Photo: Sir Mildred Pierce, from North Augusta, South Carolina, USA · CC BY 2.0Unemployment in Nome (9.0%) is higher than in 92% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Nome is better than 33% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (A). Measured by household income, Nome is ahead of 85% of U.S. towns. The average commute takes 6 minutes each way, where Alaska has 19 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The figures behind Nome’s Jobs & income grade
Household income holds Nome’s grade up ($113,646, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 4% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Nome could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Commuting from Nome: about 6 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Nome workers work from home, vs 10% across Alaska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,574 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Nome
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 26.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 9.9% across Alaska, on an EPA index of 8.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,673 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). 24.4% of Nome households have no vehicle (Alaska 9.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Nome’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Nome ranks: 2,874th of 4,210 U.S. towns of 2,600 to 4,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,567 | Goldstream AK | 3,294 | $104K | 4.7% | 3.7% | — | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,579 | Mill Bay AK | 3,654 | $89K | 9.0% | 0.0% | — | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,929 | Butte AK | 4,085 | $101K | 6.7% | 3.6% | — | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,872 | Lick Township OH | 2,652 | $46K | 18.4% | 0.0% | 5% | C |
| 2,873 | Guerneville CA | 4,100 | $81K | 10.0% | 7.3% | 13% | C |
| 2,874 | Nome AK | 3,653 | $114K | 8.8% | 9.0% | — | C |
| 2,875 | Blanchard LA | 3,360 | $75K | 12.5% | 8.5% | 2% | C |
| 2,876 | Dayton OR | 2,647 | $91K | 13.7% | 10.7% | 2% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,210 | 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 Nome, 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 Nome: questions
What is the median household income in Nome?
$113,646 (±$13,810) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $92,788 across Alaska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Nome?
8.8%, against 10.1% across Alaska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Nome?
6 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Alaska and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Is Nome walkable?
Nome is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 26% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Nome without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 24% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Nome, from the people who make the trip.
More of Nome
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.