Homer, Alaska.
Typical home $430,112 (+7.6% in a year), asking rent $1,912 .
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,174 (+108%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $30,420 +8%
- $399,692$430,112 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $79,403 +23%
- $350,709$430,112 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Homer$2,258
- Alaska$2,089
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 17 years.
Typical home values in Homer, AK rose 7.6% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Homer, Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska
Homer is a city of 5,522 people in Kenai Peninsula Borough. Half its households earn more than $74,449 a year and half less, against $80,538 across Kenai Peninsula Borough; 12% of its people live below the poverty line. 66% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 34% are rented. Unemployment in Kenai Peninsula Borough was 3.4% in August 2026, and the county had 1.2% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then shops.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Homer is a small city in the Kenai Peninsula Borough, on the shore of Kachemak Bay. Most homes are lived in by their owners, and incomes run somewhat below the borough's, while typical home values and rents sit well above what many older homeowners elsewhere might expect. Winters are cold and summers stay cool, with highs in July that never get truly hot, and the year brings a moderate amount of rain and melted snow.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by shops, transport and warehouses, and restaurants and hotels. South Peninsula Hospital, Land's End Management and Safeway are among the largest workplaces in Homer. Unemployment across the borough has been low and has eased slightly over the past year, and the daily commute is short.
Things to do. The Pratt Museum is in or beside town and is a good first stop. A short drive away is Yukon Island Main Site, an archaeological site. Kachemak Bay State Park, a protected area, and the Anchor River are both a longer drive away, for those who want time outdoors.
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- 2,552households
- 40%of adults have a degree
- 12%below the poverty line
- 12 mintypical commute
- 11%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Kenai Peninsula Borough had 21,722 jobs in 2025, 1.2% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 32° and lows near 19°; warmest in July, with highs near 63° and lows near 49°. About 24 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Homer Airport weather station, under a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Homer
- South Peninsula HospitalCritical access hospital448FTE
- Land's End ManagementResort hotels without casinos100
- SafewaySupermarkets and other grocery stores95
- U.s. Fish and Wildlife ServiceFederal government · Department of the Interior44
- Builders FirstSourceOther building material dealers40
- State of Alaska26
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 4 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 261 people in all. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and federal offices from OPM's federal workforce data (2026); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- AvalanchesVery high
- EarthquakesVery high
- Winter weatherVery high
- TsunamisRelatively high
- WildfireRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Homer’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Kenai Peninsula Borough.
Homer home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Homer$430,112
- Alaska$397,932
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 5 Homer listings — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Homer21.66%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Homer74
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Homer14
Zip codes with a Homer address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Homer — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.