Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0North Pole’s household incomes are higher than in 70% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 4.9% of residents, next to 10.1% for Alaska as a whole. The two grades for North Pole are B for jobs and income and B for walkability. For 2% of workers, the job is at home, where Alaska as a whole has 10%.
Census ACS 2020–24, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Why North Pole gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, North Pole is better than 61% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds North Pole’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 19% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (4.6%) is left out: North Pole’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, North Pole could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
North Pole’s commute takes about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of North Pole workers work from home, vs 10% across Alaska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,039 commuters (the 2% 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.
Getting around North Pole: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, North Pole is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place North Pole 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 1,055 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). 2.7% of North Pole households have no vehicle (Alaska 9.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of North Pole’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,703rd of 5,207: where North Pole ranks among U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,642 | Goldstream AK | 3,294 | $104K | 4.7% | 3.7% | — | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,701 | Morris CT | 2,300 | $109K | 6.8% | 8.2% | 5% | B |
| 1,702 | Jefferson Township OH | 1,791 | $74K | 4.4% | 3.6% | 6% | B |
| 1,703 | North Pole AK | 2,477 | $92K | 4.9% | 4.6% | — | B |
| 1,704 | Troy NH | 2,198 | $89K | 4.1% | 4.6% | 5% | B |
| 1,705 | Dunham Township OH | 2,503 | $71K | 5.9% | 0.5% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,836 | Bear Creek AK | 1,732 | $96K | 3.1% | 6.7% | — | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,076 | Kodiak Station AK | 1,823 | $84K | 3.2% | 0.0% | — | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,207 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 North Pole, 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 North Pole: questions
What is the median household income in North Pole?
$92,273 (±$12,066) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $92,788 across Alaska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in North Pole?
4.9%, against 10.1% across Alaska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from North Pole?
24 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Alaska and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Is North Pole walkable?
North Pole is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around North Pole without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from North Pole, from the people who make the trip.
More of North Pole
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.