Most Native American places in Alaska research summary. We used Saturday Night Science to research the Alaska cities with the highest percentage of Native American residents for 2026. The data comes from the American Community Survey 2020-2024 vintage, which breaks down race by origin.
The city with the highest percentage of Native Americans is Bethel. 63.58% of people in Bethel are Native Americans.
The city with the lowest percentage of Native Americans is Kenai. 4.82% of people in Kenai are Native American.
The city with the most Native Americans is Anchorage. 20,177 people in Anchorage are Native American.
The city with the fewest Native Americans is Kodiak. 293 people in Kodiak are Native American.
The United States has 1,698,432 Native Americans and is 0.51% Native American.
Which city in Alaska had the largest Native American population? The place with the largest Native American population in Alaska for 2026 is Bethel. 63.58% of Bethel identify as Native American.
63.6% Native American · 4,013 Native American residents
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
14.7% Native American · 1,188 Native American residents
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
9.5% Native American · 924 Native American residents
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
8.4% Native American · 2,706 Native American residents
Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska.
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8.4% Native American · 2,668 Native American residents
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.
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7.6% Native American · 633 Native American residents
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
7.4% Native American · 465 Native American residents
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
7.0% Native American · 20,177 Native American residents
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.
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5.4% Native American · 293 Native American residents
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
4.8% Native American · 368 Native American residents
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
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Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Alaska’s statewide median.
On the map
Where Alaska’s Native American population is concentrated
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How We Determined The Cities In Alaska With The Largest Native American Population For 2026
We still believe in the accuracy of data — especially from the Census. So that’s where we went to get the race breakdown across Alaska.
We used Saturday Night Science to analyze the Census’s most recently available data, the 2020-2024 American Community Survey data.
Specifically, we looked at table B03002: Hispanic OR LATINO ORIGIN BY RACE. Here are the category names as defined by the Census:
- Hispanic or Latino
- 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
Our particular column of interest here was the number of people identifying as American Indian and Alaska Native alone.
We limited our analysis to places with a population greater than 5,000 people. That left us with 10 cities.
We then calculated the percentage of residents that are American Indian and Alaska Native. The percentages ranked from 63.58 to 4.82.
Finally, we ranked each city based on the percentage of the American Indian and Alaska Native population, with a higher score being more American Indian and Alaska Native than a lower score. Bethel took the distinction of being the most American Indian and Alaska Native, while Kenai was the least Native American city.
We updated this article for 2026. This article is our eleventh time ranking the cities in Alaska with the largest Native American population.
The full plate
Most Native American Places In Alaska
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Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024, table B03002. 10 Alaska cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
Summary: Native American Populations Across Alaska
If you’re looking for a breakdown of Native American populations across Alaska according to the most recent data, this is an accurate list.
The most Native American cities in Alaska are Bethel, Ketchikan, Wasilla, Fairbanks, Juneau, Sitka, Palmer, Anchorage, Kodiak, and Kenai. Not sold on Alaska? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.