Fort Wainwright, AK

The affordability dashboard for Fort Wainwright, AK aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 7,065 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of D (45/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $68,667, median home value of —, median rent of $2,239 per month, and 29.2% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $1,676 per month (studio $1,156, 1BR $1,277, 3BR $2,331, 4BR $2,812). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $20,551 per year, consuming 30% of the local median household income.

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Pressure points are childcare. Unemployment currently reads 3.7% and poverty 3.9% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.