Unalaska, Sitka, Juneau: These cities aren’t just some of the best places to live in Alaska. They are also home to some of the richest people in the Last Frontier.
Unalaska in particular houses the richest residents in the state thanks, in part, to a median household income of $131,964 and a ridiculously low poverty rate of 9.6%.
If you’re thinking of moving to one of these towns, you’ll probably need to start saving. The richest places in Alaska share common characteristics such as having a genius level populous, sky high home prices, and a Pleasantville level of married couples.
How did we come up with these mega wealthy cities? We analyzed Census data from the 2020-2024 American Community Survey for the 21 places in Alaska with more than 2,000 people.
$131,964 median income · 9.6% poverty · #1 income in Alaska
Unalaska is the largest city of the Aleutian Islands. The city is in the Aleutians West Census Area, a regional component of the Unorganized Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Unalaska is located on Unalaska Island and neighboring Amaknak Island in the Aleutian Islands off mainland Alaska. The population was 4,376 at the 2010 census, which is 79% of the entire Aleutians West Census Area. Unalaska is the second largest city in the Unorganized Borough, behind Bethel.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$101,727 median income · 7.5% poverty · #6 income 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
$101,661 median income · 8.9% poverty · #7 income 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
$117,255 median income · 11.6% poverty · #2 income 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
$103,284 median income · 8.9% poverty · #5 income 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
$113,646 median income · 8.8% poverty · #3 income in Alaska
Nome is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. The city is located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. In 2014 the population was estimated at 3,788, a rise from the 3,598 recorded in the 2010 Census. Nome was incorporated on April 9, 1901, and was once the most-populous city in Alaska. Nome lies within the region of the Bering Straits Native Corporation, which is headquartered in Nome. The city of Nome claims to be home to the world’s largest gold pan, although this claim has been disputed by the Canadian city of Quesnel, British Columbia.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$90,292 median income · 7.5% poverty · #11 income 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
$85,275 median income · 11.2% poverty · #14 income 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
$110,357 median income · 14.4% poverty · #4 income in Alaska
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$101,200 median income · 11.1% poverty · #8 income in Alaska
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: $387,636
Alaska statewide median: 10.1%
On the map
Where the money lives in Alaska
Saturday Night Science
How we determined the richest places in Alaska for 2026
The first thing most people reach for is personal income. After all, rich people have really high salaries. But one statistic doesn’t capture what it means to be one of the “richest places,” so we applied Saturday Night Science to two measures from the 2020-2024 American Community Survey:
- Median household income
- Median home value
Median household income is the most digestible way to understand how rich a place is, and home values are a measure of accumulated wealth. The two combine to define a “Rich City.”
After collecting the data for all 21 places in Alaska with more than 2,000 people, we ranked each place from 1 to 21 on both criteria, then averaged the two ranks into a “Rich Score.” The place with the lowest Rich Score, Unalaska, is crowned the richest city in Alaska for 2026.
The full plate
All 21 richest cities in Alaska, ranked
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Rich Score | Population | Median income | Median home value | Poverty | Unemployment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Unalaska | 1.00 | 4,556 | $131,964 | $507,914 | 9.6% | 4.3% |
| 2 | Sitka | 4.00 | 8,368 | $101,727 | $492,286 | 7.5% | 6.8% |
| 3 | Juneau | 5.00 | 31,794 | $101,661 | $470,456 | 8.9% | 4.0% |
| 4 | Bethel | 6.00 | 6,312 | $117,255 | $395,654 | 11.6% | 8.3% |
| 5 | Anchorage | 6.50 | 288,976 | $103,284 | $410,782 | 8.9% | 4.6% |
| 6 | Nome | 7.00 | 3,653 | $113,646 | $392,029 | 8.8% | 9.0% |
| 7 | Kodiak | 7.50 | 5,447 | $90,292 | $437,300 | 7.5% | 8.3% |
| 8 | Ketchikan | 11.50 | 8,078 | $85,275 | $397,251 | 11.2% | 4.0% |
| 9 | Kotzebue | 11.50 | 2,984 | $110,357 | $316,787 | 14.4% | 6.2% |
| 10 | Dillingham | 11.50 | 2,109 | $101,200 | $338,206 | 11.1% | 6.1% |
| 11 | Palmer | 11.50 | 6,268 | $72,201 | $429,396 | 13.0% | 6.9% |
| 12 | Homer | 11.50 | 5,877 | $74,449 | $415,050 | 11.8% | 8.7% |
| 13 | Seward | 12.50 | 2,794 | $85,481 | $381,100 | 9.3% | 2.3% |
| 14 | Valdez | 12.50 | 3,847 | $99,271 | $336,643 | 5.8% | 10.1% |
| 15 | Wasilla | 12.50 | 9,720 | $67,234 | $416,650 | 17.5% | 8.2% |
| 16 | North Pole | 13.50 | 2,370 | $92,273 | $324,190 | 4.9% | 4.6% |
| 17 | Cordova | 14.00 | 2,453 | $85,132 | $364,254 | 2.9% | 8.4% |
| 18 | Kenai | 15.00 | 7,641 | $87,083 | $319,496 | 13.2% | 7.4% |
| 19 | Soldotna | 17.50 | 4,485 | $56,280 | $356,405 | 16.4% | 5.9% |
| 20 | Fairbanks | 19.00 | 32,083 | $73,534 | $296,929 | 8.7% | 5.7% |
| 21 | Wrangell | 20.00 | 2,088 | $63,750 | $304,373 | 12.1% | 4.3% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024, Zillow research. 21 cities with more than 2,000 residents.
Unalaska is the richest place in Alaska for 2026
When we set out to identify the richest places in Alaska, we weren’t sure what we’d find, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in the state. The richest cities in Alaska are Unalaska, Sitka, and Juneau, and when you look at the data they sit at the very top of the income ladder for everyone who lives there.
Breaking into the top ten takes a median household income of at least $85,275. If you’re curious about the other end of the ledger, the poorest places are listed to the right.
