Best PlacesWillow, AK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Willow, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Willow ranks 36,369th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Willow
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.
Willow's strengths and weaknesses
Where Willow ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- QuietBetter than 91% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 95 pleasant days a year, better than 64% of towns
Where Willow ranks low
- Short commute51.6 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,157 a month, better than only 14% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Willow
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Willow home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $70,500; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Willow's effective rate of 0.73%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Willow
Willow runs older than the country, 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 Willow.
Who works in Willow, and how
Work in Willow centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 29%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Willow
The coast is about 52 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Willow, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Willow, month by month
Willow sees roughly 95 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 Willow
The nearest airport, Merrill Field, is about 47 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ted Stevens Anchorage International, about 50 miles away.
The best schools in and around Willow
Schools across Willow average a C, better than 40% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Willow ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Talkeetna ElementaryB · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Houston High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Willow school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Willow 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 Willow against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Willow
Is Willow a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Willow ranks 36,369th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, low taxes, and heat safety, and lowest on long commutes and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Willow expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $284,111. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $70,500 median income, cost of living beats 22% of towns.
Is Willow safe?
Willow is safer than 27% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $649 per resident a year.
Compare Willow with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Willow. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Willow 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.
Willow detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Willow: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Willow: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Willow: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Willow: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Willow 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.