Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 2,892, settled in 1895. 6.6 times the library visits per person than the typical Alaska town.
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 96% of U.S. communities, with avalanches at the top. Overall it grades B−, ranked 16th of 41 in Alaska. CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 87% of the country and it is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns. Its weakest subject is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $397K, 4.9 years of the county’s $81K median household income. Seward’s July high is 62°F, below both Alaska’s towns (66°F) and U.S. towns (85°F). Seward's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) is stronger than in 100% of U.S. towns. Seward has 10 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Diversion Tunnel and Swetman House.
Where Seward beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
23% of the town is conserved land, across 3 parks and preserves.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Alaska), ordered by how far Seward is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 534 in 1910, 2,717 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1855 and 2 maps from 1950 on.
10 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Seward. Close and well known come first.
5 mi National ParkKenai Fjords National Park425K visitors a year
in town Zoo & aquariumAlaska SeaLife Center
25 mi National forestChugach National ForestKenai Fjords National Park: Unknown, Public domain · Alaska SeaLife Center: Me, Public domain · Chugach National Forest: Frank Kovalchek from Anchorage, Alaska, USA, CC BY 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Seward, 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 Seward.
Seward is among the three healthiest towns in Alaska, gets more snow than nearly all U.S. towns and fares better on crime within Alaska than nationally.
One flood insurance claim has been paid in Seward since 2012.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Its public schools are run by the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| William H. Seward Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 205 | B |
| Seward High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 173 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within AK on state tests and graduation
It ranks #3 of the 41 Alaska towns we grade on the CDC estimates behind the Health Grade.
7.2% of Seward adults have diabetes. Among 41 Alaska towns, just 2 have a lower share of adults who have obesity than Seward. 19% of Seward adults have been diagnosed with depression.
| Seward | Alaska towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 61% | 68% | 79% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 17% | 16% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 7.2% | 8.8% | 12% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 21% | 23% |
| What stands out | Seward | AK |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with diabetes | 7.2% | 9.4% |
| Fewer adults with COPD | 4.9% | 6.1% |
| More binge drinkers | 21.1% | 17.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
11 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Waterfront Park, at 35 acres.
| Seward | Alaska towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 23% | 14% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Two Lakes Park | 1 mi | 26 |
| 2. Waterfront Park | 0.1 mi | 35 |
| 3. Waterfront Park Playground | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The Seward 19n weather station, 16 miles away, records that 90 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 96% of U.S. towns. July afternoons average 62.2°, cooler than in 100% of U.S. towns; January nights average 21.1°.
Seward has chilly, snowy winters and cool summers, with plenty of rain. Seward’s January low is 21°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
At 25.6 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 53% of Alaska’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 53 to 32 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The violent crime rate in Seward is 2.1 per 1,000 residents.
| Seward | Alaska towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.1 per 1,000 residents | 3.5 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 8.9 per 1,000 residents | 9.3 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
88.2% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 44.6% across Alaska.
Typical home values rose 8.8% in the year to September 2026.
| Seward | Alaska towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,132 a month | $1,412 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 69% | 69% | 73% |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
None within 15 miles of Seward; the nearest are
About 7 of every 100 Seward residents are enrolled in college, against 5 across Alaska.
10 places in Seward on the National Register of Historic Places.
3 notable people were born in Seward.
City in Alaska, United States
Seward (Alutiiq: Qutalleq; Dena'ina: Tl'ubugh) is an incorporated home rule city in Alaska, United States. Located on Resurrection Bay, a fjord of the Gulf of Alaska on the Kenai Peninsula, Seward is situated on Alaska's southern coast, approximately 120 miles (190 km) by road from Alaska's largest city, Anchorage. With a population of 2,717 people as of the 2020 census, Seward is the fourth-largest city in the Kenai Peninsula Borough, behind Kenai, Homer, and the borough seat of Soldotna. The city is named for former United States Secretary of State William H. Seward, who orchestrated the United States' purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire in 1867 while serving in this position as pa…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Seward.
| Town | AK rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seward | #16 | B− | C− | C+ | B+ | A |
| Bear Creek | — | — | D | — | B+ | A− |
Bear Creek has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Bear Creek reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Seward with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Seward grades B− overall, better than 48% of U.S. towns and #16 of 41 in Alaska. It grades A for health, C+ for safety and B+ for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D−.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
3 notable people were born here, including Chad Bentz and Robert Erwin.
