Anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE) has gained attention as an attractive alternative to alkaline and proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) due to its high efficiency and low hydrogen unit cost. Here, a new design strategy is presented for aryl ether-free PFPBPF-QA anion exchange membranes with interstitial alkyl chains in the conducting groups and polymer backbone. The rationally designed PFPBPF-4-QA, with a suitable ion exchange capacity, shows high ionic conductivity, mechanical properties, alkaline stability, and stronger membrane-ionomer contact properties at the catalyst layers. A single AEMWE cell using PFPBPF-4-QA demonstrated a voltage decay rate of 2 mV kh−1 at 1.0 A cm−2, which is significantly lower than that reported for AEMWEs and Nafion-based PEMWEs.