The 10 Cheapest Anchorage, AK Neighborhoods To Live In For 2024


The cheapest Anchorage neighborhoods are Abbott Loop and Russian Jack Park for 2024 based on Saturday Night Science.

Worst Neighborhoods In Anchorage
Source: Wikipedia User Frank K. from Anchorage, Alaska, USA | CC BY 2.0

Everything else equal, we can all agree that living in a cheaper place is better than living in a more expensive place.

I’d much rather pay $500/mo in rent than $1,000. And I’d rather pay $2 for coffee than $5.

And while every neighbhorhood in Anchorage might be more expensive than living in rural Alaska, there are certain neighborhoods that are definitely cheaper.

What exactly are those Anchorage neighborhoods where your dollar goes a little further — you can get that one bedroom instead of the studio?

Instead of relying on public opinion and speculation, we wanted to get the facts straight and determine which neighborhoods in Anchorage are the cheapest using Saturday Night Science.

The Cheapest Neighborhoods In Anchorage For 2024

  1. Abbott Loop
  2. Russian Jack Park
  3. Old Seward-Oceanview
  4. Northeast
  5. Bayshore-Klatt
  6. Turnagain Arm
  7. Taku-Campbell
  8. Sand Lake
  9. North Star
  10. Rogers Park

What’s the cheapest neighborhood to live in Anchorage for 2024? According to the most recent census data, Abbott Loop looks to be the cheapest Anchorage neighborhood to live in.

At this point, we should make it clear that you do get what you pay for — some of these neighborhoods might not be the best places to live in Anchorage. You could be sacrificing location or crime rates for more space and cheaper groceries.

Read on to see how we determined the places around Anchorage that deserve a little bragging rights, or maybe you’re interested in the worst neighborhoods in Anchorage.

For more Alaska reading, check out:


Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table


The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Anchorage For 2024

Overall SnackAbility

9
/10

Population: 24,649
Cost Of Living Index: 126 (17th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.9 (5th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (12th cheapest)
More on Abbott Loop: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 12,502
Cost Of Living Index: 114 (6th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.4 (14th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (16th cheapest)
More on Russian Jack Park: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 6,100
Cost Of Living Index: 138 (28th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.6 (cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.012 (7th cheapest)
More on Old Seward-Oceanview: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 29,207
Cost Of Living Index: 117 (10th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.1 (7th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (20th cheapest)
More on Northeast: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

9
/10

Population: 9,225
Cost Of Living Index: 130 (24th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.0 (6th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.014 (11th cheapest)
More on Bayshore-Klatt: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 193
Cost Of Living Index: 114 (6th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 4.9 (34th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.011 (2nd cheapest)
More on Turnagain Arm: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 12,918
Cost Of Living Index: 122 (15th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.2 (12th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.017 (15th cheapest)
More on Taku-Campbell: Data | Real Estate

Sand Lake Anchorage, AK

Source: Flickr User Accretion Disc | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 21,940
Cost Of Living Index: 129 (20th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.3 (13th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.014 (9th cheapest)
More on Sand Lake: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 3,691
Cost Of Living Index: 116 (8th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 4.3 (26th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.014 (8th cheapest)
More on North Star: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

9.5
/10

Population: 4,117
Cost Of Living Index: 129 (20th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.1 (11th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.016 (13th cheapest)
More on Rogers Park: Data | Real Estate

Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest Anchorage Hoods In 2024

To rank the cheapest places to live in Anchorage, we had to determine what criteria define “cheap” and then apply Saturday Night Science.

Using Census and extrapolated BLS data, we arrived at the following set of criteria:

  • Overall Cost Of Living
  • Rent To Income Ratio
  • Median Home Value To Income Ratio

We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 35 in each category, where 1 was the cheapest.

Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a cheap neighborhood index.

And finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest cheapest neighborhood index, the “Cheapest City Neighborhood In Anchorage.” We’re lookin’ at you, Abbott Loop.

We updated this article for 2024. This is our fourth time ranking the cheapest neighborhoods to live in Anchorage. Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from cheapest to most expensive.

Summary: Lowest Cost Places To Live In Anchorage

If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in Anchorage where prices are low, and it’s cheap to live, this is an accurate list.

The most affordable neighborhoods in Anchorage are Abbott Loop, Russian Jack Park, Old Seward-Oceanview, Northeast, Bayshore-Klatt, Turnagain Arm, Taku-Campbell, Sand Lake, North Star, and Rogers Park.

As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Anchorage aren’t all cheap. Basher takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in Anchorage.

The most expensive neighborhoods in Anchorage are Basher, Chugiak, Eagle River Valley, Bear Valley, and Fairview.

We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.

For more Alaska reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Anchorage For 2024

Rank Neighborhood Cost Of Living Index
1 Abbott Loop 126
2 Russian Jack Park 114
3 Old Seward-Oceanview 138
4 Northeast 117
5 Bayshore-Klatt 130
6 Turnagain Arm 114
7 Taku-Campbell 122
8 Sand Lake 129
9 North Star 116
10 Rogers Park 129
11 Turnagain 133
12 Portage Valley 117
13 Spenard 116
14 Rabbit Creek 153
15 Girdwood 122
16 Huffman-O’malley 138
17 Scenic Foothills 130
18 Downtown 107
19 South Fork 152
20 Hillside East 182
21 South Addition 144
22 Tudor Area 130
23 Midtown 104
24 Government Hill 105
25 Mountain View 104
26 University Area 119
27 Airport Heights 120
28 Eagle River 132
29 Birchwood 128
30 Campbell Park 122
31 Fairview 115
32 Bear Valley 159
33 Eagle River Valley 144
34 Chugiak 129
35 Basher 130
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.