cost of living in alaska compared to Wisconsin (Anchorage, Fairbanks: real estate, coupons)

[critole]

I am thinking of accepting a job in alaska and im concerned with the cost of living there. I am in milwaukee,wi and the city in alaska is about 1 hr out of ankridge (spelled wrong?) well if anyone could give me some insight on my way of research....

In wisconsin the cost of these things are....

Milk $2.97
Gallon of gas $3.90
pack of Marlboro(premium) ciggs $4.50
rent a 2 bd. rm. apt $500-$700 (for a decent apt)
20 oz soda of pepsi at a gas station $1.25
12 pack of miller beer is $7-8.00

i would appreciate if you would let me know the cost of these items in alaska where ever you are from. thank you very much

[i4tas]

Originally Posted by critole

I am thinking of accepting a job in alaska and im concerned with the cost of living there. I am in milwaukee,wi and the city in alaska is about 1 hr out of ankridge (spelled wrong?) well if anyone could give me some insight on my way of research....

In wisconsin the cost of these things are....

Milk $2.97
Gallon of gas $3.90
pack of Marlboro(premium) ciggs $4.50
rent a 2 bd. rm. apt $500-$700 (for a decent apt)
20 oz soda of pepsi at a gas station $1.25
12 pack of miller beer is $7-8.00

i would appreciate if you would let me know the cost of these items in alaska where ever you are from. thank you very much

I lived in Fairbanks this summer... and I am from Germantown, WI. Cost of living is higher but not that bad. Super WalMarts and FredMeyers will get you by.

You will be working 1 hour out of Anchorage, which I am guessing is Wasilla or Palmer. Cheapest part of the state to live in, suburban area but long drive to downtown.

Milk $3.50
Gallon of gas $4.38
pack of Marlboro(premium) ciggs (NO IDEA)
20 oz soda of pepsi at a gas station $1.59
12 pack of PEPSI 4.99
12 pack of Sam Walton's lemon-lime 2.30
Bag of Lays Potato Chips 3.00
Block of Chedar Cheese 6.00
Ear of Corn 0.50
Bread 1.44
French Bread 1.69

McChicken 1.50
Small Fry 1.00

KFC 10 PC Bucket 19.00
Large PizzaHut 1 Topping 18.00 (I used online ordering / coupons 9.99 - [National prices])

If Costs 435 dollars to drive home in end of July getting 32 MPG.

Gas prices in the towns Fairbanks, Anchorage, Wasilla are the same as Milwaukee just 30 days behind. When I arrived in May and the lower 48 hit 4 dollars, it was still 3.35. It is still over 4 dollars there and starting to drop now, but just takes longer. Gas can be as high as 6 dollars per gallon in rural Alaska.

[slamont61]

Drop kick me Jesus through the Goal Posts of life... The cost of living in Wisconsin is kind of on middle ground. While that is tollerable the Real Estate Taxes there are through the ceiling high, and that is NOT the case in AK. If you have the oportunity to leave WI for AK then by all means DO IT.

I'm in Northern Minnesota now and can't imagine leaving here, unless it would be to go somewhere like Alaska.

[DannyL]

a lot of things are more expensive here, gas and fuel oil ar 2, but a lot of things are a lot cheaper here....because they're not available.
It all works out, but be prepared to change your method of day to day life.

[Rance]

The beer prices are about the same for Miller. But there is better beer for less! Wages will likely be higher here, so cost of living here won't be to much different.

[RayinAK]

The cost of living figures are deceptive or hard to pin down. In my view, it's much higher than what has been mentioned here once one considers the high cost of rent, property tax, and driving distance. If one lives in Fairbanks, there are a couple of bus routes one can use for transportation, but most of Fairbanks is "vicinity" (neighborhoods that stretch from Fairbanks to near Delta Junction at one side, and to near Nanana on the other side, then Chatanika, Fox-out the Elliot for a few miles), and so forth. This means that most people must drive quite a long distance to work and back, to the supermarket, or just shopping. There are people driving from Central, Livingood, Delta Juntion, Nenana, etc., just to buy groceries in Fairbanks. Add all this driving to your cost of living, and soon you realize that with regular unleaded fuel costing $4.46 per gallon (in Fairbanks), your cost of living goes sky high. A lot of folks in the bush must have their groceries, mail, etc., flown-in.

Property tax near Anchorage and Fairbanks is quite high, since property owners pay for all services imaginable, including schools, libraries, etc. We have a library in Fairbanks that is much like a child care center, with showers and everything else included, and we all pay for it, plus employee salaries and benefits. There even is a library book-delivery van, that upon request can deliver books to your neighborhood. Can you guess who pays for that?

Other costs, unless you live right in the city of Fairbanks:
-Septic pumping every year, 1,000-gal. tank ($300.00 at 10% good customer discount)
-Property tax for a $200K house ($3,000 per year)
-Heating fuel for the same house at $3.62 per gallon ($600.00 per month x 12 months)
-Rent for a decent 2-bedroom apartment ($1,500 per month)
-Driving distance to work each day (me) 50 miles round trip
-A dental crown with root canal ($1,300 or so)
-Hospital emergency varies, but it's one of the most expensive in the nation

My wife and I love it up here, specially around Fairbanks. However, if it wasn't because I retired once before, and now am working on a second retirement, coupled to my wife working, we could not afford living here.

[RayinAK]

This will give you some ideas about the cost of living in Alaska. Please read the article, and then the comments posted by people. This article relates to the number of people moving out of Alaska because the high cost of living lately:
newsminer.com • Rising costs force some Interior Alaska residents Outside

[DannyL]

thanks foir posting that Ray, the same thing is happening in Juneau. Housing and energy here is going to be outragous this winter.
Gas has dropped about .25 cents a gallon, but other prices haven't.

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by DannyL

thanks foir posting that Ray, the same thing is happening in Juneau. Housing and energy here is going to be outragous this winter.
Gas has dropped about .25 cents a gallon, but other prices haven't.

I was just looking at the price of a box of factory ammo for my .338WM yesterday, and the price was $62.99 per box at the Sportsman Warehouse. Last summer I bought a couple of boxes of the same ammo (Federal 225-grain TSX) for $44.99 a box. Every product at the store, from construction materials to anything I can think of has come up in price by a wide margin compared to last year's prices. Regular gasoline in Fairbanks, where cheaper, costs $4.46 per gallon.

[Jerald Tilton]

Wow, I had no idea it was so expensive. With that in mind, what is the Minimum salary that someone could live up there if they rented a place and did not have all the property concerns?