Oscar Gill House · Photo: 61north · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Anchorage earn more than those in 79% of U.S. towns
Working residents average 19 minutes each way (Alaska 19, U.S. 26). The poverty rate is 8.9%; Alaska has 10.1%. For jobs and income Anchorage is better than 70% of U.S. towns (B+); for walkability it is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (A).
Census ACS 2020–24, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs & income in Anchorage: the grade in detail
Household income holds Anchorage’s grade up ($103,284, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (4.6%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
The Alaska figures include the city itself, home to 39% of the state’s residents, so the city and state figures are partly the same people.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Anchorage could be anywhere from B to A−.
About 19 minutes to work from Anchorage
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Anchorage workers work from home, vs 10% across Alaska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 132,951 commuters (the 11% who work from home are left out). Across Alaska: 72% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Anchorage is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 149,225 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 62% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 22% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 5.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 85% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 5.9% of Anchorage households have no vehicle (Alaska 9.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Anchorage’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
Among U.S. towns of 201,000 to 388,000, Anchorage ranks 20th of 83 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Hempstead NY | 238,982 | $158K | 4.5% | 4.1% | 20% | A |
| 2 | Oyster Bay NY | 301,115 | $160K | 3.9% | 4.6% | 19% | A |
| 3 | Frisco TX | 236,955 | $150K | 3.6% | 4.6% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Sioux Falls SD | 213,748 | $76K | 9.6% | 2.5% | 81% | B+ |
| 19 | Santa Ana CA | 315,586 | $94K | 10.8% | 4.8% | 18% | B+ |
| 20 | Anchorage AK | 287,155 | $103K | 8.9% | 4.6% | — | B+ |
| 21 | Chesapeake VA | 255,332 | $95K | 9.4% | 4.9% | 31% | B+ |
| 22 | Boise City ID | 238,429 | $84K | 10.6% | 3.6% | 62% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 83 | Cleveland OH | 363,608 | $41K | 30.6% | 10.8% | 42% | C− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Anchorage, the top three, the last and three more from Alaska.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Anchorage: questions
What is the median household income in Anchorage?
$103,284 (±$2,702) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $92,788 across Alaska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Anchorage?
8.9%, against 10.1% across Alaska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Anchorage?
19 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Alaska and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Is Anchorage walkable?
Anchorage is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 10.1 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Anchorage without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 22% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Anchorage, from the people who make the trip.
More of Anchorage
Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.