Alaska
In turnaround, median rental cost in Alaska is now down to the national median
Alaska residential rental costs used to be the highest in the nation.
Now the typical rent in Alaska is about the same as the national median for the first time on record, and 19 states have higher rental prices, according to an analysis by state economists.
That is a dramatic turnaround from the past.
In the first decades of statehood, rental prices in Alaska were far higher than those in any other state. In 1980, for example, Alaska’s median rent was about 50% above the national level and 18% higher than Hawaii, which then had the second-most expensive rental costs. Even in 2016, Alaska’s median rent was the nation’s sixth-highest, about the same as that in New York and Massachusetts, the analysis found. In a group of numbers, the median refers to the one in the middle, with half higher and half lower.
The analysis is published in Alaska Economic Trends, the monthly magazine of the Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s research section. It uses information from 2023, which is the most recent data available.
The study compares states’ gross rents, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, which include utilities.
Alaska’s median gross rent was $1,373 in 2023, the analysis said. California had the highest median rent of $1,992 that year, followed by Hawaii at $1,940 and the District of Columbia at $1,904.
Rental prices have risen over the years in all states, but the increase in Alaska over the past decades has been slower than that elsewhere.
That is not necessarily good news or bad news for Alaskans, and it does not necessarily mean that rents are cheap in Alaska, said Rob Kreiger, a state labor economist and co-author of the Trends article.
“Clearly, rents are moving up at a faster rate in the rest of the country than they are here. But we don’t know whether they are more affordable here than there,” he said. Affordability depends on how much renters are able to spend, he said. “You could have situations where wages are quite low and rent is less affordable,” he said.
Alaska’s rent trends roughly track the ebbs and flows of the state’s economy and demographic changes and the way Alaska conditions have compared to those in the Lower 48 states.
Twelve consecutive years of net outmigration — with more people leaving the state than moving in — was one factor that pushed Alaska’s rent-price ranking lower, the analysis said. So were the job losses related to an oil price slump from 2015 to 2018. The COVID-19 pandemic affected all states’ economies and rental prices, but Alaska had a slower post-pandemic recovery, the researchers note.
The inclusion of utilities as part of gross rents is a factor that may have slowed the increase in Alaska costs. Natural gas provided by utilities is much cheaper than the heating oil that Alaskans relied on in past decades, the report notes.
The findings include information about rental vacancy rates, which are now higher in Alaska than in the nation as a whole. That is a switch in recent years; from 2005 to about 2012, Alaska had a tighter rental market, with vacancy rates that were lower than the national rate, but since then Alaska’s rates have been higher or about the same as the national rate, according to the analysis. That is despite home construction activity that has been consistently lower in recent years than in the past, Kreiger said.
Still, it is difficult to calculate a statewide vacancy rate “because it varies so much from place to place,” he said. Parts of rural Alaska have dire housing shortages, for example.
While the comparison to national rates is new, the department’s research section does regular analysis of rental costs differences within Alaska.
The researchers, in cooperation with the Alaska Housing Finance Corp., publish annual reports on rental costs at different state locations, based on costs each March.
The most recent report found that among 10 regions, median rents in 2024 for two-bedroom apartments were lowest in the Wrangell-Petersburg area, at $1,081 a month, and highest in the Kodiak Island Borough, at $1,713 a month.
Originally published by the Alaska Beacon, an independent, nonpartisan news organization that covers Alaska state government.
Alaska
Lavrov Challenges Rubio: Kremlin Says Trump-Putin Reached Deal as Moscow Questions Washington’s Neutrality
The Kremlin has pushed back against US claims that no agreement was reached between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin during the August 2025 Anchorage summit in Alaska.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Washington presented proposals to settle the war in Ukraine during the talks and that Moscow accepted them.
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Lavrov was responding to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has publicly rejected Russian claims that Washington and Moscow reached an agreement on Ukraine during the Alaska summit, saying no deal was ever finalized.
As reported by DRM News, Rubio said the summit produced only a proposal, not a binding agreement.
He added that the US remains ready to play a constructive role in bringing the parties together and helping end the war, but stressed that while proposals were discussed in Alaska, “there was no agreement.”
Lavrov struck back by calling the response “not very elegant.”
“When my colleague says that in Alaska there were only proposals and no agreement, I wonder what we mean by agreement,” Lavrov said.
“If one side, in this case the US, put proposals on the table, and the other side expressed agreement, then saying there was no agreement is somehow not very elegant,” he added.
According to Lavrov, White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff visited Moscow days before the summit and delivered the same US settlement plan.
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“Already in Anchorage, when the two presidents sat down for talks, Putin began listing the American proposals point by point. After each point, in the presence of Trump and Rubio, he asked Witkoff whether he had correctly described the ideas brought to Moscow. Witkoff answered affirmatively to each question,” Lavrov said.
He called for clarification from Washington, adding that recent US statements about playing a constructive role in ending the war sounded like an attempt to position itself as a mediator.
Previous claims
In early June, Lavrov claimed Russia had accepted what he described as US proposals presented at the Alaska summit.
Lavrov alleged that Washington initially acted as a mediator but later stepped back from the process after failing to pressure Ukraine to accept the proposed terms.
This week, he also suggested that the Alaska summit may have been used to “buy time” for Ukraine to rearm itself, further arguing that Russia no longer views the West as a credible broker amid sanctions pressure.
Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov also said Moscow remained committed to implementing the understandings reached in Alaska, while accusing Washington of “apparently [failing] to complete its part of the process.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov argued that Washington cannot be considered fully neutral in the war because of its military support for Ukraine.
“If we’re talking about absolute neutrality, then, of course, the term is probably inapplicable, because the United States supplies the majority of weapons to Ukraine and provides other forms of assistance,” Peskov said.
At the same time, he said Moscow highly values Washington’s willingness to help resolve the war, as well as its influence over European allies and Kyiv.
Peskov also dismissed remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron, who recently said at the G7 Summit that Washington had abandoned neutrality and was now openly backing Ukraine’s territorial integrity, continued aid, and sanctions against Russia.
“Regarding President Macron’s statements, it is difficult to judge. I don’t think President Macron can in any way claim to be Washington’s lawyer or press secretary,” Peskov added.
HONOLULU (KHON2) — Free Wi-Fi is available on more Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines planes.
The company said that 150 aircraft are now equipped with Starlink.
“For years, T-Mobile has played a key role in keeping our guests connected, and we’re proud to now offer Starlink, the fastest Wi-Fi in the sky, to Atmos members for free, made possible through our work with T-Mobile,” said Shane Jones, Senior Vice President of Fleet, Products and Guest Experience. “We’ve seen an overwhelmingly positive response from our guests, and we couldn’t have done it without T-Mobile as we continue to raise the bar for the experience across Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines.”
Passengers must now be Atmos Rewards members to take advantage of the free service. The company said a new onboarding portal started in June, with the experience to become standard by mid-July.
Existing Atmos Rewards members will connect automatically, and new guests can sign up in just a few steps.
“Our relationship with Alaska Airlines has helped redefine what travelers can expect from inflight connectivity, and today’s milestone is another important step forward, said Mike Belcher, Head of Partnerships and Business Development at T-Mobile. “Bringing complimentary inflight Wi-Fi to more travelers across both Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines makes it easier to stay connected throughout their journey. The new, streamlined experience for accessing Wi-Fi reflects our shared commitment to delivering a better, more seamless travel experience.”
The airline expects to finish installing Starlink across its remaining mainline fleet by 2027.
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