Best and worst crime areas in Anchorage (Kenai, Wasilla: rent, crime rate)

[joshgpm]

I'm planning to move my family to Anchorage in the next year and have started researching housing. The crime rate doesn't seem to be any higher (in fact lower) than our current city, Jacksonville, FL. What I was wondering is if there is a "safer" more suburban side of Anchorage like in most cities or does it not matter where you live?

[superstition]

Southside is, generally speaking, the safest area. Stay away from anything in Mountain View, Fairview, Spenard, or Russian Jack. Downtown is generally not a good idea. Muldoon and midtown both have good and bad areas within blocks of each other.

[niceplacetovisit]

Stay away from the seedier more white trash eastside of town.

[flu189]

I found Anchorage to be unique in that every part of town had it's "wrong side of the tracks" areas. Crime is a problem there and from my experience working in the criminal justice field I found it vastly under reported. In 22 years there and having lived in five different parts of town (each move an upgrade to a better residence and neighborhood) I felt I could better spend my money elsewhere to be able to live without worrying about issues of crime. The best advice is to physically check out the areas of town and see for yourself to get a feel for what is going on. Follow your own instincts and tolerances as to where to live. At least if you initially rent you have much more flexibility to pack up and move should you find that a neighborhood is not what it may have appeared initially. Despite my dislike of certain aspects of life in Anchorage I was able to raise two kids there and we were never victims ourselves of serious crime, but we exercised quite a bit of caution which goes a long way to prevent you from becoming a victim.

[sweetana3]

There is nothing wrong with talking to the police either. Here in Indy they are very receptive to discussing areas of problems and we even have community meetings to go over issues.

Often there is a community officer to handle such inquiries.

[KWBoyd]

The Municipality of Anchorage/Anchorage Police Department website has crime density maps for Anchorage. You can look at an area and tell by the color on the map how high crime levels are. It also breaks it down by the type of crime - property, violent, etc.

[basstelle]

Well while alot of people think Mountian View is horrible it just has a different kind of crime ring.

Mountain View has alot of petty theft stuff. Convientant stores and such. Plus some drugs.

Dimond Jewel Lake area has alot of "gang" violence plus north side has a lot of Drugs. The schools up there are much worse. Picking mostly on Service, Dimond, and South

[graciebear]

With the way the crime is posted on the web it is actually making me nervous to move there. Has anyone seen or had any problems while living there? It makes me very nervous as a single woman loving there by myself.

[BudinAk]

Alaska is such a wonderful state, but if it were me I would very definitely consider cities other than Anchorage. Crime may be lower than Jacksonville, but it is still high. Gangs, drugs, and shootings seem to be nightly fare on local TV news. Is there some major reason you must move to this particular city? I lived in Anchorage 17 years, and finally moved out to a smaller town some 120 miles away (Seward). I have never regretted leaving Anchorage. When I lived there, Spenard, Mountain View, and Fairview were the worst areas, with parts of Muldoon a close 4th. Lot's of transients/homeless in the downtown area. Hillside is good, but VERY expensive. I'd shoot for south-side. But my first (better) choices would be Soldotna, Homer, Kenai, Seward, Wasilla, Palmer. Or...if you are moving because you've found a job in Anchorage, how about living in Eagle River...maybe 10-12 miles to the north? Then, just commute to your job...about a 20 minute drive...(30min on bad weather days)

Bud

[godsAKgirl]

Lifelong Alaskan here, in Anchorage for the last 10 years and back and forth between Anchorage and the Mat-Su Valley before. A good way to stick with the better areas of town, go to www.alaskarealestate.com and when choosing which communities, choose SE quadrant and SW quadrant. When choosing schools, Service, Dimond, and Southside Highschools are supposed to be good. (my kids are all pre-school age) We do have a very diverse population and according to a local news broadcast within the next 5 years or so the minority population is expected to become the majority. Don't be astonished at the price of groceries, it's pretty much all shipped up from the lower 48. Also of note, Mat Maid dairy products are a local dairy and they DO NOT use hormones on their cows, good for growing girls. It's more expensive but worth the extra $5-10/month to not add to the hormones you'll have to deal with as teenagers!

Also, traffic here has gotten awful! I would recommend living close to work if possible, it can take up to 45 minutes in rush hour traffic to go across town.

Hope this helps...