Moving to Alaska? Yes please!

After our rather crazy and eventful move to Alaska back in 2011, I realized that it might be helpful to share what we have learned and what we have come to love about the 49th state.

stock photo

First off, the move was expensive.

Some believe you should sell everything before you move to Alaska from "The Lower 48". Personally, I think you could work out a spreadsheet with a simple cost-asset optimization to see how much your valued assets would cost to replace in Alaska vs savings on shipping and profits from selling those assets instead of moving with them. BUT, I really love math, research, and tables.

So here's the general info on what I found:

Things cost about 15% more in AK than in the interior western US.

Or you could do your own research:

US Cost of Living Calculator and Comparison

It appears that life in AK is about equal to life in Boston, MA, Chicago, IL, and only slightly less than living in Queens or Brooklyn, NY.

So how do you move your stuff?

You can pay a moving company ($$$), use a U-Pack service ($$), or drive it up yourself in a trailer ($ - $$$ depending on whether your vehicles survive, I don't know of a single family who has done this without incurring some major auto repair costs at some point along this trip, but it sure is adventurous!)

Adventure on the ALCAN, stock photo

Since most of our furniture was given to us for free and held sentimental value

(if not a long history of being over-loved)

we chose to purge then pack up everything else into a shipping container to be barged up to AK.

It was not cheap, but using the U-Pack company was the best option for us.

U-Pack drops off a trailer in your driveway allowing you a weekend or more to cram your stuff into the amount of floor space you have ordered

our u-pack trailer

~as in, you may have contractually agreed to use up 12ft of a 24ft trailer.  If someone else only needs 12 ft, you might be sharing trailer space with a plywood divider inbetween

and then the truck comes back to your place and drives off with your stuff to Seattle, where it all gets loaded onto a ship, or up the ALCAN if the weather permits.

Another factor to consider is that many online shopping sites have really weird shipping policies concerning AK. That means you might not be able to order that IKEA couch you've been scoping or that

Pottery Barn bunkbed.

We do have Target, Fred Meyer, Costco, Sam's Club, Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, Office Max, Best Buy, etc., but there are also a lot of AK-only chains that sell housewares and furniture.

Cars are a whole different banana.

container ships headed to AK, stock photo

You can either sell your cars, fly up, and buy an overpriced 4 wheel drive up here, (which might be a good idea if your cars are in bad shape or wouldn't handle at least 6 months of icy/snowy roads well enough) drive up and sell your car/truck/trailor, (only works if you are trying to sell a 4 wheel drive as no one seems to buy 2 wheel drive trucks up here, ever.) or ship your car up on a barge (this is the option we went with as we owed too much on our commuter car and didn't want to part with our all wheel drive Ford ~still haven't!)

Again, it's really up to you.

What about housing?

Anchorage, AK, stock photo

Housing is limited in the Anchorage and Matanuska Valley areas.  Rent is fairly high and so are property values.  As it is anywhere else, it is better to get a feel for the neighborhoods you might want to live in person before you put down any large sums of money on a home/rental.

Not all areas are good for families.

As building standards have not been heavily enforced until the last decade,

Alaska is definitely a BUYER BEWARE state.

flooding in AK, stock photo

Make sure that you aren't buying a swamp if you buy land and that wells or the public water supply in the area work and are healthy.

School selection was the most important issue on my radar.

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I used this site:

Great Schools

to search and compare what neighborhoods went with the best rated schools for my kids.  I found the data pretty accurate.  The comments are mostly from parents who have, for some reason or another, had an unpleasant experience and want to vent a bit.  This was the norm for comments on any school.  But there were also a few positive comments as well.

After we chose our school (and yes, I went to each of the schools on my list in person about 6 months before we moved up to AK) we looked for rental property within that boundary.  I have found that although every school and school district initially claim that they won't do boundary exemptions, if you meet with administrators face to face (and your children have stellar records from their old schools) you can get a variance to allow you to go wherever you want your kids to go as long as you provide transportation.

Would you rather go to a charter school?

There are TONS of them up here with different faith, language, or experiential learning styles available.

Homeschooling more your style?

There is a huge homeschooling network up here that not only help make this a viable option but also help to make it a really really popular one too.

Is there anything else you all want to know?

Feel free to ask!