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So, I've been around a few threads in this forum trying to figure out which place I should move to, and I'm trying to make it a permanent move. I've lived in Florida all my life and I hate it. It's always way to hot, way to much people here, and it feels completely like a tourist attraction. And the fact that it's completely filled with retirement homes, which is nothing bad ... but I need a younger crowd. The only thing that's kept me here is my family and the fact that it has good fishing.
I have a few questions though:
- How dense is Anchorage's population? (does it feel like a 'big city'?)
- How's the music scene?
- Is the night life more of a club scene or a bar scene? or is that non-existant?
- How expensive is the living? (low, avg, high)
-Largely because of geography, the population of Anchorage is fairly dense. I don't know about "big city," but it's definitely a city, and a fairly bland, average city at that. On the other hand, Anchorage is in an extraordinary location for outdoor recreation. As long as you have a vehicle, it's easy to get off into the woods and there's lots of stuff to do in a beautiful mountain setting. If active outdoor sports isn't something you're into, I wouldn't recommend living in Anchorage. If you're looking for someplace "quirky" and distinctively Alaskan, check out Fairbanks. The university there ensures a young crowd and a decent night life for a town its size. Some people love it, some people hate it, but you'll surely view the world in a different way after a couple years in the FBX...
-I guess I'm probably more into the music scene than anybody else on this forum. Alaska is very isolated in a cultural sense, and if regularly seeing cutting edge bands is something you care about, then I don't recommend living here. We rarely get touring bands (particularly cutting edge ones...), and ambitious bands that start here generally relocate to the west coast, where touring is much easier. If, on the other hand, you simply enjoy going out, having a couple drinks and a good time with some live music of many different genres, then yes there are plenty of live bands in Anchorage. For what it's worth, people in Alaska tend to be a lot better at "having fun" than people in other places. Seems like everywhere else I go, everybody just stands there, arms crossed, with a "this is a waste of my time" look on their face. The one music genre where we might honestly compete with the lower 48 is folk-americana-bluegrass type stuff. This is especially fun at the backwoods festivals that happen almost every weekend through the summer.
-Bar scene, definitely. Maybe I'm biased though, since I can't stand clubs and the noisy music I listen to is always in the bars or occasionally all-ages venues. I know there are some clubs though.
-Cost of living is expensive, particularly rent. Food prices are high, but comparable to the really big cities like LA or New York, from what I've heard. For consumer goods, it kinda depends on how bulky something is, since everything is barged up from Seattle. There are lots of searchable threads on this subject.
So, I've been around a few threads in this forum trying to figure out which place I should move to, and I'm trying to make it a permanent move. I've lived in Florida all my life and I hate it. It's always way to hot, way to much people here, and it feels completely like a tourist attraction. And the fact that it's completely filled with retirement homes, which is nothing bad ... but I need a younger crowd. The only thing that's kept me here is my family and the fact that it has good fishing.
I have a few questions though:
- How dense is Anchorage's population? (does it feel like a 'big city'?)
- How's the music scene?
- Is the night life more of a club scene or a bar scene? or is that non-existant?
- How expensive is the living? (low, avg, high)
Well, let me answer your questions in order:
1) Not at all dense, generally speaking. I lived and/or worked in Philly, Baltimore, and DC and there is absolutely no comparison.
2) What music scene?
3) What passes for a club here is pathetic by East Coast and Midwest standards. The better "clubs" here are more like an average bar back east or in the Midwest.
4) Very high (like through the roof).
To get a better idea of the cost of living, check out this site:
Also consider the following fact, the minimum wage rate in Alaska is the same as the Federal minimum wage rate of $7.25 an hour. However, the Florida minimum wage rate is $7.67 an hour.
Also consider the following fact, the minimum wage rate in Alaska is the same as the Federal minimum wage rate of $7.25 an hour. However, the Florida minimum wage rate is $7.67 an hour.
Just some food for thought.
Ummm... Nope. Minimum wage is 50 cents higher than the federal.
1) Not at all dense, generally speaking. I lived and/or worked in Philly, Baltimore, and DC and there is absolutely no comparison.
2) What music scene?
3) What passes for a club here is pathetic by East Coast and Midwest standards. The better "clubs" here are more like an average bar back east or in the Midwest.
4) Very high (like through the roof).
To get a better idea of the cost of living, check out this site:
Also consider the following fact, the minimum wage rate in Alaska is the same as the Federal minimum wage rate of $7.25 an hour. However, the Florida minimum wage rate is $7.67 an hour.
Just some food for thought.
Haha, thanks for the tips. I live in Tampa Bay, FL and one of the things I hate is the congestion. Its population is about the same as Anchorage but it is soooo small. At the same time though, I do like the sounds of stuff going on around me.
I'm actually attracted to the fact that the club scene is lacking. I'm not into that at all, and around Florida that's about all everyone does.
Another thing though. I hear a lot about how outrageous the cost of living is in Alaska. From what Craigslist shows at least, it seems apartments and room shares are the same price as in Tampa, FL ... if not cheaper. I am curious to how gas prices differ though.
