Like all states, Alaska has certain places that are going on hard times. These Alaska places have an above-average percentage of people living in poverty, out of work, or not making as much as they should be.
Even as the economy continues to improve, it’s worthwhile to look at the places in each state struggling to make ends meet. So we set our sites on locating the poorest places in Alaska.
To do so, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the newest Census data from the American Community Survey for the 21 cities in Alaska with more than 2,000 people.
$56,280 median income · 16.4% poverty · #1 lowest income in Alaska
Soldotna, unfortunately, ranks as the poorest place in Alaska thanks to combination of low pay and and a lack of jobs.
The city of 4,485 people averages the lowest median household income in Alaska and the 2nd highest poverty rate. At the very least, the cost of living ranks in the bottom 15% of place in the state, so things like housing are relatively affordable.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$67,234 median income · 17.5% poverty · #3 lowest income in Alaska
Located in
Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska
The second poorest city in Alaska is Wasilla.
The city ranks as having the highest incidence of poverty and 3rd lowest median household income. However, the unemployment rate ‘only’ ranks as the 7th highest in the Last Frontier.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$63,750 median income · 12.1% poverty · #2 lowest income in Alaska
Placing as the third poorest city, Wrangell’s median income ranks as the 2nd lowest.
And that’s a sign that there’s a relatively substantial jump in the quality of the economy from second to third place on our list. The poverty rate is 12.1% and ranks near the bottom of places in the state.
But what makes up for the relatively low incomes of the city is its low cost of living. The income you do make here goes further than in most parts of the Last Frontier.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$72,201 median income · 13.0% poverty · #4 lowest income in Alaska
Located in
Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska
Palmer ranks as the fourth poorest place in Alaska.
The town ranks as having the 4th lowest median household income and the 5th highest incidence of poverty in the state.
That being said, there’s still a ton of cultural diversity in the city as it hosts many events throughout the year.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$74,449 median income · 11.8% poverty · #6 lowest income in Alaska
Located in
Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska
The fifth poorest city in Alaska is Homer.
The city ranks as having the 6th lowest median income in the state. However, an extremely low cost of living prevents a good number of folks from living in poverty as the poverty rate only ranks as the 7th highest in Alaska.
Still not the best news for Homer.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$87,083 median income · 13.2% poverty · #10 lowest income in Alaska
Located in
Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska
Kenai ranks as the sixth poorest place in the Last Frontier.
It ranks as having the 4th highest incidence of poverty and the 8th highest unemployment rate.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$85,275 median income · 11.2% poverty · #8 lowest income in Alaska
Located in
Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska
Ketchikan places as the seventh poorest city in Alaska.
The city of over 8,078 ranks as having the 9th highest incidence of poverty in the state. However, it has a very low cost of living which helps to pay the bills each month.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$73,534 median income · 8.7% poverty · #5 lowest income in Alaska
Located in
Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska
Fairbanks ranks as the eighth poorest city in Alaska.
The big issue for the town is the unemployment rate which ranks as one of the highest in the state.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers | Compare
$110,357 median income · 14.4% poverty · #18 lowest income in Alaska
Kotzebue couldn’t stay out of the top ten poorest places in Alaska; it ranks number 9.
While the median income is the 18th lowest, there are a substantial number of people that live below the poverty line. Overall, Kotzebue ranks as having the 3rd most people living in poverty of all the places we analyzed in Alaska.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$85,481 median income · 9.3% poverty · #9 lowest income in Alaska
And rounding out the top ten poorest cities in Alaska is Seward.
The city of 2,794 people ranks in the bottom 20% for both median income and poverty rate in the Last Frontier.
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.
Alaska statewide median: $92,788
Alaska statewide median: 10.1%
On the map
Where poverty hits hardest in Alaska
Saturday Night Science
How we determined the poorest places in Alaska for 2026
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the poorest places is to simply the poverty rate. That is, the number of people living below a federally established level of income for a household of a certain size.
However, we don’t think that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “poorest places”. So we used Saturday Night Science to look at this set of criteria from the newly released 2020-2024 American Community Survey:
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income
After we collected the data for all 21 places with more than 2,000 people in Alaska, we ranked each place from 1 to 21 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the poorest.
We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Poor Score” with the place having the lowest overall Poor Score, Soldotna, crowned the “Poorest Place In Alaska For 2026”. The median Alaska home is 40 years old — old enough that it pays to compare home warranty plans before something expensive breaks.
The full plate
Detailed list of the poorest places to live in Alaska
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Poor Score | Population | Median income | Poverty | Unemployment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Soldotna | 1.50 | 4,485 | $56,280 | 16.4% | 5.9% |
| 2 | Wasilla | 2.00 | 9,720 | $67,234 | 17.5% | 8.2% |
| 3 | Wrangell | 4.00 | 2,088 | $63,750 | 12.1% | 4.3% |
| 4 | Palmer | 4.50 | 6,268 | $72,201 | 13.0% | 6.9% |
| 5 | Homer | 6.50 | 5,877 | $74,449 | 11.8% | 8.7% |
| 6 | Kenai | 7.00 | 7,641 | $87,083 | 13.2% | 7.4% |
| 7 | Ketchikan | 8.50 | 8,078 | $85,275 | 11.2% | 4.0% |
| 8 | Fairbanks | 10.50 | 32,083 | $73,534 | 8.7% | 5.7% |
| 9 | Kotzebue | 10.50 | 2,984 | $110,357 | 14.4% | 6.2% |
| 10 | Seward | 10.50 | 2,794 | $85,481 | 9.3% | 2.3% |
| 11 | Dillingham | 12.00 | 2,109 | $101,200 | 11.1% | 6.1% |
| 12 | Bethel | 14.00 | 6,312 | $117,255 | 11.6% | 8.3% |
| 13 | Kodiak | 14.00 | 5,447 | $90,292 | 7.5% | 8.3% |
| 14 | Cordova | 14.00 | 2,453 | $85,132 | 2.9% | 8.4% |
| 15 | Juneau | 14.50 | 31,794 | $101,661 | 8.9% | 4.0% |
| 16 | Anchorage | 15.00 | 288,976 | $103,284 | 8.9% | 4.6% |
| 17 | Unalaska | 16.00 | 4,556 | $131,964 | 9.6% | 4.3% |
| 18 | Valdez | 16.00 | 3,847 | $99,271 | 5.8% | 10.1% |
| 19 | North Pole | 16.00 | 2,370 | $92,273 | 4.9% | 4.6% |
| 20 | Sitka | 17.00 | 8,368 | $101,727 | 7.5% | 6.8% |
| 21 | Nome | 17.00 | 3,653 | $113,646 | 8.8% | 9.0% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 21 cities with more than 2,000 residents.
Summary
The poorest cities in Alaska for 2026
Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the poorest places in Alaska, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Alaska.
When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very bottom of the income ladder for everyone that lives there. Not sold on Alaska? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
