Anchorage or Juneau? Which would you all recommend? (Fairbanks, Haines: high school, pros and cons)

[Matty1224]

Depending on whether I get the offer(s) for CPS, I'll likely be looking into moving to Anchorage or Juneau as that's where the position(s) are. Which city would you all recommend? I've been told Anchorage given the size and population of the city, but I've also heard Juneau is great. Thoughts? Any perspectives are much welcomed and appreciated.

[AKStafford]

It depends on what you are looking for... Juneau has a small town feel. It's in a temperate rainforest, so you get a lot of rain. Anchorage is further north in Southcentral Alaska, so you'll get colder winters. Anchorage is our biggest town, but not that big compared to other large cities. Juneau is much more isolated with limited roads. I'd suggest heading to YouTube and watching some videos on both to get a better idea.

[Matty1224]

Originally Posted by AKStafford

It depends on what you are looking for... Juneau has a small town feel. It's in a temperate rainforest, so you get a lot of rain. Anchorage is further north in Southcentral Alaska, so you'll get colder winters. Anchorage is our biggest town, but not that big compared to other large cities. Juneau is much more isolated with limited roads. I'd suggest heading to YouTube and watching some videos on both to get a better idea.

I'm primarily focused on gaining career experience and settling down wherever I end up to be honest. Not sure on a personal level if I'm looking for anything specific. I was hoping for some pros and cons on both cities.

[takuriver]

Originally Posted by Matty1224

Depending on whether I get the offer(s) for CPS, I'll likely be looking into moving to Anchorage or Juneau as that's where the position(s) are. Which city would you all recommend? I've been told Anchorage given the size and population of the city, but I've also heard Juneau is great. Thoughts? Any perspectives are much welcomed and appreciated.

Totally different experiences. Anchorage is like any mid sized city in the country, except for moose and bear running around. Not as wet as Juneau, colder in winter. Juneau is in a rainforest, small city, spectacular scenery and a cool downtown. Basically if you can do without big box stores, Juneau is awesome.

[rwjoyak]

Sounds like work is the big driver for you right now, but you want to live where you feel most comfortable since most hours of your life will be outside work.

- Will many rainy days (or at least drizzly) each year be okay for you or do you like sunshine? Not a lot of sunshine in SE Alaska.

- Are you are an outdoor or indoor person? If an indoor person, the weather might not be that big a factor. If you like to get outside for hiking, running or exploring parks and other areas, Juneau is downright beautiful, but you'll need to be okay with doing that in the rain.

- Is the move to Alaska just because of the job or because Alaska is somehow calling you? Lots of new visitors to this forum feel the latter but it may not be important to you. If it is important at all, Juneau feels a lot more like Alaska than Anchorage does. To me, Anchorage feels like any other smaller US city, while Juneau feels quite different from most other places. On the other hand, it's a lot easier to get out into the rest of Alaska from Anchorage than it is from Juneau.

- Do crowds bother you at all or do you prefer uncrowded places? Anchorage isn't all that crowded, but it's almost 10 times the size (population around 300,000) of Juneau (pop. around 32,000). Anchorage feels like a city while Juneau feels like a town to me. Definitely a different vibe between the two. The only way to find a real crowd in Juneau usually is to go downtown when up to 6 cruise ships are docked at one time.

- Do you like to explore around the area where you live? Not a lot of road miles that you can travel on in Juneau. More to do around the Anchorage area plus there's the rail belt (between Anchorage and Fairbanks and the surrounding areas) road network to explore. Some folks can go stir crazy in Juneau due to not being able to easily travel to other areas.

- Is eating out or finding a place to party (even mildly) important at all to you? Lot more choices for this in Anchorage compared to Juneau.

- Do you like to fish? Definitely Juneau. If you don't end up owning your own boat, you will make friends with folks that do.

- Juneau has 3 seasons - tourist (mainly May-Sept, during which 1.2+ million cruise passengers hit town), state legislature (Jan-Apr), and other. Having the legislature in session may not affect you that much, but you'll definitely notice all the tourists during cruise ship season (assuming these restart sometime). Peak days can bring as many as 15-20,000 visitors to town. That number of visitors (about half as many as the population of the town) is really noticeable, especially since a lot of them get concentrated in the small downtown area.

[bus man]

I'll address this from the perspective of a tourist, since I've visited both cities but lived in neither.

