Photo: Christopher Michel from San Francisco, USA · CC BY 2.0Households in Skagway have higher incomes than those in 67% of U.S. towns
6.2% of residents live below the poverty line, against 10.1% across Alaska. Skagway grades B− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. The trip to work takes 5 minutes on average, against 19 across Alaska and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The figures behind Skagway’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Skagway is better than 47% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Skagway’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 3% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (9.3%) is left out: Skagway’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, Skagway could be anywhere from C− to B+.
From Skagway, about 5 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 1.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Skagway workers work from home, vs 10% across Alaska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 657 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.
Skagway is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Skagway is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 49.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 9.9% across Alaska, on an EPA index of 6.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 689 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). 11.2% of Skagway households have no vehicle (Alaska 9.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Skagway’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600, Skagway ranks 1,610th of 4,312 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,375 | Diamond Ridge AK | 1,329 | $88K | 3.9% | 2.3% | — | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,485 | Sutton-Alpine AK | 1,598 | $75K | 3.2% | 9.0% | — | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,586 | Lazy Mountain AK | 1,459 | $102K | 7.4% | 6.2% | — | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,608 | Mullett Township MI | 1,233 | $83K | 5.2% | 7.3% | 1% | B− |
| 1,609 | Comfort Township MN | 1,264 | $91K | 7.2% | 3.5% | 1% | B− |
| 1,610 | Skagway AK | 1,174 | $89K | 6.2% | 9.3% | — | B− |
| 1,611 | Catawba SC | 1,071 | $60K | 11.5% | 13.8% | 2% | B− |
| 1,612 | Jordan NY | 1,194 | $77K | 13.8% | 2.8% | 2% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Skagway, 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 Skagway: questions
What is the median household income in Skagway?
$89,028 (±$17,854) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $92,788 across Alaska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Skagway?
6.2%, against 10.1% across Alaska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Skagway?
5 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Alaska and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Is Skagway walkable?
Skagway is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 49% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Skagway without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Skagway, from the people who make the trip.
More of Skagway
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.