Best PlacesMcKinley Park, AK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around McKinley Park, 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.
McKinley Park ranks 27,245th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in McKinley Park
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.
McKinley Park's strengths and weaknesses
Where McKinley Park ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute15.4 minutes each way, better than 97% of towns
Where McKinley Park ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,537 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in McKinley Park
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median McKinley Park home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,972, 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 McKinley Park's effective rate of 0.14%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in McKinley Park
McKinley Park runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, 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 McKinley Park.
Who works in McKinley Park, and how
Work in McKinley Park centers on mining & oil & gas and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 63%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 33%
Life in McKinley Park
McKinley Park has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of McKinley Park and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in McKinley Park, month by month
McKinley Park sees roughly 97 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 69 degrees. January highs sit near 13, with lows near -6. The comfortable stretch runs June and July.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 13° | 2° | -6° |
| April | 43° | 31° | 18° |
| July | 69° | 58° | 46° |
| October | 39° | 28° | 19° |
Flying in and out of McKinley Park
The nearest airport, Fairbanks International, is about 85 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ted Stevens Anchorage International, about 175 miles away.
McKinley Park 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 McKinley Park against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in McKinley Park
Is McKinley Park a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, McKinley Park ranks 27,245th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, heat safety, and low property taxes, and lowest on childcare costs 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 McKinley Park expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $285,900. The overall cost of living runs about 26% above the national average. Set against a $75,972 median income, cost of living beats 34% of towns.
Is McKinley Park safe?
McKinley Park is safer than 4% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,130 per resident a year.
Compare McKinley Park with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to McKinley Park. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in McKinley Park 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.
McKinley Park detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for McKinley Park: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in McKinley Park: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of McKinley Park: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in McKinley Park: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
McKinley Park 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.