To me, Juneau felt confining. It's surrounded on all sides by mountains or water. There are no roads leading out of the city. If you have a car there, the only time it's ever going to go more than a few miles out of town is when you put it on the Alaska Marine Highway ferry. Yes, there is an airport (and quite a nice one for its small size), but the list of destinations is fairly limited. On one of my flights in (I came and went several times during my one and only visit to Alaska), the plane departure was delayed almost an hour due to fog at Juneau, the destination. When we finally went, and then tried to land, we had to pull up because it wasn't safe to land, so we went around and landed the other way. A fellow passenger, an Alaska resident, said that this was a common occurrence there.

Anchorage just felt a lot more open. There are mountains and water there too, but you don't feel hemmed in by them. There are roads and rail lines that will take you away from there. Indeed, one could eventually drive all the way down to the Lower 48, via Canada. I have no idea how many or how few people do this; maybe you would never do it. But if you like road trips or even the feeling of the open road, Anchorage is vastly far and away the better choice.

The natural setting of Juneau is absolutely spectacular. If you enjoy being surrounded by the grandeur and the majesty of nature, this is the place to be. The natural setting of Anchorage is pretty, but nowhere even close to the amazingness of Juneau's.

Anchorage seemed like a pleasant, "regular" city. Juneau struck me as being a bit run-down, other than the downtown area. (Presumably, Anchorage has its undesirable areas, like most cities do. But I never saw them.) It was also chilly and drizzly in Juneau, at least when I was there.

As a place to visit, I would actually rank Juneau higher, because of its breathtakingly stunning surroundings. But as a place to live, I'd pick Anchorage in a heartbeat.

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by bus man

... On one of my flights in (I came and went several times during my one and only visit to Alaska), the plane departure was delayed almost an hour due to fog at Juneau, the destination. When we finally went, and then tried to land, we had to pull up because it wasn't safe to land, so we went around and landed the other way. A fellow passenger, an Alaska resident, said that this was a common occurrence there...

Much more common in the past than the present. Definitely not falling into “common” territory anymore IMO, thanks to more advanced navigational systems employed on the jets and less cold winter weather responsible for that fog. I’m a former Alaska airline employee, so have some knowledge on this matter.

Can’t find much else to fault with your post.

The isolation of towns in SE Alaska certainly has its drawbacks but also affords some benefits too.
I really appreciate NOT having to drive many miles or encounter much traffic. It’s spoiled me because when visiting Hawaii in winters the added amount of driving and congestion is a bit annoying. Mainland US driving? Absolutely insane! I don’t know how people can tolerate it. I guess us humans are highly adaptable.

Downtown is very walkable, that’s a big plus for me since I live in that area.

[Chilkoot]

I would love to live in Juneau for a few years although I think having 40 miles of road to explore might get old. Based on “gaining career experience”, unless you’re looking at working for the state, Anchorage would provide many more diverse opportunities. We lived in Anchorage for 25 years and my wife went to high school in Juneau so continue to visit there each year. Just the right amount of Juneau for us.

[Northrick]

Originally Posted by Matty1224

Depending on whether I get the offer(s) for CPS, I'll likely be looking into moving to Anchorage or Juneau as that's where the position(s) are. Which city would you all recommend? I've been told Anchorage given the size and population of the city, but I've also heard Juneau is great. Thoughts? Any perspectives are much welcomed and appreciated.

Originally Posted by Matty1224

I'm primarily focused on gaining career experience and settling down wherever I end up to be honest. Not sure on a personal level if I'm looking for anything specific. I was hoping for some pros and cons on both cities.

CPS? Child Protective Services? If so, you might better off in Anchorage career-wise. Unfortunately we have plenty of problems and difficulty finding people willing to deal with them. Also, up here it is OCS, Office of Children's Services.

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by Chilkoot

I would love to live in Juneau for a few years although I think having 40 miles of road to explore might get old. Based on “gaining career experience”, unless you’re looking at working for the state, Anchorage would provide many more diverse opportunities. We lived in Anchorage for 25 years and my wife went to high school in Juneau so continue to visit there each year. Just the right amount of Juneau for us.

It’s 40 miles from town to “end of road”. Also Douglas highway, back loop, Thane,
etc. so way more total miles than that.
Your point still stands, exploring road system is quite limited.
Most Juneauites like to fly out of town at least once a year.
Or, take the ferry to Haines/Skagway for a road trip into interior.

I imagine CPS would be a tough job anywhere.
Have a friend in Juneau who used to do it. He’s 6’6” 260 lbs. The size must have been helpful.