Living in Fairbanks, AK

The crime statistics for Fairbanks are among the highest in the country — violent crime index of 220, which is more than double the national average, with property crime at 189. Those are real numbers that deserve real consideration. At the same time, people do live here, build lives, and feel safe — usually because they've chosen their neighborhood very carefully. If you're moving to Fairbanks, treat neighborhood research as non-negotiable. Visit in person, talk to locals, and check block-level data from the police department. FBI UCR.

Housing costs in Fairbanks are reasonable. Median rent sits at $1,470/month with median household income at $72,077/year — a 24.5% rent-to-income ratio. That's well within the comfort zone that most financial advisors recommend. It's not dirt cheap, but most working households can afford rent here without financial strain. Other costs like groceries and utilities will vary, but the rent picture is solid. Census ACS 2023 data.

Short. The average commute in Fairbanks clocks in at just 13 minutes, which is well below the national average. 66.1% of workers drive solo, and 5.2% work from home. Short commutes mean more time for everything else — it's one of the quieter advantages of living here.

Everything on this page is built from public government sources: rent and income figures from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS 5-Year Estimates, 2023); commute and transportation data from Census ACS tables B08303 and B08006; crime rates from the FBI Uniform Crime Report. We refresh each dataset monthly through an automated pipeline and cross-check for anomalies. No surveys, no user-submitted guesses — just official federal data presented in a way that's actually useful for people researching a move.