Best places that are afordable to live in Alaska? (Anchorage: houses, buying)

[Outofthematrix]

Just need opinions from long time residents....

[Marty Van Diest]

Affordable compared to what? Almost everywhere in Alaska is less affordable than most places in the lower 48

[gobrien]

Good luck with that! I would say that Anchorage is the most affordable place because they have natural gas lines to the houses as opposed to the rest of the state that has to have expensive heating fuel delivered to a tank. Plus there is plenty of retail competition.

[AKStafford]

Anchorage, Eagle River, Chugiak and the Mat-Su Valley (Wasilla & Palmer) are the cheaper places to live in Alaska. Prices here run about 5% to 15% higher than the Pacific Northwest.
A 2010 study found health care rates in Alaska were up to 192 percent of what they are for the same services in Washington state. (Source)
If you want to visit family outside, your trip starts with a $500 plane ticket to Seattle.
But on the other hand, there's 700,000 of us making it work some how...

[Frostnip]

Unless someone is moving for work or family reasons as opposed to a desire to move to Alaska of itself, in my opinion there isn't much of a point to moving all the way here just to pick a location based on affordability. It's a big state and I personally would say that the most interesting and distinctive portions are almost all more expensive in terms of cost of living...but why pick up and move to Alaska if you're just going to live in a place that's not all that different from what you could experience in the lower 48?

I'm sure that people who live in and around Anchorage and are happy there may disagree with me

[gobrien]

Originally Posted by Frostnip

Unless someone is moving for work or family reasons as opposed to a desire to move to Alaska of itself, in my opinion there isn't much of a point to moving all the way here just to pick a location based on affordability. It's a big state and I personally would say that the most interesting and distinctive portions are almost all more expensive in terms of cost of living...but why pick up and move to Alaska if you're just going to live in a place that's not all that different from what you could experience in the lower 48?

I'm sure that people who live in and around Anchorage and are happy there may disagree with me

Well, as far as cities go, Anchorage does have pretty awesome scenery, and I don't use that word lightly. The Chugach mountains that surround it plus the Cook Inlet and the Sleeping Lady mountain is above average for a city. And there are many good jobs compared to the rest of the state-if you work in an office, that is.

[West coast at heart]

Originally Posted by AKStafford

Anchorage, Eagle River, Chugiak and the Mat-Su Valley (Wasilla & Palmer) are the cheaper places to live in Alaska. Prices here run about 5% to 15% higher than the Pacific Northwest.
A 2010 study found health care rates in Alaska were up to 192 percent of what they are for the same services in Washington state. (Source)
If you want to visit family outside, your trip starts with a $500 plane ticket to Seattle.
But on the other hand, there's 700,000 of us making it work some how...

Well I had been considering Alaska as a possible place to live..."had". The more I read the less I think that I would like it. I love the idea of living there. I just do not like the thought of dealing with the snow and cold. Living in northern Indiana for 47 years has been enough snow and cold. And it sounds like that is a walk in the park compared to AK. Then there is the higher cost of living. My wife and are going to move to the PNW. My wife had an idea that we should consider AK. I have been reading AK posts for two days now and have decided to consider the AK idea only a fantasy. Once we move to WA, I think we will take a road trip/ flight to AK and look at things a little more closely. AK sounds like a beautiful place. I just do not think that I would be a very good fit for AK. I have enjoyed reading everyone's posts though and I thank you all for that.

Peace and respect,
wc@h

[dcarrot]

If you think Juneau is expensive - you're right | Juneau Empire - Alaska's Capital City Online Newspaper

This article shows the various cost of living in Alaska.

[FloridaKash]

Originally Posted by Outofthematrix

Just need opinions from long time residents....

North East Muldoon and Mountain View. lol

[coaldust]

The July issue of the Alaska Economic Trends Magazine published by the AK Department of Labor and Workforce Development contains the annual Cost of Living in Alaska report that they do every year. It's interesting reading. That may give you some idea. The report this year states that for single family home ownership, the best value is buying in the Valley. Here is the link. http://labor.alaska.gov/trends/jul12.pdf#art1