What is Fairbanks-College's Life Score?

Fairbanks-College scores 39.4/100 (grade D), rank #354 of 387. Signature composite at the 8th percentile; stamps BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED · cost CEILING · wages PEAK.

What pulls Fairbanks-College up or down?

Strongest: environment (100/100). Weakest: safety (0/100). Profile mark ENVIRO-LED; dimension gap 100.

How current is this data?

Federal releases current as of August 2026 (BEA, BLS, HUD, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA). Cadence varies by series; see methodology.

Metro Life Score

Fairbanks-College, AK

Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade D, 9th percentile of the national corpus.

Compiled by PlainCompare

39.4
Life Score / 100: D
Grade (curved): #354
of 387 metros: 9%
composite percentile

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Data updated August 2026

Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog

The verdict

Fairbanks-College is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #354 of 387 (39.4/100, grade D, 9th percentile). Carried by environment at 100/100; held back most by safety at 0/100.

9th
composite percentile: #354
of 387 peers: 11th
cost dimension percentile: 87th
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED · signature composite

Fairbanks-College: bottom-third composite — where the drag concentrates

Fairbanks-College sits in the bottom third of the metro corpus on composite (#354 of 387, 39.4/100, 8th percentile). Stamps BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED; Safety at 0/100 is the main drag; Environment (100/100) keeps the floor. Cost/wage marks CEILING/PEAK. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Fairbanks-College, AK ranks #354 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #343 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

BEA RPP 103.2 (rent-RPP 92.6). BLS median salary $73,725, 28,710 jobs (Retail Salespersons, Stockers and Order Fillers, Fast Food and Counter Workers). HUD 2BR FMR $1,676/mo (studio $1,156).

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 Fairbanks-College sits among all US metros

Composite Life Score vs the national field

39 9th percentile higher than 9% 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 39.4 is built

Fairbanks-College's Life Score, decomposed

Cost of Living 2.3 (6%) Wages 17.4 (44%) Rent 3.3 (8%) Safety 0.0 (0%) Schools 5.0 (13%) Childcare 1.4 (4%) Environment 10.0 (25%)

Dimension detail

How Fairbanks-College scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 11/100 (20%) Below average

Wages 87/100 (20%) Above average

Rent 22/100 (15%) Below average

Safety 0/100 (15%) Bottom 10%

Schools 50/100 (10%) Average

Childcare 14/100 (10%) Below average

Environment 100/100 (10%) Top 10%

Key Data Points

103.2

Cost Index (RPP)

$73,725

Avg Median Salary

$1,676

2BR Fair Market Rent

728

Violent Crime/100K (AK)

15.6:1

Student-Teacher Ratio

$15,925

Infant Childcare/yr (AK)

Superfund Sites (AK)

28,710

Total Employment

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 Fairbanks-College With...

Fairbanks-College vs Anchorage Compare → Fairbanks-College vs Paducah Compare → Fairbanks-College vs Pocatello Compare → Fairbanks-College vs Wildwood Compare →

Ranking Context

Fairbanks-College outranks 9% of U.S. metros.

Rank	Metro	Score	Grade
#351	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	39.6	D
#352	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	39.7	D
#353	Missoula, MT	39.7	D
#354	Fairbanks-College, AK	39.4	D
#355	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	39.4	D
#356	Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR	39.3	D
#357	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	39.3	D

Quality vs. Affordability

Fairbanks-College, AK's quality rank (bottom 9% lowest-quality) and affordability rank (bottom 12% least affordable) sit close together -- an unusually proportionate metro where overall quality and cost-of-living move together.

Fairbanks-College, AK (highlighted) among its 12 nearest composite-Life-Score peers, out of 387 tracked metros nationally. Crosshairs mark this peer neighborhood's own median composite score and cost-of-living score. Cost-of-living score is already inverted so higher = more affordable.

AK Metro Scores

Anchorage, AK C- 40.4

Read with Fairbanks-College

Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Fairbanks-College (BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED · CEILING/PEAK), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.

San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA

ABS(composite) peer at 39.4 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED · CEILING/PEAK.

Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR

ABS(composite) peer at 39.3 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED · CEILING/PEAK.

Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA

ABS(composite) peer at 39.3 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED · CEILING/PEAK.

Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA

ABS(composite) peer at 39.3 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED · CEILING/PEAK.

Naples-Marco Island, FL (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 12/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.

Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 11/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.

Fairbanks-College, AK relocation guide

Stamp-branched guide for BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED · CEILING/PEAK - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.

Using Fairbanks-College's bottom-third Life Score

Fairbanks-College scores 39.4/100 overall, but Environment (100.0) and Safety (0.3) sit 99.7 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.

Environment is the strongest of Fairbanks-College'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
Anchorage is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Anchorage

A low composite is a weighted blend; individual dimensions can still be strong.

Data from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OES, NCES, DOL, and EPA. Not affiliated with the U.S. Government.

Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Fairbanks-College Life Score 39.4/100 · signature composite · retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

All federal data sources used on this page

U.S. Census Bureau ACS - multi-dimension demographic + housing + income aggregates for cross-area comparison. census.gov/programs-surveys/acs
BEA Regional Economic Accounts - GDP, personal income, employment by state and metro. bea.gov/data/regional
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) - wage estimates for comparable-area indexing. bls.gov/oes
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) - crime statistics for safety-score component. fbi.gov/ucr
NCES Common Core of Data - public-school quality indicators by area. nces.ed.gov/ccd
EPA AirNow + Air Quality System (AQS) - air-quality measurements by area. epa.gov/outdoor-air-quality-data
HUD Fair Market Rents (FMR) - county and metro housing-cost indicators. huduser.gov/datasets/fmr