Haha, thanks for the tips. I live in Tampa Bay, FL and one of the things I hate is the congestion. Its population is about the same as Anchorage but it is soooo small. At the same time though, I do like the sounds of stuff going on around me.
I'm actually attracted to the fact that the club scene is lacking. I'm not into that at all, and around Florida that's about all everyone does.
Another thing though. I hear a lot about how outrageous the cost of living is in Alaska. From what Craigslist shows at least, it seems apartments and room shares are the same price as in Tampa, FL ... if not cheaper. I am curious to how gas prices differ though.
.25 - .30 cents higher at the moment. Long term, it seems to run about 10% higher.
Although, ADDING to this amount. If I understand it correctly, expect to get lower MPG and drive further in AK. I think this is probably true for 75%+ of the people that move there, but it all depends on how efficiently you are driving now and how far you drive where you are at. It is safe to say that most things will not be close by in most areas of AK, especially if your reason for moving to AK is to NOT be in a large urban area. However, it is more of a factor of how close you are to things now and how much you adapt to it.
I have every major type of store within 3-5 miles of my house (grocery, hardware, electronic, malls, gas stations, convenience stores, banks, restaurants, bars, ivory carving/jewelry stores, etc...). If I were 60-100 miles away, I would DEFINITELY make sure to hit bunches of stores at the same time AND learn to stock up so I don't have to take trips as often as I do now. So that might help. I really do not see this as the major expense to worry about.
I see having to get a whole new wardrobe, higher utility (heat, water, phone, cable, internet), and higher food costs as the reason it costs much more to live there.
For us that like the math for fuel costs, figure 10% worse mileage and 10% higher fuel cost. (+20%). If I drive 12k miles a year at $4/gal at 20 mpg, which is our real world city driving. (car is rated for 22/32) That equals $2400/year for fuel. In AK it would be $2880 or $480 for the year. $480/12 = $40 a month more. Since someone here will say I am being too optimistic, let's add driving 10% more per year, then it is $60 a month more.
I know this is oversimplified, but you can see that adding 30% to the costs of driving a vehicle doesn't add all that much a month. Not nearly as much as for heat/hot water.
I'm not sure how you're having trouble finding young people in the Tampa area. If you can't find them there, you won't find them here, either. The age distributions really are only different by a few percentages until you get to the 65+ age group. There are also a lot fewer people in Anchorage. You can't compare the populations within the city limits, because Tampa is surrounded by so many other cities and towns and those people all commute to the city for work/nightlife/events. So even with a similar demographic breakdown, the Tampa Bay area has a whole lot more people from say 20-30, because they have a whole lot more people. Anchorage absolutely doesn't feel big like Tampa does, either. And there's no central club district like Ybor (which I think is a bummer, myself). I don't live in Anchorage, so I don't go to bars there all the time, but I've been to quite a few in the downtown area and I think there are better bars in Tampa. But people are generally friendlier up here, which always makes things more fun.
I don't know what apartments cost in Anchorage aside from what I've read on here, but a few years ago in Tampa I lived in a decent (but small) one-bedroom apartment with a big patio and a good pet policy for $650. I'd imagine in Anchorage it would be at least $100 more. What you're seeing on Craigslist might be in crummier neighborhoods or something like that. Construction quality generally seems worse here than down there, too, but there aren't any cockroaches, so seedy apartments are probably less icky here, at least. When I visited here while living there I looked at grocery prices and they really weren't noticeably higher. I'm sure some things are, but a single person wouldn't notice it like a large family might. Restaurants and bars can be quite a bit more expensive here. Your utilities will be higher, but a lot of apartments apparently pay for heat. You can order a lot of things on Amazon with free shipping and wind up paying less than at local stores.
I'm not really sure why you want to move to Anchorage, though. Is it really just the climate and the population density? Lots of places in the Lower-48 have a cooler climate than Florida, and there are plenty of smaller cities to choose from down there. I'd recommend Alaska for someone who really, truly loves winter and is crazy about outdoor activities or would just really fit in with the goofy culture here. As much as I love it, it's really not a good fit for everyone, and to me there's not much point in living in Anchorage if you're not going to be using it as a basecamp for hiking/hunting/skiing/whatever.
Haha, thanks for the tips. I live in Tampa Bay, FL and one of the things I hate is the congestion. Its population is about the same as Anchorage but it is soooo small. At the same time though, I do like the sounds of stuff going on around me.
I'm actually attracted to the fact that the club scene is lacking. I'm not into that at all, and around Florida that's about all everyone does.
Another thing though. I hear a lot about how outrageous the cost of living is in Alaska. From what Craigslist shows at least, it seems apartments and room shares are the same price as in Tampa, FL ... if not cheaper. I am curious to how gas prices differ though.
I'm not sure if I'd go by Craigslist prices-I've noticed a lot of Nigerian rental scams on there. If the ad doesn't have a phone number listed, it may be a scam. Every ad I responded to informed me by email that they recently had to relocate to Africa and they didn't care about the rent-they just wanted someone to keep the place clean. What a waste of time.
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