Land and housing (Anchorage, Fairbanks, Tok: low income, rent, how much)

[Rickyswife15]

Where are the cheapest places to live? And how much does an acre of land go for in Alaska? Not sure where i wanna live at there just yet, Just getting ideas. And please no rude remarks.

[Northrick]

Cheapest place to live would be somewhere other than Alaska. Otherwise, probably somewhere in the Susitna Valley. You also have to consider how you are going to make money unless you have some sort of income that doesn't require working.

[Parnassia]

"Cheap" land in AK may not be buildable or may not have any established utilities. So you have to develop them or pay someone else to. What you didn't pay for the land gets added to the cost of building a house. The parcel may not be accessible by road or you'd need to build the road. You may need to fly in, boat up some river, hike in, or use an ATV or snowmachine for you AND ALL your supplies. There's usually a good reason a parcel is cheap!

Probably the places that are cheaper to live overall would be Anchorage or Fairbanks. Think about it. Dreams are great, but they're dreams. Nothing dictates that you must start your AK dream right off building your own place. You can take it in stages. This isn't a very forgiving place, financially or logistically. The learning curve is steep. A better idea would be to land secure jobs, rent a place temporarily to see how you like what the place and its seasons and climate offers (and what you actually need in terms of services, support for kids, medical, recreation, etc), then travel to get to know the state. THEN, narrow your choices down to a part of the state you like and where you can make a living.

OP you really need to provide more information about your budget and needs in order for anyone to help you.

As for getting here, take a good long look at a map of N America. You either get to AK through Canada, you fly into Anchorage, Fairbanks, or Juneau, or you get here via the Marine Highway ferry system. Unless of course you own your own ocean going boat or barge!

[Rickyswife15]

Thank you, We are looking into moving to Anchorage first and getting employment then eventually working on our own place. Thank you for the advice. Now i got to look into employment there.

[Frostnip]

As a rule of thumb, the cheaper the land, the more expensive it is to build on.

I'd say for an empty lot that's close to already established roads/power, can support a residential home, and isn't astronomically expensive, to start looking around Fairbanks and other smaller communities (Delta, Tok, Salcha, etc.) in the interior, or in the Su valley.

The buildable land around Anchorage is pretty much all already bought up and built up.

You have to remember that most of Alaska is federal or state land (military, parks, preserves, protected forests, etc), Native, and/or bog and/or mountains, so even though it looks like there's copious room for privately owned residental housing, there isn't.

Never build on land unless you've walked it four seasons.

[AKStafford]

Have a job lined up before you move.
Alaska is a big state. And I'd visit first before you move here. And don't move here without the financial resources to move out if things go bad.
I live in the MatSu Valley, north of Anchorage. Land starts at $40,000 an acre and goes up very quickly from there. $60,000 seems more like the norm and if it's on water or has a view, you can easily double that number.

[jozefbehrmusicacademy]

I have no much more idea about it ..so i cant give my views ..

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by Rickyswife15

Where are the cheapest places to live? And how much does an acre of land go for in Alaska? Not sure where i wanna live at there just yet, Just getting ideas. And please no rude remarks.

Check the cost of living in the place you reside at (city or state). That information should be provided to the public or residents at your local government offices (county, borough, city, and so on). Then compare your cost of living to the cost of living of Anchorage, or Fairbanks, etc. In this case you will see that the cost of living in Fairbanks and Anchorage is a lot higher than most places in the lower-48. A lot of people don't realize how expensive it is to live in Alaska.

Not as expensive as some areas in CA, and NYC (Manhattan, for example), but Alaska is somewhere near the top of the most expensive places in the US.

By the way, get the information from the official borough or city websites, not just from any website you find on the Internet. This one is the official quarterly report of the Fairbanks North Star Borough website (PDF format). The cost of living is shown on pages 55-61:
https://www.fnsb.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/344

[oregonwoodsmoke]

The cheapest place to live is probably somewhere in Appalachia, or along the Gulf Coast, where you have a good long growing season and you can grow some of your own food to cut down the grocery bills and your heating bill won't be astronomical.

Alaska is not going to be a cheap place to live. If living with a low income is your goal, I think you are going to find that Alaska isn't going to meet your needs.

[Parnassia]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

The cheapest place to live is probably somewhere in Appalachia, or along the Gulf Coast, where you have a good long growing season and you can grow some of your own food to cut down the grocery bills and your heating bill won't be astronomical.

Alaska is not going to be a cheap place to live. If living with a low income is your goal, I think you are going to find that Alaska isn't going to meet your needs.

According to the thread title, the OP was asking where the cheapest living was within AK, not the entire USA.