Richest Cities In Alaska [2023]: Rankings By Income And Home Prices

Valdez, Unalaska, Cordova: 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.

Valdez in particular houses the richest residents in the state thanks, in part, to a median household income of $99,151 and a ridiculously low poverty rate of 4.396442185514611%.

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 2017-2021 American Community Survey for the 21 places in Alaska with more than 2,000 people.

Here are the 10 richest places in Alaska for 2023:

For more on how we calculated the top ten, read on or skip to the end for the full list of the richest cities in Alaska.

Rich people not your cup of tea? Feel free to check out some more reading about Alaska:

The 10 Richest Cities In Alaska For 2023

1. Valdez

Source: Wikipedia User Joseph from Cabin On The | CC BY-SA 2.0

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 3,966
Rank Last Year: 2 (Up 1)
Median Income: $99,151
Unemployment Rate: 4.3%
Poverty Rate: 4.4%
More on Valdez: Real Estate | Photos

2. Unalaska

Source: Public domain

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 4,339
Rank Last Year: 3 (Up 1)
Median Income: $94,271
Unemployment Rate: 4.2%
Poverty Rate: 6.5%
More on Unalaska: Real Estate | Photos

3. Cordova

Source: Wikipedia User FlickreviewR 2 | CC BY 2.0

Overall SnackAbility

9
/10

Population: 2,588
Rank Last Year: 1 (Down 2)
Median Income: $77,667
Unemployment Rate: 0.9%
Poverty Rate: 1.7%
More on Cordova: Real Estate | Photos

4. North Pole

Source: Wikipedia User Dylan Avery | CC BY-SA 4.0

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 2,825
Rank Last Year: 8 (Up 4)
Median Income: $83,524
Unemployment Rate: 3.2%
Poverty Rate: 5.2%
More on North Pole: Real Estate | Photos

5. Juneau

Source: Wikipedia User Mark Hogan | CC BY-SA 2.0

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 32,240
Rank Last Year: 4 (Down 1)
Median Income: $90,126
Unemployment Rate: 5.1%
Poverty Rate: 7.2%
More on Juneau: Real Estate | Photos

6. Sitka

Source: Wikipedia User | CC BY-SA 2.0

Overall SnackAbility

7.5
/10

Population: 8,518
Rank Last Year: 5 (Down 1)
Median Income: $82,083
Unemployment Rate: 5.4%
Poverty Rate: 6.9%
More on Sitka: Real Estate | Photos

7. Anchorage

Source: Wikipedia User Frank K. from Anchorage, | CC BY 2.0

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 292,545
Rank Last Year: 6 (Down 1)
Median Income: $88,871
Unemployment Rate: 5.4%
Poverty Rate: 9.1%
More on Anchorage: Real Estate | Photos

8. Kodiak

Source: Wikipedia User Katie Walker | CC BY 2.0

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 5,682
Rank Last Year: 9 (Up 1)
Median Income: $67,391
Unemployment Rate: 5.1%
Poverty Rate: 9.0%
More on Kodiak: Real Estate | Photos

9. Kotzebue

Source: Public domain

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 3,199
Rank Last Year: 11 (Up 2)
Median Income: $95,385
Unemployment Rate: 5.8%
Poverty Rate: 14.8%
More on Kotzebue: Real Estate | Photos

10. Nome

Source: Wikipedia User ra64 from nome, usa | CC BY-SA 2.0

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 3,685
Rank Last Year: 10 (No Change)
Median Income: $91,375
Unemployment Rate: 10.7%
Poverty Rate: 7.3%
More on Nome: Real Estate | Photos

Methodology: How We Determined The Richest Places In Alaska For 2023

The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the richest places is to simply identify personal incomes. After all, rich people have really high salaries.

However, we don’t believe that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “richest places”. So we looked at this set of criteria from the newly released 2017-2021 American Community Survey:

Poverty Level
Median Household Income
Unemployment Rate

Best Places To Live In Alaska

Median household income is the most digestible way to understand how rich a place really is. The unemployment rate tries to capture the prospects for more people to become rich. If more people are employed, the richer the future looks.

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 richest.

We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Rich Score” with the place having the lowest overall Rich Score, Valdez, crowned the “Richest City In Alaska For 2023”. You can download the data here.

You can learn more about the top ten below or skip to the end to see the rankings for all 21 places.

Summary: The Wealthiest Places In Alaska For 2023

Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the richest 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 top of the income ladder for everyone that lives there.

If you’re curious enough, here are the poorest cities in Alaska, according to data:

Poorest: Wasilla
2nd Poorest: Soldotna
3rd Poorest: Palmer

For more Alaska reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Richest Cities In Alaska

Rank	City	RichScore	Median Income
1	Valdez	2.67	$99,151
2	Unalaska	3.67	$94,271
3	Cordova	4.33	$77,667
4	North Pole	4.33	$83,524
5	Juneau	5.67	$90,126
6	Sitka	7.67	$82,083
7	Anchorage	8.0	$88,871
8	Kodiak	9.67	$67,391
9	Kotzebue	10.67	$95,385
10	Nome	11.0	$91,375
11	Dillingham	11.67	$82,604
12	Bethel	11.67	$100,168
13	Seward	12.0	$75,050
14	Fairbanks	13.33	$66,572
15	Ketchikan	13.33	$68,125
16	Wrangell	14.67	$54,891
17	Homer	16.33	$63,854
18	Kenai	17.0	$70,732
19	Palmer	17.0	$62,068
20	Soldotna	17.67	$60,833
21	Wasilla	18.67	$62,292

Download The Entire Alaska Ranking Data

How Is The Area In ?

Editor’s Note: Data has been updated for 2023. This is our tenth time ranking the richest cities in Alaska.