Nome, AK

Perched on the edge of the Bering Sea on Alaska's Seward Peninsula, Nome is a remote coastal town with a storied past and a close-knit community. Home to around 3,700 residents, the city blends deep Iñupiat heritage with lively Gold Rush history, and every March it hosts the famous finish of the Iditarod sled dog race. Getting to Nome requires a flight since no highways connect it to the rest of the state, and large shipments of groceries and goods arrive by cargo barge during the ice-free summer months.

As the main regional hub for western Alaska, Nome offers more amenities than you might expect from an isolated town. Families and professionals have access to local public schools, a regional hospital, and a branch campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, along with grocery stores and local diners. Three gravel roads branch out from town into the open tundra, giving residents hundreds of miles of wilderness to explore for fishing, hiking, and berry picking. The subarctic winters bring plenty of snow and wind, but neighbors look out for one another year-round.