Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY-SA 4.0Fairbanks has higher unemployment (5.7%) than 71% of U.S. towns
A typical one-way commute from Fairbanks lasts 15 minutes (Alaska 19, U.S. 26). Jobs and income earn Fairbanks C+; getting around on foot earns it A. Home is the office for 5% of workers, where Alaska as a whole has 10%.
Census ACS 2020–24, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs & income in Fairbanks: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fairbanks is better than 42% of U.S. towns, #21 of 41 in Alaska. The poverty rate holds Fairbanks’ grade up (8.7%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fairbanks could be anywhere from C to B.
The daily trip from Fairbanks: about 15 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fairbanks workers work from home, vs 10% across Alaska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 16,081 commuters (the 5% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Fairbanks
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fairbanks is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns, #9 of 41 in Alaska. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 13.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 9.9% across Alaska, on an EPA index of 7.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 16,987 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 8.0% of Fairbanks households have no vehicle (Alaska 9.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Fairbanks’ commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 22,000 to 42,000, Fairbanks ranks 1,006th of 1,334 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 916 | Juneau AK | 31,609 | $102K | 8.9% | 4.0% | — | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,004 | Landover MD | 24,514 | $72K | 19.5% | 6.7% | 2% | C+ |
| 1,005 | Hastings NE | 25,121 | $64K | 14.8% | 2.9% | 55% | C+ |
| 1,006 | Fairbanks AK | 31,468 | $74K | 8.7% | 5.7% | — | C+ |
| 1,007 | Seaside CA | 31,636 | $85K | 16.0% | 5.9% | 10% | C+ |
| 1,008 | Bay Point CA | 24,231 | $83K | 14.4% | 10.1% | 3% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,334 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 16% | D− |
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 Fairbanks, 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 Fairbanks: questions
What is the median household income in Fairbanks?
$73,534 (±$4,373) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $92,788 across Alaska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fairbanks?
8.7%, against 10.1% across Alaska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fairbanks?
15 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Alaska and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Is Fairbanks walkable?
Fairbanks is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 14% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fairbanks without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fairbanks, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fairbanks
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.