Fewer people are out of work in Prudhoe Bay (1.2%) than in 93% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 5% of workers, next to 10% for Alaska as a whole. Prudhoe Bay grades B+ for jobs and income and B− for walkability. The trip to work takes 23 minutes 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
Inside Prudhoe Bay’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Prudhoe Bay is better than 68% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Prudhoe Bay’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 22% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Prudhoe Bay could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
Each way, about 23 minutes from Prudhoe Bay
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Prudhoe Bay workers work from home, vs 10% across Alaska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,510 commuters (the 5% 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.
Most trips from Prudhoe Bay start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Prudhoe Bay is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 50.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 9.9% across Alaska, on an EPA index of 3.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,591 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.
Prudhoe Bay is 1,123rd of 5,381 U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,200 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,121 | Highland Township PA | 1,281 | $97K | 8.8% | 6.0% | 6% | B+ |
| 1,122 | McMillan WI | 2,085 | $113K | 3.6% | 4.7% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,123 | Prudhoe Bay AK | 1,664 | — | 6.3% | 1.2% | — | B+ |
| 1,124 | Sea Ranch CA | 1,287 | $139K | 3.0% | 3.5% | 5% | B+ |
| 1,125 | Penhook VA | 1,250 | $109K | 0.4% | 1.3% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,600 | Bear Creek AK | 1,732 | $96K | 3.1% | 6.7% | — | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,802 | Kodiak Station AK | 1,823 | $84K | 3.2% | 0.0% | — | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,914 | Diamond Ridge AK | 1,329 | $88K | 3.9% | 2.3% | — | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,381 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Prudhoe 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 Prudhoe Bay: questions
What is the poverty rate in Prudhoe Bay?
6.3%, against 10.1% across Alaska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Prudhoe Bay?
23 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Alaska and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Is Prudhoe Bay walkable?
Prudhoe Bay is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 3.0 out of 20, and 50% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Prudhoe Bay, from the people who make the trip.
More of Prudhoe 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.