Creek Street Historic District · Photo: Jerzystrzelecki · CC BY 3.0Household incomes in Ketchikan are higher than in 62% of U.S. towns
The poverty rate is 11.2%, against 10.1% across Alaska. Ketchikan grades B− for jobs and income and A for walkability. Commuters spend 11 minutes getting to work on average, where Alaska has 19 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How Ketchikan earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ketchikan is better than 46% of U.S. towns, #18 of 41 in Alaska. Household income holds Ketchikan’s grade up ($85,275, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 30% of U.S. towns). It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ketchikan could be anywhere from C to B+.
Time on the road from Ketchikan: about 11 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ketchikan workers work from home, vs 10% across Alaska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,933 commuters (the 6% 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.
In Ketchikan, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ketchikan is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns, #4 of 41 in Alaska. Both inputs place Ketchikan near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,164 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 28% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 14.8% of Ketchikan households have no vehicle (Alaska 9.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Ketchikan’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Ketchikan is 1,825th among 2,981 U.S. towns of 5,600 to 10,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 595 | Steele Creek AK | 5,928 | $121K | 3.3% | 0.5% | — | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,066 | Gateway AK | 6,845 | $138K | 4.5% | 3.8% | — | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,473 | Chena Ridge AK | 5,881 | $134K | 2.8% | 7.3% | — | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,823 | Rensselaer NY | 9,421 | $70K | 17.9% | 4.6% | 5% | B− |
| 1,824 | Cambria Township PA | 5,672 | $73K | 5.1% | 6.2% | 15% | B− |
| 1,825 | Ketchikan AK | 7,939 | $85K | 11.2% | 4.0% | — | B− |
| 1,826 | Wilmington IL | 5,614 | $66K | 11.5% | 4.7% | 10% | B− |
| 1,827 | Walker LA | 6,476 | $81K | 12.5% | 6.8% | 6% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,981 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Ketchikan, 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 Ketchikan: questions
What is the median household income in Ketchikan?
$85,275 (±$8,300) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $92,788 across Alaska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ketchikan?
11.2%, against 10.1% across Alaska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ketchikan?
11 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Alaska and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Is Ketchikan walkable?
Ketchikan is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.7 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ketchikan without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ketchikan, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ketchikan
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.