Where and where not to live near anchorage or surronding area

[Jonotastic]

Check out the Rabbit Creek area. It's located in South Anchorage. Service High School is one of the better schools.

[AKNana]

If you want more specific info on areas, we need a little more info. Where is the job(s)? How much time do you want to spend commuting? What amenities do you wish to have, such as supermarket, bank, post office, coffee shop, ice cream shop, library, parks, etc. and how close do you want them to be?
How much can you spend on rent/ housing? Are schools important? Do you want a place with views and wildlife, or is commute/amenities more important?
Some general guidelines: Anchorage of course is the largest city in Alaska. It is a combined city/borough (like a county) and covers the area from south of Girdwood to Eklutna. This is huge! The area we locals think of as Anchorage runs from about Muldoon in the northeast to Rabbit Creek in the south. There is a downtown area, with hotels/restaurants/government buildings. nice mall and some residential. Probably not too family friendly to live here. There is midtown-big box stores, car dealers, parks, strip malls. Not a bad place to live if you find a good neighborhood. South Anchorage/hillside is mostly residential, nice homes, can get very pricey, good schools. You will find all amenities listed above in these areas.
If you are looking at housing on the hillside (southeast side of town) be wary of switchbacks. These will appear as zigzag roads on a map. The more switchbacks you see from a main road, the higher up the mountains you will be. Good for views, but bad for driving and wind.
Going out other direction -north and east of downtown, you will find the military bases, then Eagle River, Chugiak/Peters Creek, Eklutna, then around the end of Knik arm to Wasilla and Palmer. I don't recommend a commute past say Peter's Creek, but that's just me. Eagle River has all the amenities listed above, Peter's Creek has some of them, then nothing until Wasilla. Same switchback advice for Eagle River, such as Skyline Drive.
Well, guess that's long winded enough!

[Alex2009]

Google Maps


may help when you want to see the parts of anchorage you're looking at