Northway, AK

The affordability dashboard for Northway, AK aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 290 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of F (13/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $33,036, median home value of $180,000, median rent of — per month, and 3.4% 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 $1,313 per month (studio $942, 1BR $1,198, 3BR $1,826, 4BR $2,162).

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 income, education, housing, rent. Unemployment currently reads 8.3% and poverty 36.9% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.