mat-su rents jumped 13 percent

and that's the fastest jump in the whole state.

The state labor department put out its yearly rent numbers, and the Valley came in at thirteen percent in a single year. Statewide, the middle of the market moved two point six.

So the Valley didn't just lead. It lapped everybody. Nobody else in Alaska was even in the same conversation.

And this is where it stops making sense. The Valley has also been leading the state in new home building. Alaska hit a ten year high for new construction last year, and a big share of that went up out in the Valley.

Build the most, and rents still climb the fastest. That's backwards from how it's supposed to work.

The report doesn't say why. It just lays the two numbers next to each other and leaves them there.

And a thirteen percent year doesn't land on you as a headline. It lands as a lease renewal in the mailbox, with a number on it you read twice. Wasilla, Palmer, Big Lake, it's the same envelope.

For a family already driving into Anchorage for work, that's the math that decides whether the commute is still worth it.

I'm breaking down what a thirteen percent year actually does to a Valley household budget in Thursday's newsletter, and the link is down below.