Metro Life Score
Anchorage, AK
Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade C-, 12th percentile of the national corpus.
- 40.4
- Life Score / 100
- C-
- Grade (curved)
- #339
- of 387 metros
- 12%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog
The verdict
Anchorage is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #339 of 387 (40.4/100, grade C-, 12th percentile). Carried by environment at 100/100; held back most by safety at 1/100.
- 12th
- composite percentile
- #339
- of 387 peers
- 7th
- cost dimension percentile
- 95th
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · LOWER · ENVIRO-LED · signature wages
Anchorage: pay power is the signature
Anchorage stamps LOWER · ENVIRO-LED with wages at the 95th percentile of the metro corpus (PEAK) — ahead of its cost mark (CEILING, 7th) and composite #339. Environment (100/100) amplifies the lead; Safety (1/100) is the residual gap. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Anchorage, AK ranks #339 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #360 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 105.4 (rent-RPP 109.9). BLS median salary $79,131, 169,010 jobs (Registered Nurses, Retail Salespersons, Home Health and Personal Care Aides). HUD 2BR FMR $1,631/mo (studio $1,152).
FBI UCR (AK): 728 violent, 1741 property/100K. NCES: 15.6:1 ratio, 6.3% charter. DOL infant childcare $15,925/yr. EPA: 9 Superfund sites (AK).
Where Anchorage sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
40 12th percentile higher than 12% of 387 US metros
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US metros. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source PlainCompare composite of BEA, BLS, HUD, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA data · August 2026
How the 40.4 is built
Anchorage's Life Score, decomposed
Dimension detail
How Anchorage scores, dimension by dimension
Score Breakdown
Dimension Scores
Key Data Points
Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are AK state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.
Compare Anchorage With...
Ranking Context
Anchorage outranks 12% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #336 | Vallejo, CA | 40.5 | C- |
| #337 | Modesto, CA | 40.5 | C- |
| #338 | Helena, MT | 40.7 | C- |
| #339 | Anchorage, AK | 40.4 | C- |
| #340 | Flagstaff, AZ | 40.3 | C- |
| #341 | Kankakee, IL | 40.3 | C- |
| #342 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | 40.1 | C- |
Quality vs. Affordability
Anchorage, AK's quality rank (bottom 13% lowest-quality) and affordability rank (bottom 7% least affordable) sit close together -- an unusually proportionate metro where overall quality and cost-of-living move together.
AK Metro Scores
Read with Anchorage
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Anchorage (LOWER · ENVIRO-LED · CEILING/PEAK), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Flagstaff, AZ
ABS(composite) peer at 40.3 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade C- vs this page's LOWER · ENVIRO-LED · CEILING/PEAK.
Kankakee, IL
ABS(composite) peer at 40.3 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade C- vs this page's LOWER · ENVIRO-LED · CEILING/PEAK.
Modesto, CA
ABS(composite) peer at 40.5 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C- vs this page's LOWER · ENVIRO-LED · CEILING/PEAK.
Vallejo, CA
ABS(composite) peer at 40.5 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C- vs this page's LOWER · ENVIRO-LED · CEILING/PEAK.
Boulder, CO (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 7/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 7/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.
Anchorage, AK relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for LOWER · ENVIRO-LED · CEILING/PEAK - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.
Using Anchorage's bottom-third Life Score
Anchorage scores 40.4/100 overall, but Environment (99.7) and Safety (0.5) sit 99.2 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.
- Environment is the strongest of Anchorage's seven dimensions (weighted 10% in the composite); if it is your priority, this is where the metro earns its rank. See all seven dimensions
- Safety is the weakest (weighted 15% in the composite); if it is a dealbreaker, weigh it before the ranking does. Rank metros on the composite
- Fairbanks is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Fairbanks
A low composite is a weighted blend; individual dimensions can still be strong.