Best PlacesPoint Lay, AK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Point Lay, 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.
Point Lay ranks 41,579th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Point Lay
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.
Point Lay's strengths and weaknesses
Where Point Lay ranks high
- Short commute4.9 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of towns
Where Point Lay ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 1% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Point Lay
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Point Lay home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $90,313, 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 Point Lay's effective rate of 0.58%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Point Lay
Point Lay runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Point Lay.
Who works in Point Lay, and how
Work in Point Lay centers on education and public administration. Unemployment runs well above the national rate.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 39%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 58%
Life in Point Lay
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Point Lay.
What the weather is like in Point Lay, month by month
Point Lay sees roughly 108 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 57 degrees. January highs sit near 0, with lows near -15. No month averages between 55 and 75 degrees.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0° | -8° | -15° |
| April | 16° | 7° | -2° |
| July | 57° | 49° | 43° |
| October | 32° | 25° | 18° |
Flying in and out of Point Lay
The nearest airport, Wainwright, is about 97 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ted Stevens Anchorage International, about 694 miles away.
The best schools in and around Point Lay
Schools across Point Lay average an F, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- June Nelson ElementaryF · 10% proficient
- Fred Ipalook ElementaryF · 8% proficient
Top high schools
- Kotzebue Middle/high SchoolD− · 15% proficient
- Barrow High SchoolF · 8% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Point Lay school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Point Lay 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 Point Lay against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Point Lay
Is Point Lay a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Point Lay ranks 41,579th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, clean air, and heat safety, and lowest on internet speeds and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Point Lay expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $158,600. The overall cost of living runs about 43% above the national average. Set against a $90,313 median income, cost of living beats 11% of towns.
Is Point Lay safe?
Point Lay is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,331 per resident a year.
Compare Point Lay with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Point Lay. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Point Lay 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.
Point Lay detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Point Lay: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Point Lay: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Point Lay: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Point Lay: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Point Lay 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.