Alaska vs West Virginia
Twenty measures that tend to decide a move, side by side. Every figure is the same one the map shows, from the same source.
Alaska comes out ahead on 6 of them and West Virginia on 8, but that tally is not a recommendation: it weighs a difference in class size the same as a difference in house price. Read the rows that matter to you.
MeasureAlaskaWest Virginia
Home price$400,659$182,704
Rent paid$1,397$868
Cost of living124.988.3
Income$95,665$60,798
Property tax0.94%0.51%
Income tax0.00%4.82%
Sales tax1.82%6.60%
Electric bill$157$167
Temperature36.4°F53.9°F
Snowfall46.0 in22.9 in
Precipitation43.6 in44.0 in
Students per teacher19.213.7
Bachelor's or higher32.8%24.4%
Crime rate724249
Commute19.8 min26.5 min
Unemployment4.4%4.2%
Population change+0.5%-1.5%
Wildfire risk74.441.2
Flood risk18.879.2
Bold marks the better figure where a measure has a better direction. Weather, snowfall and rainfall are shown plain, because warmer is not better — it is a preference.