Photo: Beeblebrox · CC BY-SA 4.0More people are out of work in Nikiski (6.1%) than in 75% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Nikiski is behind 65% of U.S. towns. Nikiski grades D for jobs and income and C for walkability. Working from home is the commute for <1% of workers (Alaska 10%).
Census ACS 2020–24, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Nikiski’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Nikiski is better than 14% of U.S. towns, #39 of 41 in Alaska. Household income holds Nikiski’s grade up ($65,863, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 8% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Nikiski could be anywhere from D− to B−.
Each way, about 28 minutes from Nikiski
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Nikiski workers work from home, vs 10% across Alaska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,479 commuters (the <1% 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.
Nikiski is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Nikiski is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns, #30 of 41 in Alaska. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 9.9% across Alaska, on an EPA index of 4.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,480 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). 1.2% of Nikiski households have no vehicle (Alaska 9.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Nikiski’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,867 U.S. towns of 3,300 to 6,400, Nikiski comes 3,414th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 579 | Steele Creek AK | 5,928 | $121K | 3.3% | 0.5% | — | A |
| … | |||||||
| 849 | Farmers Loop AK | 4,954 | $110K | 1.8% | 2.8% | — | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,570 | Mill Bay AK | 3,654 | $89K | 9.0% | 0.0% | — | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,412 | Aztec NM | 6,091 | $42K | 25.9% | 4.5% | 16% | D |
| 3,413 | Oxford NY | 3,562 | $61K | 18.5% | 5.3% | 6% | D |
| 3,414 | Nikiski AK | 4,773 | $66K | 15.9% | 6.1% | — | D |
| 3,415 | Holtville CA | 5,591 | $65K | 18.7% | 9.4% | 16% | D |
| 3,416 | Dublin TX | 3,400 | $53K | 32.3% | 4.1% | 7% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,867 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Nikiski, 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 Nikiski: questions
What is the median household income in Nikiski?
$65,863 (±$12,169) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $92,788 across Alaska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Nikiski?
15.9%, against 10.1% across Alaska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Nikiski?
28 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Alaska and 26 nationally. <1% of workers work from home.
Is Nikiski walkable?
Nikiski is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 4.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Nikiski without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Nikiski, from the people who make the trip.
More of Nikiski
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.