The 10 Best Small Towns In Alaska For 2024

You’ve seen these lists before. Best places to live in Alaska. Best sururbs in Alaska. Best counties in Alaska.

Etc., etc., etc.

But they all focus on major cities and towns in the Last Frontier, and no one pays attention to the little guy.

Well, that’s all about to change as we put together a list of the superb small towns in Alaska based on numbers–not opinions or hearsay.

We’ll dive right into our methodology in the next section, but first, we thought you might want to know which places in Alaska ranked the best based on Saturday Night Science.

---

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

---

The 15 Best Small Towns To Live In Alaska For 2024

1. Ridgeway
2. Farmers Loop
3. Nome
4. Bear Creek
5. North Pole
6. Farm Loop
7. Diamond Ridge
8. Kodiak Station
9. Seward
10. Skagway
11. Goldstream
12. Butte
13. Unalaska
14. Haines
15. Fritz Creek

What’s the best small town in Alaska? Ridgeway is the best small town in Alaska based on the most recent Census data. If you live in one of these small towns like Ridgeway, chances are, you’re not surprised. After all, you know how great you have it.

But for the rest of you–keep reading, and we’ll get to just why these small towns made our list.

For more reading on the Last Frontier check out:

• Best Places To Live In Alaska
• Cheapest Places To Live In Alaska
• Most Dangerous Cities In Alaska

The 15 Best Small Towns In Alaska For 2024

1. Ridgeway

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 2,749
Median Income: $101,188 (7th Best)
Median Home Value: $329,768 (11th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 6.7%

2. Farmers Loop

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 4,179
Median Income: $100,638 (9th Best)
Median Home Value: $318,556 (17th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 3.7%

3. Nome

Source: Wikipedia User ra64 from nome, usa | CC BY-SA 2.0

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 3,710
Median Income: $103,542 (5th Best)
Median Home Value: $366,373 (5th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 8.4%

4. Bear Creek

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 1,283
Median Income: $70,156 (31st Best)
Median Home Value: $329,768 (11th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 0.0%

5. North Pole

Source: Wikipedia User Dylan Avery | CC BY-SA 4.0

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 2,816
Median Income: $91,583 (15th Best)
Median Home Value: $302,858 (23rd Best)
Unemployment Rate: 3.8%

6. Farm Loop

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 2,561
Median Income: $112,683 (2nd Best)
Median Home Value: $386,379 (4th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 7.8%

7. Diamond Ridge

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 1,397
Median Income: $91,923 (14th Best)
Median Home Value: $329,727 (13th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 2.3%

8. Kodiak Station

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 2,113
Median Income: $94,205 (11th Best)
Median Home Value: $0 (47th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 0.0%

9. Seward

Source: Public domain

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 2,768
Median Income: $77,850 (26th Best)
Median Home Value: $340,623 (9th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 4.8%

10. Skagway

Source: Wikipedia User Mike Colvin from Manchester, UK | CC BY 2.0

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 1,179
Median Income: $88,000 (17th Best)
Median Home Value: $464,864 (3rd Best)
Unemployment Rate: 11.4%

11. Goldstream

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 2,798
Median Income: $86,724 (18th Best)
Median Home Value: $303,607 (21st Best)
Unemployment Rate: 4.0%

12. Butte

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 3,752
Median Income: $102,171 (6th Best)
Median Home Value: $326,581 (14th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 4.4%

13. Unalaska

Source: Public domain

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 4,342
Median Income: $104,706 (4th Best)
Median Home Value: $477,285 (2nd Best)
Unemployment Rate: 3.3%

14. Haines

Source: Flickr User jerseygal2009 | CC BY-ND 2.0

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 1,762
Median Income: $69,612 (32nd Best)
Median Home Value: $281,763 (27th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 5.4%

15. Fritz Creek

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 2,163
Median Income: $78,125 (25th Best)
Median Home Value: $340,651 (8th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 3.9%

Next 10 Cities

Methodology: How We Determined The Coolest Towns In Alaska

We threw a lot of criteria at this report to get the best, most complete results of the best small towns in Alaska possible.

Using the most recent data from the Census’s 2018-2022 American Community Survey, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Saturday Night Science, this is the criteria we used:

• Population Density (Higher is better)
• Lowest Unemployment Rates
• Housing costs (Higher is better. More demand.)
• Adjusted Median Income (Higher is better)
• Highly Educated Adults (Higher is better)
• Insurance Rates (Higher is better)
• Commute Times (Lower is better)

We looked at places with populations lower than 5,000 people and greater than 1,000, of which there were many – 48 to be exact.

We then ranked each place in each category with scores from 1 to 48, averaged them out, and the lowest scores went to our Best Small Towns in Alaska. Top of that list — Ridgeway.

This is our tenth time ranking the best small places to live in Alaska.

Summary: Science Can Tackle Any Issue, Even Small Ones

We said it once, and we’ll say it again — this list: it’s just science. We did the research, crunched the numbers, and it turns out these 15 small towns in Alaska are the best in which to live.

And who can argue with that?

The best small towns in Alaska are Ridgeway, Farmers Loop, Nome, Bear Creek, North Pole, Farm Loop, Diamond Ridge, Kodiak Station, Seward, and Skagway.

If you’re curious, here are the worst small towns in Alaska:

1. Susitna North
2. Houston
3. Alakanuk

For more Alaska reading, check out:

• Best Places To Raise A Family In Alaska
• Safest Places In Alaska
• Worst Places To Live In Alaska

Best Small Towns In Alaska