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Place dossier plate
SheetAK-COLD-BAY-AK · Cold Bay, AK 153 pop · income 84th pct
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 Cold Bay
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Cold Bay on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Vidette · lowest
24,070
Vidette · lowest
24,070 median HH income
21.4% of the leader · rank #1
Redington Bea… · near
112,250
Redington Bea… · near
112,250 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #2
Lake Holiday · near
112,250
Lake Holiday · near
112,250 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #3
Terryville · near
112,262
Terryville · near
112,262 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #4
Cold Bay · this city
112,273
Cold Bay · this city
112,273 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #5
Queen Anne · highest
112,292
Queen Anne · highest
112,292 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Cold Bay on ACS population and median household income
. 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: 153.
Cold Bay ranks in the 84th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
84th
percentile, household income
70th
percentile, median rent
📝 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: Cold Bay, AK
153 people live in Cold Bay, Alaska - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Cold Bay households earn a median of $112,273 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. The median resident age is 35.9 years. 60.0% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 64.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
NOAA puts Cold Bay's yearly average temperature at 39.3°F with 42.7 inches of precipitation per year and 67.3 inches of snowfall.
Alaska tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Alaska scores 102.4 (Near Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,467 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $271 across Alaska, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 35.2 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Cold Bay'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 population change to climate and hazard context to work and mobility to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Cold Bay, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Population change
Is Cold Bay growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +1 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.9% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 39.3°F, with 42.7 inches of precipitation and 67.3 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.
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.
What does the journey to work look like in Cold Bay?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 36.6%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for Cold Bay?
Within Alaska, the closest population matches are Kaktovik (153 residents, $88,750 income); Port Lions (151 residents, $51,111 income); Dry Creek (147 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Oak Shores, CA (153 residents); Vidette, GA (153 residents); Unity, IL (153 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.
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.
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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share A+
60.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income A-
$112,273
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); 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 N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Cold Bay profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Bachelor's+ share: 92/100 (A+) · 60.0%
Household income: 82/100 (A-) · $112,273
Cost of living: 29/100 (F) · 102.4 index
How does Cold Bay compare to other US cities?
Here's how Cold Bay stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income84% higher than other cities
Median rent70% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Cold Bay 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 Cold Bay near the bottom of Alaska's cities
Among the 228 Alaska cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Cold Bay ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Cold Bay only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#11 of 215
95th percentile in Alaska
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 228
0th percentile in Alaska
Poverty Rate
#190 of 225
0th percentile in Alaska
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#3 of 228
99th 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
84th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$112,273Cold Bay, AK median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Cold Bay, 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 Cold Bay, AK.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)60.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)64.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
153
Median Income
$112,273
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
35.9
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
64.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
60.0%
Climate
Avg Temperature
39.3°F
Annual Precipitation
42.7"
Annual Snowfall
67.3"
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Cold Bay's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
53 residents
2021
53 residents
2022
53 residents
2023
54 residents
2024
55 residents
2025
54 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
36.6%
Carpool
16.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
36.6%
Work from Home
4.0%
Other
6.0%
Based on 101 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 Cold Bay. 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 Cold Bay 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 Cold Bay sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Cold Bay 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.