Property Tax in Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska

What the Fairbanks North Star Borough numbers mean

A median is the middle household: half of owner-occupied households in Fairbanks North Star Borough pay more than $3,570, and half pay less. Your own bill is set by your home's assessed value, the exemptions you qualify for, and the local taxing districts your property sits in — so individual bills vary widely around the median.

Dividing the median tax by the median home value gives a derived effective rate of 1.26% for Fairbanks North Star Borough. It is an estimate built from two survey medians, not the county's official rate, but it is a fair way to compare the local tax burden with other counties where home values are very different.

Fairbanks North Star Borough by the numbers

*Estimate derived from Census medians (tax ÷ value), not an official rate.

Fairbanks North Star Borough at a glance

• Median tax rank in Alaska: #3 of 26 counties
• Median home value rank in Alaska: #14 of 26
• Population rank in Alaska: #3 of 26 (95,555 residents)
• Population density rank: #2 of 26 (13 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in Alaska: #13 of 26 (7,334 sq mi, 1.5% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $298; per $1,000 of home value: $1.26

How Fairbanks North Star Borough compares

The median tax bill in Fairbanks North Star Borough is about 6% lower than the state median ($3,785 for Alaska) and about 20% higher than the US median ($2,969 nationally). By median taxes paid, the county ranks #3 out of 26 Alaska counties with published Census data — 2 counties in the state have a higher median bill.

Comparisons cut both ways: a county can have a modest rate but high bills because homes are expensive, or a high rate but modest bills because homes are cheaper. Fairbanks North Star Borough's derived rate of 1.26% sits above the derived US figure of 0.98%.

Some extra context for Fairbanks North Star Borough: the median bill works out to about $298 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $1,264 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 95,555 people — the #3 most populous county in Alaska, spread over 7,334 square miles, a density of about 13 people per square mile. Its median home value, $282,500, ranks #14 among the state's 26 counties with data.

Nationally, Fairbanks North Star Borough's median bill of $3,570 ranks #298 of 3133 counties with published data — inside the top 10% of counties by tax paid. The county accounts for about 13.0% of Alaska's population, its median home value is about 15% below the state median, and at the derived rate the median home would hand over roughly 12.64% of its value in tax across a decade. Within the state, the distance from Fairbanks North Star Borough to the most expensive county, Anchorage Municipality ($4,865), is $1,295 a year.

Counties nearest Fairbanks North Star Borough in the Alaska ranking

Fairbanks North Star Borough and its population peers

Counties of a similar size can tax very differently. The table below shows the counties closest to Fairbanks North Star Borough in population across the United States, with their median bills and home values. Within the group of 9, Fairbanks North Star Borough ($3,570) ranks #5 of 9 by median tax paid.

The closest population match is Geauga County, Ohio (95,479 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $4,533 on a median home value of $305,100 — $963 less than Fairbanks North Star Borough pays.

Staying within Alaska, the counties nearest Fairbanks North Star Borough by population are Anchorage Municipality (289,069 residents, median tax $4,865 on a median value of $375,900); Matanuska-Susitna Borough (110,677 residents, median tax $3,512 on a median value of $319,200); Kenai Peninsula Borough (59,843 residents, median tax $1,974 on a median value of $297,500); Juneau City and Borough (31,969 residents, median tax $4,039 on a median value of $432,500). The spread in their median bills — all under the same state framework — shows how much of the property tax burden is decided county by county and district by district.

How the tax is worked out

Think of the final bill as three ingredients: the assessed value of the property, the exemptions subtracted from it, and the combined rate of every district the property sits in. Fairbanks North Star Borough's medians imply a derived rate of 1.26%; applied illustratively, a $400,000 home would owe about $5,056 a year, or around $421 a month spread evenly. Individual properties depart from the illustration in both directions.

Illustrative bills in Fairbanks North Star Borough at the derived rate

The derived rate of 1.26% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Fairbanks North Star Borough — and a quick way to compare with the state derived rate of 1.14% and the US figure of 0.98%:

Illustration only: real bills are computed from the assessed value, exemptions, and the combined rates of the property's actual taxing districts.

Checking your assessment in Fairbanks North Star Borough

If your bill looks wrong, work through these steps:

1. Get your property record card from the assessor and check the basics — living area, lot size, bedrooms, condition, and any exemptions you should have.
2. Compare your assessed value with recent sale prices of similar homes in Fairbanks North Star Borough.
3. Talk to the assessor's office informally first; clear errors are often fixed without a hearing.
4. If needed, file a formal appeal with the local review board before the deadline on your assessment notice, with your evidence attached.
5. Keep paying the bill as issued while the appeal runs, unless your notice says otherwise — unpaid taxes accrue penalties regardless of an appeal.

More Alaska counties

• Matanuska-Susitna Borough, AK — $3,512
• Kenai Peninsula Borough, AK — $1,974
• Juneau City and Borough, AK — $4,039
• Ketchikan Gateway Borough, AK — $2,588
• Kodiak Island Borough, AK — $3,509
• North Slope Borough, AK — $2,082

Frequently asked questions