Photo: Thester11 · CC BY 3.0Households in Hooper Bay earn less than those in 88% of U.S. towns
22.7% of residents are in poverty, next to 10.1% for Alaska as a whole. Hooper Bay grades D− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. At home: 18% of workers have no commute at all (Alaska 10%).
Census ACS 2020–24, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs & income in Hooper Bay: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Hooper Bay is better than 2% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Hooper Bay’s grade.
Unemployment (14.3%) is left out: Hooper Bay’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Hooper Bay could be anywhere from D− to D.
The trip to work from Hooper Bay: about 5 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 1.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hooper Bay workers work from home, vs 10% across Alaska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 213 commuters (the 18% 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.
Hooper Bay is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hooper Bay is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 39.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 9.9% across Alaska, on an EPA index of 6.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 260 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). 89.3% of Hooper Bay households have no vehicle (Alaska 9.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Hooper Bay’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800, and where Hooper Bay sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,011 | Prudhoe Bay AK | 1,664 | — | 6.3% | 1.2% | — | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,457 | Bear Creek AK | 1,732 | $96K | 3.1% | 6.7% | — | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,765 | Diamond Ridge AK | 1,329 | $88K | 3.9% | 2.3% | — | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,171 | Hays MT | 1,009 | $52K | 23.7% | 21.1% | 39% | D− |
| 5,172 | Buffalo SC | 1,329 | $22K | 50.5% | 12.8% | 1% | D− |
| 5,173 | Hooper Bay AK | 1,297 | $50K | 22.7% | 14.3% | — | D− |
| 5,174 | Kamiah ID | 1,134 | $36K | 17.5% | 4.6% | 32% | D− |
| 5,175 | Whitesburg KY | 1,609 | $29K | 37.5% | 11.1% | 32% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Hooper Bay, 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 Hooper Bay: questions
What is the median household income in Hooper Bay?
$49,688 (±$18,120) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $92,788 across Alaska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hooper Bay?
22.7%, against 10.1% across Alaska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hooper Bay?
5 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Alaska and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Is Hooper Bay walkable?
Hooper Bay is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and 39% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hooper Bay without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 89% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hooper Bay, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hooper Bay
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.