Best PlacesNanwalek, AK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Nanwalek, 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.
Nanwalek ranks 28,203rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Nanwalek
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.
Nanwalek's strengths and weaknesses
Where Nanwalek ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute10.4 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
Where Nanwalek ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 21 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Nanwalek
A household needs to earn about $56,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Nanwalek home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,625, 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 Nanwalek's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 Nanwalek
Nanwalek runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Nanwalek.
Who works in Nanwalek, and how
Work in Nanwalek centers on health care & social and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment is low.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 60%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 22%
Life in Nanwalek
The coast is about 6 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Nanwalek, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Nanwalek, month by month
Nanwalek sees roughly 21 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 65 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs July and August.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 28° | 22° |
| April | 46° | 38° | 30° |
| July | 65° | 57° | 49° |
| October | 48° | 41° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Nanwalek
The nearest airport, Seldovia, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ted Stevens Anchorage International, about 143 miles away.
The best schools in and around Nanwalek
Schools across Nanwalek average a B+, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- West Homer ElementaryB · 50% 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 Nanwalek school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Nanwalek 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 Nanwalek against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Nanwalek
Is Nanwalek a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Nanwalek ranks 28,203rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, heat safety, and short commutes, and lowest on the weather and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Nanwalek expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $222,100. The overall cost of living runs about 42% above the national average. Set against a $82,625 median income, cost of living beats 10% of towns.
Is Nanwalek safe?
Nanwalek is safer than 15% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $782 per resident a year.
Compare Nanwalek with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Nanwalek. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Nanwalek 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.
Nanwalek detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Nanwalek: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Nanwalek: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Nanwalek: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Nanwalek: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Nanwalek 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.