Best PlacesYukon-Koyukuk Census Area, AK Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area ranks 3,004th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.

#3,004
of 3,144 counties
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 3,144 counties
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area's strengths and weaknesses

Top 1%Low property taxes
Top 1%Short commutes
Top 1%Low taxes
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area with other counties.

Where Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area ranks high

  • Low property taxBetter than 99% of counties
  • Short commute11.0 minutes each way, better than 99% of counties
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of counties
  • QuietBetter than 99% of counties
  • Heat safetyBetter than 99% of counties

Where Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area ranks low

  • Internet speedBetter than only 1% of counties
  • Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of counties
  • Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of counties
  • Local economyBetter than only 1% of counties
  • Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of counties

What it costs to buy a home in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area

A household needs to earn about $25,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $55,993, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$25,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$582
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $106,326 home
Median rent
$993
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$542
Property tax$5
Homeowners insurance$35

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 Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area's effective rate of 0.05%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area

Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
38
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
18%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.1
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1826%
18 to 3420%
35 to 4918%
50 to 6418%
65 and older18%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area.


Who works in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, and how

Work in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area centers on public administration and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate.

Work from home
12%
below the national average
Unemployment
11.8%
above the national average

Largest industries

Public administration26%
Education14%
Health care & social10%
Retail trade10%
Construction7%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 54%
  • Work from home 12%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 34%

Life in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area

Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
33
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 61.8 per 10,000 residents, more than 72% of counties
Coffee shops
7
about 13.1 per 10,000 residents, more than 84% of counties

Is Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area growing, and who is moving in?

Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area has lost about 7% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Anchorage, AK.

Population growth
-7%
over the decade, vs about 6% nationally
Population
5,099
down from 5,462
Population by year. Source: U.S. Census Population Estimates Program.

Where new residents come from

Anchorage, AK100 / yr
Fairbanks, AK81 / yr
Denali Borough, AK34 / yr
Kusilvak Census Area, AK28 / yr
Seattle, WA17 / yr

Where people leaving Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area go

Anchorage, AK208 / yr
Fairbanks, AK89 / yr
Copper River Census Area, AK74 / yr
Kenai Peninsula Borough, AK14 / yr
Elk County, PA14 / yr

Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.


What the weather is like in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, month by month

Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area sees roughly 114 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 75 degrees. January highs sit near -3, with lows near -21. The comfortable stretch runs June through August.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January-3°-12°-21°
April38°26°13°
July75°64°53°
October32°24°16°

Flying in and out of Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area

The nearest airport, Huslia, is about 118 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ted Stevens Anchorage International, about 275 miles away.

Nearest airport
HLA
Huslia, about 118 miles
Airport size
Nonprimary
3 nonstop destinations
Average drive
169 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area

Schools across Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area average a C, better than 45% of counties.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area 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 Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area against the other 3,143 counties.


Common questions about living in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area

Is Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area ranks 3,004th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low property taxes, short commutes, and low taxes, and lowest on internet speeds and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $106,326. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $55,993 median income, cost of living beats 2% of counties.

Is Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area safe?

Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area is safer than 0% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,997 per resident a year.


Compare Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area with other counties


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area 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.

Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
  3. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  4. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  5. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  6. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  7. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  8. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  9. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  10. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  11. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  12. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  13. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.