Photo: Andrei from New York City/Juneau, U.S.A. · CC BY 2.0More people are out of work in Utqiaġvik (9.0%) than in 92% of U.S. towns
Household incomes here are higher than in 86% of U.S. towns. Utqiaġvik grades C for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Commuters spend 10 minutes getting to work on average; Alaska averages 19, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The figures behind Utqiaġvik’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Utqiaġvik is better than 29% of U.S. towns, #31 of 41 in Alaska. Household income holds Utqiaġvik’s grade up ($115,313, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 3% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Utqiaġvik could be anywhere from D to B−.
About 10 minutes each way for Utqiaġvik’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Utqiaġvik workers work from home, vs 10% across Alaska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,888 commuters (the 7% 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.
The commute in Utqiaġvik is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Utqiaġvik is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns, #17 of 41 in Alaska. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 13.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 9.9% across Alaska, on an EPA index of 5.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,038 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). 25.8% of Utqiaġvik households have no vehicle (Alaska 9.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Utqiaġvik’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Utqiaġvik ranks: 2,951st of 4,009 U.S. towns of 3,200 to 6,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 586 | Steele Creek AK | 5,928 | $121K | 3.3% | 0.5% | — | A |
| … | |||||||
| 864 | Farmers Loop AK | 4,954 | $110K | 1.8% | 2.8% | — | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,604 | Goldstream AK | 3,294 | $104K | 4.7% | 3.7% | — | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,949 | Dover-Foxcroft ME | 4,463 | $63K | 15.1% | 2.7% | 35% | C |
| 2,950 | Cambria CA | 5,978 | $99K | 10.5% | 8.3% | 35% | C |
| 2,951 | Utqiaġvik AK | 4,640 | $115K | 11.0% | 9.0% | — | C |
| 2,952 | Cornelia GA | 5,459 | $40K | 30.3% | 2.2% | 14% | C |
| 2,953 | Rural Hall NC | 3,607 | $51K | 9.4% | 12.5% | 3% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,009 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Utqiaġvik, 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 Utqiaġvik: questions
What is the median household income in Utqiaġvik?
$115,313 (±$47,177) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $92,788 across Alaska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Utqiaġvik?
11.0%, against 10.1% across Alaska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Utqiaġvik?
10 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Alaska and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Is Utqiaġvik walkable?
Utqiaġvik is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 5.8 out of 20, and 13% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Utqiaġvik without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 26% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Utqiaġvik, from the people who make the trip.
More of Utqiaġvik
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.