Best PlacesMatanuska-Susitna Borough, AK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Matanuska-Susitna Borough ranks 738th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 20 minutes away. Its strengths are low taxes and clean air. The cost shows up in long commutes, cell coverage, and childcare costs.
The best neighborhoods in Matanuska-Susitna 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.
The best areas in Matanuska-Susitna Borough
The parts of Matanuska-Susitna Borough, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Palmer & Gateway
Fewer homes sit empty, biking is better, and commutes are shorter.
Knik-Fairview
More households have young kids.
Wasilla, Tanaina & Meadow Lakes
Scores close to Knik-Fairview, except that local pay stretches less far here.
Big Lake
Incomes run lower and crime runs higher.
Scores across Matanuska-Susitna Borough run from about the 8th to the 87th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Matanuska-Susitna Borough's strengths and weaknesses
Matanuska-Susitna Borough ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Low taxes is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Clean air and heat safety follow.
The one real hole is long commutes, near the bottom of the country. Cell coverage and childcare costs also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Matanuska-Susitna Borough ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 97% of counties
- Household income$94,192 median, better than 89% of counties
Where Matanuska-Susitna Borough ranks low
- Short commute34.8 minutes each way, better than only 4% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,157 a month, better than only 10% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 11% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Matanuska-Susitna Borough
A household needs to earn about $91,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Matanuska-Susitna Borough home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $94,192, 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 Matanuska-Susitna Borough's effective rate of 0.90%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Matanuska-Susitna Borough
Matanuska-Susitna Borough runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Matanuska-Susitna Borough.
Who works in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, and how
Work in Matanuska-Susitna Borough centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Matanuska-Susitna Borough
Matanuska-Susitna Borough has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. The coast is about 20 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Matanuska-Susitna Borough and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Matanuska-Susitna Borough growing, and who is moving in?
Matanuska-Susitna Borough has grown about 20% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Anchorage, AK metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Matanuska-Susitna Borough go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, month by month
Matanuska-Susitna Borough sees roughly 114 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 70 degrees. January highs sit near 27, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs June through August.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 27° | 18° | 10° |
| April | 49° | 39° | 28° |
| July | 70° | 60° | 50° |
| October | 46° | 38° | 29° |
Flying in and out of Matanuska-Susitna Borough
The nearest airport, Merrill Field, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ted Stevens Anchorage International, about 35 miles away.
The best schools in and around Matanuska-Susitna Borough
Schools across Matanuska-Susitna Borough average a C+, better than 50% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Academy Charter SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Pioneer Peak ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Fred And Sara Machetanz Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Teeland Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Colony Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Wasilla Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Mat-su Career & Tech Ed High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Joe Redington Senior Jr/sr High SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Colony High SchoolC · 34% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Matanuska-Susitna Borough school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Matanuska-Susitna 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 Matanuska-Susitna Borough against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Matanuska-Susitna Borough suits
Families
Schools land around the 50th percentile and crime safety beats 97%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 12% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Matanuska-Susitna Borough
Is Matanuska-Susitna Borough a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Matanuska-Susitna Borough ranks 738th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low taxes, clean air, and heat safety, and lowest on long commutes and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Matanuska-Susitna Borough expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $342,929. The overall cost of living runs about 17% above the national average. Set against a $94,192 median income, cost of living beats 47% of counties.
Is Matanuska-Susitna Borough safe?
Yes, Matanuska-Susitna Borough is safer than 97% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $336 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Matanuska-Susitna Borough?
July highs average about 70 degrees, and January highs near 27 with lows near 10. That works out to about 114 pleasant days a year, more than 70% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Matanuska-Susitna Borough?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Palmer & Gateway, Knik-Fairview, and Wasilla, Tanaina & Meadow Lakes. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Matanuska-Susitna Borough good for families?
Schools beat 50% of counties, crime safety beats 97%, and childcare runs $1,157 a month.
Is Matanuska-Susitna Borough good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 47% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 65% of counties. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Matanuska-Susitna Borough with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Matanuska-Susitna Borough. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Matanuska-Susitna 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.
Matanuska-Susitna Borough detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Matanuska-Susitna Borough: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Matanuska-Susitna Borough: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Matanuska-Susitna Borough: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Matanuska-Susitna Borough: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Matanuska-Susitna 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.