MAIN Home Life House & Home MovingAlaska

Notwithstanding the image which depicts Alaska as a small appendage to the lower 48 (usually foreshortened on US maps for practical purposes) Alaska is by far the biggest state in the Union and twice the size of Texas.

Like Texas, main industries include its famous oil pipeline, as well as tourism that offers visitors a unique look at America's (so far) still pristine wilderness. Hotels, lodges, travel tours and especially cruises to the famously beautiful Alaskan Inside Passage still make for a booming summer tourist trade.

Despite enduring notions that Alaska is expensive, cold and rural, (or that everyone lives in igloos) temperatures may reach into the 90's during the summer in the southern part of the state. Meanwhile, the bigger cities continue to offer incentives for major companies to relocate here. The result is a growing job market, a well-maintained transportation infrastructure in the south, along with vastly improved high speed Internet connections.

As a short growing season prohibits a major farming industry, food is still more expensive than in the lower 48, as are consumer goods generally.

Quality-of-life statistics for Alaska

Cost of Living: With its cool climate, and its distance from the lower 48 states , Alaska has historically been one of the most expensive states in which to live.

However, this is now changing around major cities like Fairbanks and Anchorage, where major store chains like Wal-Mart, Costco and Barnes & Noble have helped bring prices down. However, rural Alaskans continue to pay inordinately high prices for food and consumer goods.

As Alaska's economy is mainly fueled by oil production, prospective workers in that industry as well as government employees and others are generally lured to the state with high pay rates and generous cost of living allowances.

Property Taxes : The Tax Foundation - Alaska's Tax Climate - Alaska is one of the 37 states that collect property taxes at both the state and local levels. As in most states, local governments collect far more. Alaska's overall share of property taxation is generally higher compared to the contiguous 48 states.

Personal Income Taxes: Alaska depends primarily on petroleum revenues and is one of only a handful states (Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming among them) that does not levy an individual income tax. Alaska also does not collect any sales tax. Some of its cities and other local jurisdictions, however, do collect sales tax revenue.

Housing & Real Estate Overview : also see Zillow - Alaska Real Estate
Home ownership rate : 62.5%
Average home price: $301,380
Average travel time to work : 19.6 minutes

Schools : see Alaska Department of Education & Early Development

Weather : Alaska usually evokes images of the Arctic, but the climate is quite variable and changes dramatically by location, from warm and rainy in the southeast (with temps reaching into the 90's during the summer) to generally cool and mild in the south central region. The weather only becomes truly polar in the extreme north, with its infamously long, cold winters and cool, short summers.

Crime : see Alaska Crime Rates 1960 - 2005

also see -> Alaska Eviction Laws | Alaska Taxes

Alaska Tourist Attractions | Christmas in Alaska