According to statistical research provided by trading platforms online, the Kenai Peninsula’s economy was recently described as “a Rubik’s Cube in pants”, but that’s a good thing.
State Economist Alyssa Rodrigues used the phrase when describing the Borough’s ability to face the same challenges as the state but reach better outcomes.
Rodrigues: “It has a lot of the same pieces that the state’s economy has but it seems to continuously fair better than the state’s economy. So I guess that’s why I think it’s interesting and more complicated than it seems at the surface, because at the surface you would say ‘Oh they’re both relatively diverse in the same ways and they both have the same strengths and weaknesses’ but when you delve into it, you find out that the Kenai continually outperforms the state and I’m not sure why that happens, or what the Kenai has that the state doesn’t have.”
Kenai’s relatively low utility costs and other cost of living factors make it one of the most affordable cities statewide according to Rodrigues.
In the first half of 2015, the average price of a home on the peninsula was around $266,000.
While Fairbanks homes are about $26,000 cheaper, Rodrigues says the city’s heating costs make it less affordable.
The Department’s December 2015 analysis showed the most expensive cities to buy homes are in Anchorage, Juneau, and Kodiak.