Chief Shakes Historic Site · Photo: James Crippen · CC BY 2.5Households in Wrangell have lower incomes than those in 68% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Wrangell is better than 14% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (B+). 12.1% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 10.1% for Alaska as a whole. The trip to work takes 9 minutes on average, against 19 across Alaska and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Wrangell
The poverty rate holds Wrangell’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (4.3%) is left out: Wrangell’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, Wrangell could be anywhere from D to C.
Time on the road from Wrangell: about 9 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 2.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wrangell workers work from home, vs 10% across Alaska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 716 commuters (the 13% 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.
In Wrangell, the car does most of the work
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 18.8% 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 826 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). 8.7% of Wrangell households have no vehicle (Alaska 9.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Wrangell’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700, Wrangell ranks 4,385th of 5,509 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,263 | Prudhoe Bay AK | 1,664 | — | 6.3% | 1.2% | — | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,630 | North Pole AK | 2,477 | $92K | 4.9% | 4.6% | — | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,764 | Bear Creek AK | 1,732 | $96K | 3.1% | 6.7% | — | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,383 | Fawn Creek Township KS | 1,784 | $65K | 15.9% | 2.0% | 1% | D |
| 4,384 | Carlisle-Rockledge AL | 1,993 | $60K | 21.7% | 12.8% | 1% | D |
| 4,385 | Wrangell AK | 2,007 | $64K | 12.1% | 4.3% | — | D |
| 4,386 | Woodbine IA | 1,705 | $51K | 12.6% | 4.0% | 17% | D |
| 4,387 | Cambridge Springs PA | 2,361 | $54K | 18.2% | 7.3% | 5% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 61% | 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 Wrangell, 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 Wrangell: questions
What is the median household income in Wrangell?
$63,750 (±$10,597) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $92,788 across Alaska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wrangell?
12.1%, against 10.1% across Alaska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wrangell?
9 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Alaska and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Is Wrangell walkable?
Wrangell is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 5.8 out of 20, and 19% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wrangell without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wrangell, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wrangell
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.