Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Alaska middle class...

One of my guilty pleasures since my retirement is watching the dozen or so Alaska shows. Nome, McCarthy, Eagle, etc. Without intending to be rude, I am wondering what income is necessary to be considered middle, upper middle class? Does it vary from the coast to the interior? From the north to the south?

Could I live on my cheesy 45K a year pension, and my laughable 10% VA disability?

Don't believe what you see on shows... all scripted and acting... for the most part.

Wife and I could live on what you get, assuming housing is paid for....

I was afraid to ask about home prices. I cringe to think what a septic and drain field costs a bit out of town. I don't see my wife going out in -40 to do her business.

In Anchorage or Fairbanks, yes. Nome, no! (HF-#1 is mid-$2 range right now in urban-AK; $6-7 in rural...yeah, you need HF in treeless places like Nome.)

Perishable food items are simply going off the charts "off the grid" as well. Milk: $15/gallon vs $3.50; potatoes $12-15/10# vs $4 and perhaps change. Postal rates are constantly climbing too which makes even canned stuff get spendy when you DIY. The only hope is Amazon, but I'm sure they'll figure it out too.

But there are lots of ways to do things if you are careful and patient. (Try not to harbor any growing boys on that kind of money and you can do it; it might put a crimp in lugging big critter quarters however. )

In some rural parts you might have a hard time finding anything you can buy due to the fact that the gov't has cornered the market by providing everything at below cost - and getting title is questionable - good homework advisable! Where there is a market, it can be lump-in-throat inducing, both in the property cost as well as in taxes, etc. Insurance can be some what problematic as well depending on a lot of things: access to local fire suppression or not, code/no code compliance, access to inspectors/insurance adjusters, etc.

I'm sure there are a few guys here who know more about hoops and hurdles.

The question is do you just want to get by, or do you want to enjoy living in Alaska? Housing in Alaska is expensive, so is food and if you live on the road system you'll find you will often be driving long distances to travel around the state.

I don't know what you consider middle or upper middle class, but I can tell you that a house hold income of $100k puts you solidly in middle class in Anchorage given the cost of housing.

If you have a house paid off, $45k a year should cover living expenses, but a mortgage or rent would easily take up more than half of that.

Go the food stamp sourdough way ! ..let the rest of the country pay your way ! ?

Go to Fairbanks northstar borough, and area read......community research quarterly

When I got out of the Navy back in 81, RR had just fired 5000 air traffic controllers. My job in the Navy was similar, so I took the test. Back then if you passed high enough you could pick where you wanted to work. I choose Alaska, and I passed the test. At the same time I was going through the hiring process of the Norfolk PD. After spending 28 years in a community that hated my guts, I often wonder what it would of been like, had I gone ATC somewhere in AK.

Thanks for everyone's input, its clear that if I ever get the chance to get up there I need to bring money, lots and lots of money....

That's BS. You don't need lots of money to live in AK. Show up with shiny new toys/vehicles you are making payments on, and yes, you will need money. It's just like any other place. If you can manage money, then you'll be just fine. 250k will buy you a decent place in my area. Have a 20% down payment and avoid PMI and you are better off with a lower mortgage payment. Decent, but not new rigs will save you a pile on insurance and you'll not have any payments. No point in a new truck as if you aren't knocking it around, you aren't having much fun. You'll want about 25-35k for a boat, again with cash. Then, you can hunt/fish to your hearts content. Amazon is a big money saver too.

Anybody who reasonably saved throughout there career should be able to retire in style in my part of Alaska.

a worthwhile link which still leaves out the less traveled parts...

http://laborstats.alaska.gov/col/col.pdf

(As people get closer to retirement they often tend to start thinking about better access to good medical care too, which tends to narrow things down. Even the bigger places in rural Alaska are not known for premium medical services. Insurance which covers medivac flights might be an issue worth considering, and perhaps forget regular check-ups unless you budget for frequent travel.)

Excellent chart, answered everything but one final question.

In these Alaskan shows, the residents seemingly with little or no apparent income just happen to hop on a private plane out of nowhere on a regular basis. Are these trips a fixed rate, hourly, are they bartering off camera?

Seems to me with fuel 10.00 a gallon off grid and having to pay the pilot to come get you off a sandbar/frozen lake/river this gets expensive quickly, at least it does in the lower 48. Say a 200 mile trip, what would I be looking at price wise? Say I had to fly out a boned moose too?

I have to agree with Calvin. If you are debt free you can easily live in South Central Alaska on what you are earning for retirement.

There are still some good housing values in the Valley if you don't get in a hurry.

If you are a retired LEO there is always slope security work if you are interested in picking up some extra work. Our company hires a lot of seasonals during ice road season, (Jan-May) and most are two week on/two week off positions.

Yes things cost more here but in Anchorage/Valley prices are not horrible like they are in the bush.

If you like salmon, no other place in the country has salmon like we do. Whether you dipnet or fish rod and reel, you can catch more than enough for a winter's worth of fine meals. Caribou and moose take a little bit more work and black bear is open year round in most places.

If you come up, don't get in a big rush to buy all the toys. Shop around. Alaska has a large transient population of military, oil field workers and folks who just can't do Alaska. Quite often great deals can be found on wheelers, snow machines and boats from folks leaving the state.

If you decide to move up or just have more questions, shoot me a PM. I'll help any way I can.

Scheduled flights might run around $2/mile typical, in places that have regular service - give or take- for small planes. The price tends to be less as the scale increases. A Cub or 172 chartered is probably going to start at $600-800/hr. (I might be off on that a bit as it was some time ago I heard that price.)

The places that have $10 gas, aren't the places you want to live anyway. Turn off the tv.

YMMV. (To be fair, $10 fuel at the present time is probably all flown-in. If people hang on Dear Leader's every word, we may be longing for those prices in a few years.)

And it doesn't matter what the going rate is for charter flights you see on tv. Nobody you see on TV gives a crap because the production company is paying for it. 99% of what you see on AK reality shows has nothing to do with real life. Trust me I know.

Thanks all.

I paid $465,000.00 for a 2900 sq. ft. duplex. Stove oil costs $5,000.00 per year, electricity about $4,000.00, level the house each year costs $3,000.00, insurance is $1,000.00. On top of this food, gas for the rigs, boat, snogo's, ect.

As a comparison, our house in Wasilla, a three bedroom, two bath, 28x30 attached heated garage on one acre is appraised at $190,000. Taxes run around $2600, Natural gas about $1300 per year and electricity about $1800. We cut and burn firewood but not exclusively. My wife doesn't burn as much when I'm gone to the slope but we generally have a fire every day through the winter. Never had to level the house. I'd have to look at the mortgage to tell you what we paid in insurance last year. Probably similar to Kid. Pump your septic every two years ($200) and you should be good indefinitely. You can put a heater in your outhouse so your wife can be comfy for those midwinter midnight runs to the ladies room.