pole High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Harding-Birch Lakes school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Harding-Birch Lakes 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 Harding-Birch Lakes against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Harding-Birch Lakes
Is Harding-Birch Lakes a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Harding-Birch Lakes ranks 28,147th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, heat safety, and quiet, and lowest on disaster risk and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Harding-Birch Lakes expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $286,500. The overall cost of living runs about 22% above the national average. Set against a $91,458 median income, cost of living beats 41% of towns.
Is Harding-Birch Lakes safe?
Harding-Birch Lakes is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $519 per resident a year.
Compare Harding-Birch Lakes with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Harding-Birch Lakes. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Harding-Birch Lakes 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.
Harding-Birch Lakes detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Harding-Birch Lakes: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Harding-Birch Lakes: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Harding-Birch Lakes: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Harding-Birch Lakes: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Harding-Birch Lakes 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.