Anchorage, AK
Anchorage, AK Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Anchorage, AK Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Anchorage ranks 23rd for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 17th for income. A household earns $102,698 a year while median rent runs $1,491/mo, making it comfortably affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 5% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is air quality (10th of 300), while cost of living is the soft spot (274th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 210th and home prices 224th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Anchorage, your take-home is worth about $58,161 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it less than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 17th of 300↑27.3%$102,698
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 274th of 300105 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $97,418
- Per-capita income
- $50,560
- Full-time pay
- $53,341
Housing
- Median rent
- 210th of 300↑22.9%$1,491/mo
- Home value
- 224th of 300↑36.9%$410,900
- Property tax
- $4,752/yr · 1.2%
- Sales tax
- 1.82%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 189th of 3004.8%
- Bachelor's+
- 118th of 30036.3%
- Avg commute
- 97th of 30022.7 min
People
- Population
- 407,213
- Population change
- +2.7%
- Median age
- 36.1 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 8.7%
- Broadband
- 94.2%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 10th of 30026
- Natural-hazard loss
- 271st of 300$33/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 122nd of 30017.7%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 9.6%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Affordability
- + Household income
- + Commute
- + Air quality
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Hazard safety
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — talkeetna ap.
What jobs pay in Anchorage
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $299,340
- Pharmacists
- $162,980
- Lawyers
- $153,590
- IT managers
- $137,990
- Financial managers
- $129,220
- General & operations managers
- $120,030
- Registered nurses
- $115,290
- Police officers
- $115,020
- Civil engineers
- $112,740
- Software developers
- $104,030
- Plumbers
- $93,600
- Electricians
- $82,440
- Accountants & auditors
- $82,150
- Secondary school teachers
- $79,650
- Elementary school teachers
- $79,270
- Carpenters
- $72,800
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $66,190
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $57,390
- Construction laborers
- $56,160
- Customer service reps
- $44,560
- Janitors
- $40,510
- Retail salespersons
- $37,520
- Cashiers
- $36,350
- Waiters & waitresses
- $26,080
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Anchorage metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Alaska are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- California2,237
- Texas1,570
- Florida946
- Washington894
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Anchorage
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Anchorage metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Anchorage metro?
- Median gross rent across the Anchorage, AK Metro Area is $1,491 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Anchorage.
- What is the median household income in the Anchorage metro?
- A typical household in the Anchorage, AK Metro Area earns $102,698 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Anchorage expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Anchorage, AK Metro Area runs about 5% above the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are higher than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Anchorage metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $97,418 (versus its face value of $102,698). CityLedger rates the Anchorage, AK Metro Area comfortably affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Anchorage metro?
- The median home value across the Anchorage, AK Metro Area is $410,900 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Anchorage metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Anchorage, AK Metro Area is 4.8% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).