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Place dossier plate
SheetAK-BETHEL-AK · Bethel, AK 6,313 pop · income 83rd pct · 3 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Bethel
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Bethel on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Waupaca · lowest
52,586
Waupaca · lowest
52,586 median HH income
37.4% of the leader · rank #1
Plymouth Meet… · near
109,706
Plymouth Meet… · near
109,706 median HH income
78.0% of the leader · rank #2
Bethel · this city
109,718
Bethel · this city
109,718 median HH income
78.0% of the leader · rank #3
South Monrovi… · near
109,730
South Monrovi… · near
109,730 median HH income
78.0% of the leader · rank #4
World Golf · near
109,731
World Golf · near
109,731 median HH income
78.0% of the leader · rank #5
Tarrytown · near
109,732
Tarrytown · near
109,732 median HH income
78.0% of the leader · rank #6
Chena Ridge · highest
140,722
Chena Ridge · highest
140,722 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Bethel on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 6,313.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Bethel - the verdict
Nationally, Bethel sits in the 83rd percentile for household income and the 8th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
83rd
percentile, household income
72nd
percentile, home value
70th
percentile, median rent
8th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Bethel, AK
6,313 people live in Bethel, Alaska - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Bethel brings in $109,718 a year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 9.0%. Bethel's housing stock carries a median value of $354,400, and the median resident age is 30.9 years. 20.1% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 61.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 152 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 794% from five years earlier. Bethel's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 3901.3 crimes per 100,000 residents, above the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 31.4°F with 19.7 inches of precipitation per year and 64.0 inches of snowfall.
Alaska tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Alaska at 102.4 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Near Average). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,467 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Alaska run around $271, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 35.2 out of 100 (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Bethel's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from within-city variation to climate and hazard context to population change to schools and households to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to housing and income to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Bethel, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, annual population history.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can 3 Census tracts reveal inside Bethel?
PlainCities matches 3 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 31.4°F, with 19.7 inches of precipitation and 64.0 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Alaska is 35.2 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +293 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +4.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 152 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Which cities make useful reference points for Bethel?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Alaska, the closest population matches are Palmer (6,141 residents, $70,550 income); South Lakes (6,132 residents, $89,632 income); Chena Ridge (5,927 residents, $140,722 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Orange City, IA (6,312 residents); Waupaca, WI (6,314 residents); Hampstead, MD (6,311 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Bethel?
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 6 public schools within the city match. 20.1% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Poverty estimate
9.0%
Bachelor's degree+
20.1%
Matched public schools
6
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in Bethel?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 39.7%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Drive alone
39.7%
Work from home
9.2%
Public transit
0.5%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 2,764 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Bethel?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 9.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
3.2×
Home value
$354,400
Household income
$109,718
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Bethel?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3901.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 71% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
Total reported rate
3901.3
Violent rate
1656.1
Property rate
2245.2
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Household income A-
$109,718
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate D
9.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
20.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Cost of living F
102.4 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime F
1,656 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bethel profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 81/100 (A-) · $109,718
Poverty rate: 44/100 (D) · 9.0%
Bachelor's+ share: 35/100 (F) · 20.1%
Cost of living: 29/100 (F) · 102.4 index
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 1,656 /100k
Where Bethel sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Bethel's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Bethel highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Bethel, AK (this city): home $354,400, crime 3,901/100k
Orange City, IA : home $245,300, crime 233/100k
Waupaca, WI : home $177,600, crime 1,732/100k
Hampstead, MD : home $305,400, crime 978/100k
Lyman, SC : home $239,800, crime 959/100k
Palmer, AK : home $275,900, crime 1,102/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Bethel compare to other US cities?
Where Bethel sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income83% higher than other cities
Home value72% pricier than other cities
Median rent70% pricier than other cities
Safety8% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Alaska and the picture shifts: Bethel ranks #22 of 23 Alaska cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Bethel against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Alaska only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Alaska-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Bethel near the bottom of Alaska's cities
Among the 228 Alaska cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Bethel ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Bethel only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#14 of 215
93rd percentile in Alaska
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 228
0th percentile in Alaska
Median Home Value
#23 of 200
89th percentile in Alaska
Poverty Rate
#117 of 225
48th percentile in Alaska
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#95 of 228
58th percentile in Alaska
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Alaska only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
83rd percentile nationally for median household income · 8th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Bethel's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Bethel's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Bethel's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$354,40028th percentilemore affordable than 28% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Bethel's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,830 of 15,516
More affordable than 50% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,447 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.2×, Bethel sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,830 of 15,516 and #6,447 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$109,718Bethel, AK median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Bethel, AK median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Bethel, AK.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)20.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)9.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)61.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
6,313
Median Income
$109,718
Median Home Value
$354,400
Median Age
30.9
Poverty Rate
9.0%
Labor force participation
61.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
20.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3901.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
1656.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2245.2
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Climate
Avg Temperature
31.4°F
Annual Precipitation
19.7"
Annual Snowfall
64.0"
Schools
Total Schools
6
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Bethel's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
6,333 residents
2021
6,343 residents
2022
6,269 residents
2023
6,258 residents
2024
6,357 residents
2025
6,626 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
152
housing units authorized
Single-Family
9
detached homes
Multifamily
143
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
24.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
17
8
9
$3.7M
2020
15
11
4
$4.0M
2021
20
8
12
$4.2M
2022
14
7
7
$3.5M
2023
45
5
40
$7.8M
2024
152
9
143
$30.0M
Permit volume increased 794% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
39.7%
Carpool
20.2%
Public Transit
0.5%
Walk
18.2%
Work from Home
9.2%
Other
12.2%
Based on 2,764 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Alaska statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $271
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Alaska at $271 (electricity about $131 , water and sewer about $45 ).
These are Alaska statewide averages, not a meter reading for Bethel. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Alaska's BEA cost-of-living index is 102.4 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Bethel is $1,467/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Alaska statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 35.2 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Alaska statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Bethel sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Bethel compares to similar-size Alaska cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.