Racial diversity in Alaska is a mixed bag.
There are parts of Alaska where there’s a high level of diversity. But where will you find the most diverse places in Alaska?
To answer that question, we went to the US Census data. Using Saturday Night Science, we measured the Gini coefficient for all 11 cities in Alaska to rank them from most to least diverse.
#1 most diverse in Alaska
Located in
Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska
Kodiak is one of seven communities and the main city on Kodiak Island, Kodiak Island Borough, in the U.S. state of Alaska. All commercial transportation between the entire island and the outside world goes through this city either via ferryboat or airline. The population was 6,130 as of the 2010 census. 2014 estimates put the population at 6,304.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#2 most diverse in Alaska
Located in
Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska
Ketchikan is a city in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska, United States, the southeasternmost city in Alaska. With a population at the 2010 census of 8,050, it is the fifth-most populous city in the state, and tenth-most populous community when census-designated places are included.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#3 most diverse in Alaska
Located in
Anchorage Municipality, Alaska
Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the U.S. state of Alaska. With an estimated 298,192 residents in 2016, it is Alaska’s most populous city and contains more than 40 percent of the state’s total population; among the 50 states, only New York has a higher percentage of residents who live in its most populous city. All together, the Anchorage metropolitan area, which combines Anchorage with the neighboring Matanuska-Susitna Borough, had a population of 401,635 in 2016, which accounts for more than half of the state’s population.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#4 most diverse in Alaska
Located in
Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska
Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#5 most diverse in Alaska
Located in
Sitka City and Borough, Alaska
The City and Borough of Sitka, formerly Novo-Arkhangelsk, or New Archangel under Russian rule, is a unified city-borough located on Baranof Island and the southern half of Chichagof Island in the Alexander Archipelago of the Pacific Ocean, in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2010 census, the population was 8,881. In terms of land area, it is the largest city-borough in the U.S., with a land area of 2,870.3 square miles and a total area of 4,811.4 square miles ; however, it is the smallest of Alaska’s boroughs. Urban Sitka, the part that is usually thought of as the “city” of Sitka, is on the west side of Baranof Island.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#6 most diverse in Alaska
Located in
Juneau City and Borough, Alaska
The City and Borough of Juneau, commonly known as Juneau, is the capital city of Alaska. It is a unified municipality located on the Gastineau Channel in the Alaskan panhandle, and it is the second largest city in the United States by area. Juneau has been the capital of Alaska since 1906, when the government of what was then the District of Alaska was moved from Sitka as dictated by the U.S. Congress in 1900. The municipality unified on July 1, 1970, when the city of Juneau merged with the city of Douglas and the surrounding Greater Juneau Borough to form the current municipality, which is larger by area than both Rhode Island and Delaware.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#7 most diverse in Alaska
Located in
Bethel Census Area, Alaska
Bethel is a city located near the west coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, approximately 400 miles west of Anchorage, in the Bethel Census Area. Accessible only by air and river, Bethel is the main port on the Kuskokwim River and is an administrative and transportation hub for the 56 villages in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#8 most diverse in Alaska
Located in
Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska
Kenai is a city in the Kenai Peninsula Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. The population was 7,100 as of the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#9 most diverse in Alaska
Located in
Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska
Palmer is a city in and the borough seat of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is part of the Anchorage Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city is 5,937.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#10 most diverse in Alaska
Located in
Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska
Wasilla is a city in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, United States and the sixth-largest city in Alaska. It is located on the northern point of Cook Inlet in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley of the southcentral part of the state. The city’s population was 7,831 at the 2010 census. Estimates in 2013 put the population at roughly 8,621. Wasilla is the largest city in the borough and a part of the Anchorage metropolitan area, which had an estimated population of 396,142 in 2013.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Alaska’s statewide median.
On the map
Where diversity lives in Alaska
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we determined the most diverse cities in Alaska for 2026
We still believe in the accuracy of data — especially from the Census — and Saturday Night Science. So that’s where we went to get the race breakdown across Alaska.
That leads us to the Census’s most recently available data, the 2020-2024 American Community Survey data from the US Census.
Specifically, we looked at table B03002: HISPANIC OR LATINO ORIGIN BY RACE. Here are the category names as defined by the Census:
- White alone*
- Black or African American alone*
- American Indian and Alaska Native alone*
- Asian alone*
- Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone*
- Some other race alone*
- Two or more races*
- Hispanic or Latino
We limited our analysis to non-CDPs with a population greater than 5,000 people. That left us with 11 cities.
We then calculated the HHI for each city by finding the racial breakdown of a city in percent terms, squaring them, and then adding the squares together. This left us with scores ranging from 2,998 (Kodiak) to 5,755 (Homer).
Finally, we ranked each city based on the HHI, with a lower score being more diverse than a high score. Kodiak took the distinction of being the most diverse, while Homer was the least diverse city.
We updated this article for 2026. This report is our eleventh time ranking the most diverse places in Alaska.
The full plate
Race By City In Alaska For 2026
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | HHI | % White | % Black | % Hispanic | % Asian |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kodiak | 5,447 | 2,998 | 30.0% | 0.1% | 10.4% | 43.3% |
| 2 | Ketchikan | 8,078 | 3,302 | 52.0% | 0.7% | 6.1% | 13.9% |
| 3 | Anchorage | 288,976 | 3,321 | 54.2% | 4.8% | 9.5% | 9.8% |
| 4 | Fairbanks | 32,083 | 3,428 | 55.0% | 8.2% | 11.3% | 4.2% |
| 5 | Sitka | 8,368 | 3,772 | 57.6% | 0.3% | 6.9% | 8.3% |
| 6 | Juneau | 31,794 | 4,125 | 61.4% | 0.6% | 7.1% | 7.2% |
| 7 | Bethel | 6,312 | 4,522 | 20.0% | 3.0% | 3.6% | 2.8% |
| 8 | Kenai | 7,641 | 5,072 | 69.2% | 0.9% | 7.8% | 3.4% |
| 9 | Palmer | 6,268 | 5,215 | 70.9% | 2.0% | 6.7% | 1.6% |
| 10 | Wasilla | 9,720 | 5,265 | 71.0% | 2.5% | 5.1% | 1.9% |
| 11 | Homer | 5,877 | 5,755 | 74.8% | 0.3% | 6.8% | 2.3% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 11 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
Summary: Diversity Across Alaska
If you’re looking for a scientific breakdown of diversity across Alaska, this is an accurate list.
The most diverse cities in Alaska are Kodiak, Ketchikan, Anchorage, Fairbanks, Sitka, Juneau, Bethel, Kenai, Palmer, and Wasilla.
