Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
38% more library visits per person than the typical Alaska town.
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 96% of U.S. communities, with earthquakes at the top. Overall it grades C+, ranked 20th of 41 in Alaska. Its weakest subject is incomes: the median household income is $87K, and 13% of residents live below the poverty line. Kenai’s July high is 63°F, below both Alaska’s towns (66°F) and U.S. towns (85°F). Kenai's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) is stronger than in 91% of U.S. towns. Among 15 Alaska towns, just 1 have a lower typical home value than Kenai.
Where Kenai beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Church of the Assumption of the Virgin MaryEach subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Alaska), ordered by how far Kenai is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is a National Historic Landmark, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 44 in 1880, 7,424 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1894 and 2 maps from 1951 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Kenai, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 30, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Kenai.
Kenai fares better on crime within Alaska than nationally, has cooler summers than nearly all U.S. towns and is healthy by national standards but behind most towns in Alaska.
One flood insurance claim has been paid in Kenai since 1995.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Its public schools are run by the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District. Three of its 7 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Kenai Central High School, with 525 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mt. View ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 449 | B− |
| Kenai Central High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 525 | B+ |
| Aurora Borealis Charter SchoolTop results in townGrades K–8 | Grades K–8 | 199 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within AK on state tests and graduation
3.6 miles of trail in 6 parks and preserves. Among 41 Alaska towns, just 4 have a lower trail density than Kenai. The biggest park or preserve is Kenai Municipal Park, at 31 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Kenai Municipal Park | 0.5 mi | 31 |
| 2. Softball Greenstrip | — | 12 |
| 3. Kenai River Flats | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
July afternoons average 63.3°, cooler than in 100% of U.S. towns; January nights average 7.4°.
Kenai has cold winters and cool summers, with very little rain. Kenai’s January low is 7°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Within Alaska it is less healthy than 67% of the 41 graded towns: Alaska sets a high bar.
Kenai beats the Alaska average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 4. 63% of Kenai adults had a checkup this year.
| Kenai | Alaska towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 63% | 68% | 79% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 15% | 14% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 17% | 16% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 35% | 36% |
| What stands out | Kenai | AK |
|---|---|---|
| More adults who have had cancer | 7.8% | 7% |
| Fewer women getting mammograms | 58.6% | 66% |
| Fewer adults getting a yearly checkup | 63.4% | 68.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The median property tax bill is $1,631, against $3,901 across Alaska, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
The typical Kenai home is worth about $328,000, up 6.1% in a year, 17% below the Alaska typical home. The median rent in Kenai is $1,138 a month.
| Kenai | Alaska towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,138 a month | $1,412 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 70% | 68% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
At 20.9 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 59% of Alaska’s graded towns.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Alaska average. Kenai has grown 6.8% since 2020, to 7,924 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 28% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 32% across Alaska.
| Kenai | Alaska towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 34.4 years | 37 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 25% | 24% | 22% |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3 points. Across Alaska, 47.5% of residents are women. Median age: women 34.2, men 34.7.
| Kenai | AK | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 11.2% | 13.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 13.4% | 10.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9.9% | 9.2% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 17% | 15.4% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13% | 14.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.8% | 11.3% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 10.2% | 11.9% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 8.3% | 9.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 4.2% | 4.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 3.9% | 6.4% | 10.4% |
| High school | 40.8% | 28.9% | 26% |
| Some college | 20.9% | 24% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 6.3% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 19.6% | 19.8% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 8.5% | 11.8% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
1 within 15 miles of the center of Kenai
About 2 of every 100 Kenai residents are enrolled in college, against 5 across Alaska.
4 notable people were born in Kenai.
City in Alaska, United States
Kenai (, KEE-ny; Dena'ina: Shk'ituk't; Russian: Кенай, romanized: Kenay) is a city in the Kenai Peninsula Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. By road, it is 158 miles southwest of Anchorage. The population was 7,424 as of the 2020 census, up from 7,100 in 2010, the seventh-most populated city in the state.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Kenai.
| Town | AK rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kenai | #20 | C+ | B− | C+ | B+ | B |
| Kalifornsky | #17 | B− | C+ | — | B+ | A− |
| Ridgeway | — | — | C+ | — | B+ | B |
| Salamatof | — | — | B | — | B+ | B− |
Ridgeway and Salamatof have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Kalifornsky, Ridgeway and Salamatof report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Kenai with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Kenai grades C+ overall, better than 43% of U.S. towns and #20 of 41 in Alaska. It grades B for health, C+ for safety and B+ for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D−.
That is 4.1 years of the area's median household income ($80,538 across the county). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
4 notable people were born here, including Allie Ostrander and C. E. Murphy.
