Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,598. Public schools that outperform most of Alaska.
The best of Sutton-Alpine’s subject grades are an A for cost of living and an A− for schools; the weakest is a D for hazard risk. Sutton-Alpine’s average trip to work is 37 minutes, against 21 minutes in Alaska’s towns and 25 minutes across U.S. towns. Only 2 of Alaska’s 65 towns score higher on cost of living. 63% of the land in Sutton-Alpine is conserved, against 15% in Alaska’s towns and 4.3% across U.S. towns. Matanuska Valley State Moose Range, at 22,203 acres with 11.4 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Sutton-Alpine has 1 place on the National Register. Sutton-Alpine has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Sutton-Alpine beats most towns.
1,447 counted in 2010 and 1,038 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Alaska), ordered by how far Sutton-Alpine is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 14 in 1940, a low of 14 in 1940, 1,038 in 2020. The archive holds 17 old photos and papers going back to 1968 and 3 maps from 1951 on.
Explore the history →Sutton-Alpine is unincorporated, so Matanuska-Susitna Borough and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 30, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Sutton-Alpine.
15 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Matanuska Valley State Moose Range | 11.4 mi | 22,203 |
| 2. Alpine Historical Park | — | 5 |
| 3. Moose Creek Park and Campground | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sutton ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 54 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within AK on state tests and graduation
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 80% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
17% of Sutton-Alpine adults report frequent physical distress. No town among the 42 in Alaska we compare has a higher share of adults who say their health is fair or poor than Sutton-Alpine. 14% of Sutton-Alpine adults binge drink.
| Sutton-Alpine | Alaska towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 18% | 16% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 16% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 13% | 14% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 74% | 68% | 79% |
| What stands out | Sutton-Alpine | AK |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer binge drinkers | 13.6% | 17.6% |
| More adults getting a yearly checkup | 74% | 68.8% |
| More adults with COPD | 9.5% | 6.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Sutton-Alpine has cold, snowy winters and cool summers, with very little rain. The July high in Sutton-Alpine is 69°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
1 within 15 miles of the center of Sutton-Alpine
About 4 of every 100 Sutton-Alpine residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Alaska.
63.3% of the town is conserved land, across 3 parks and preserves.
Census-designated place in Alaska, United States
Sutton (Ahtna: Ts'es Tac'ilaexde; Dena'ina: Ts'es Tuk'ilaght) is a census-designated place (CDP) in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. At the 2020 census the population was 1,038, down from 1,447 in 2010. The CDP includes the former coal mining community and road construction camp of Sutton, as well as the former mining camps of Eska and Jonesville.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Sutton-Alpine.
| Town | AK rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sutton-Alpine | — | — | A | — | A− | C |
| Chickaloon | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Buffalo Soapstone | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Sutton-Alpine has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Sutton-Alpine reports no FBI crime data of its own. Chickaloon and Buffalo Soapstone aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Sutton-Alpine with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Public schools that outperform most of Alaska.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A.