Calling all Alaska Residents!!!

[Trappernewt]

Howdy,
I am seriously considering relocating myself and my family to Alaska. I have just began researching some places to go and the best areas for jobs plus access to hunting/fishing and other opportunities. So for those of you the live there whether born or relocated there could you please share any input or suggestions? Thanks a bunch!

 

[sable tireur]

Best of Luck with your search!

 

[Akredneck]

Hello, fishing is good in Valdez, Homer, Seward (salmon, halibut), hunting good in interior Moose, Caribou edible bear( coastal bear are fishy IMO. Get yourself a reliable rig and plan on travel for freezer fair. Don't buy all the hype about Caliber 270 win , 30/06 will take everything in AK. Just shoot it Accuracy and reliability are key.

 

[toddlouis]

I moved to southeast in 2019 and I love it here. Moose, deer, bears and goats although a little limited sometimes but I have no plans of ever moving back to the lower 48.

 

[akdad]

You may want to break down what you want a bit more. Southeast is drastically different then anchorage and off the road system is also different.

 

[Sockeye66]

Just my opinion, based on spending a good portion of my life (over 35+ years) in AK as a commercial fisherman. Understand that AK is expensive comparatively to other areas of the lower 48. My favorite place in AK is Kodiak Island, followed by the Kenai Peninsula and the Matanuska Valley. Southeast is ok as well (Petersburg, Wrangell, Sitka), but Ketchikan is very touristy. Just understand that unless you live in Anchorage or one of the major population areas, the style of living is more self sufficient and requires a lot of planning but that is much of the allure. Good luck on your decision.

 

[broomd]

I did this in 1997. I lost my first wife to cancer, and after remarrying we loaded up my two kids and new wife and moved to Fairbanks, Ak. It was an adventure of a lifetime. Lived there ten years; son, his wife and our grandson still reside there. Our passion as a family was chasing the dall rams. Many memories made.

To do over again, I'd avoid the interior and would choose Homer, or a warmer area closer to good fishing.

Buy what you need before you move there. I had the atvs and snowmachines already purchased cheaply in the lower 48 and took the toys with, saved us a fortune.

 

[mackgee]

Agree with akdad…spell it out a bit more. What do you do for a living? Kids? Ages? Your age? Coming from West Virginia I assume?

 

[Trappernewt]

Thanks so much for the replies. I own a small farm (200 acres) in WV. I'm about an hour from a larger "city" currently and drive 50 miles one way to work every day. I'm looking for someplace where I can work and also have good access to hunting and fishing opportunities for my kids. We were looking at Montana and Wyoming but the housing/property especially in Montana was astronomical in price.

 

[Trappernewt]

Agree with akdad…spell it out a bit more. What do you do for a living? Kids? Ages? Your age? Coming from West Virginia I assume?

I'm an operations manager for a metal fab/CNC business with 40 employees, 4 kids 17, 16, 11 and 5. I'm 41 and yes coming from WV.

 

[mackgee]

Well jobs wise you will have to head to some larger areas…Anchorage, Fairbanks would be the major areas. A lot of guys here make really good money working up on the slopes for the oil companies. That's usually a 2 week on and 2 week off kind of gig, but they do make good money. Living on the outskirts of Anchorage, or Fairbanks would be a great place to do what you do if you want a normal hours job. It is cheaper if you commute from outside the cities, which is what a lot of people do here. If you want to, feel free to PM me with whatever specific questions you have…hard to give you an overview…there is just so much to talk about.

Jeremy

 

[Trappernewt]

Well jobs wise you will have to head to some larger areas…Anchorage, Fairbanks would be the major areas. A lot of guys here make really good money working up on the slopes for the oil companies. That's usually a 2 week on and 2 week off kind of gig, but they do make good money. Living on the outskirts of Anchorage, or Fairbanks would be a great place to do what you do if you want a normal hours job. It is cheaper if you commute from outside the cities, which is what a lot of people do here. If you want to, feel free to PM me with whatever specific questions you have…hard to give you an overview…there is just so much to talk about.

Jeremy

Awesome. Thank you!!!

PS: That 30 Nosler did a good job on a Saskatchewan black bear.

 

[Poor_choices]

I went through this about 2 years ago, and ended up not moving.

A little background, I have 2 adult kids, 2 grandkids, and now 2 young stepchildren that I adopted when I remarried. I had a job offer to relocate to Juneau for $120k per year. It was a good job with an excellent company, and a ton of long term growth. It sounded like a pretty solid offer to do a job I really enjoyed, in a location I really wanted to live in.

The cost of living in Alaska is very high. A $70K job won't really get you very far up there. The school system isn't very god either if you have school age kids you're thinking about. Alaska isn't a terribly safe place to live when you look at crime statistics. You'll be isolated from any family you have in the lower 48, if that's important to you.

It's beautiful up there, and always will be. It's a sportsman's heaven just about anywhere you go. It's a bucket list location to live for almost any hunter/fisher. It offers a lot of opportunity to expose kids to the outdoors and maybe get them hooked for life.

For me, the idea of Alaska wasn't enough to offset the reality of Alaska. It might be right for you and your family though.

 

[akdad]

Since you would be limited to the city's maybe a trip up there would make sense?
Ak is an awesome place! We moved from the interior part of Ak to mt for the kids sake. Small towns out in western Ak just aren't best places for kids.
Anc, Fairbanks, Kenie are the same as anywhere.