Household incomes in Sterling top those of 79% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Sterling are B− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. Below the poverty line: 4.6% of residents, where Alaska as a whole has 10.1%. A typical one-way commute lasts 30 minutes, against 19 across Alaska and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Sterling
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sterling is better than 51% of U.S. towns, #10 of 41 in Alaska. The poverty rate holds Sterling’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 2% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sterling could be anywhere from C− to A−.
Getting to work from Sterling takes about 30 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sterling workers work from home, vs 10% across Alaska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,224 commuters (the 15% 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 of Sterling commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sterling is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns, #25 of 41 in Alaska. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 9.9% across Alaska, on an EPA index of 5.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,603 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). 4.4% of Sterling households have no vehicle (Alaska 9.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Sterling’s commuters take a bus or train.
Sterling is 1,827th of 3,349 U.S. towns of 4,400 to 8,500 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 567 | Steele Creek AK | 5,928 | $121K | 3.3% | 0.5% | — | A |
| … | |||||||
| 821 | Farmers Loop AK | 4,954 | $110K | 1.8% | 2.8% | — | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,110 | Gateway AK | 6,845 | $138K | 4.5% | 3.8% | — | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,825 | Paris ME | 5,409 | $75K | 12.5% | 1.5% | 17% | B− |
| 1,826 | Beekmantown NY | 5,396 | $87K | 12.8% | 2.4% | 10% | B− |
| 1,827 | Sterling AK | 6,323 | $102K | 4.6% | 5.0% | — | B− |
| 1,828 | Kenneth City FL | 4,868 | $49K | 13.8% | 2.8% | 1% | B− |
| 1,829 | Berlin MD | 5,335 | $81K | 18.9% | 2.1% | 14% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,349 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Sterling, 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 Sterling: questions
What is the median household income in Sterling?
$102,415 (±$26,142) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $92,788 across Alaska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sterling?
4.6%, against 10.1% across Alaska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sterling?
30 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Alaska and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Is Sterling walkable?
Sterling is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 5.1 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sterling without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sterling, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sterling
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.