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Place dossier plate
SheetAK-ESTER-AK · Ester, AK 2,784 pop · income 47th 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 Ester
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Ester on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Eufaula · lowest
38,594
Eufaula · lowest
38,594 median HH income
27.1% of the leader · rank #1
Katherine · near
67,639
Katherine · near
67,639 median HH income
47.4% of the leader · rank #2
Rest Haven · near
67,639
Rest Haven · near
67,639 median HH income
47.4% of the leader · rank #3
Ester · this city
67,640
Ester · this city
67,640 median HH income
47.4% of the leader · rank #4
Ossian · near
67,641
Ossian · near
67,641 median HH income
47.4% of the leader · rank #5
Enchanted Hil… · near
67,642
Enchanted Hil… · near
67,642 median HH income
47.4% of the leader · rank #6
Clinton · highest
142,563
Clinton · highest
142,563 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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Ester 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: 2,784.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Ester places in the 47th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
47th
percentile, household income
54th
percentile, home value
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: Ester, AK
2,784 people live in Ester, Alaska - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Ester report a median income of $67,640 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 2.3%. Home values in Ester run a median of $242,000, and the median resident age is 36.9 years. 35.9% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 56.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 26.8°F with 14.6 inches of precipitation per year.
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). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,467 monthly. 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 Ester'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 housing and income 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 Ester, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Ester?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 26.8°F, with 14.6 inches of precipitation. 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.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 85.1%. 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 Ester?
Within Alaska, the closest population matches are Seward (2,735 residents, $71,016 income); North Pole (2,663 residents, $93,355 income); Farm Loop (2,940 residents, $110,332 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are De Leon Springs, FL (2,784 residents); Clinton, NJ (2,784 residents); Inverness Highlands North, FL (2,785 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-
2.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share B-
35.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income D
$67,640
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).
Ester profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 84/100 (A-) · 2.3%
Bachelor's+ share: 68/100 (B-) · 35.9%
Household income: 46/100 (D) · $67,640
Cost of living: 29/100 (F) · 102.4 index
How does Ester compare to other US cities?
Ester measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income47% higher than other cities
Home value54% pricier 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 Ester 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 Ester near the bottom of Alaska's cities
Among the 228 Alaska cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Ester ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Ester only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#107 of 215
50th percentile in Alaska
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 228
0th percentile in Alaska
Median Home Value
#86 of 200
57th percentile in Alaska
Poverty Rate
#182 of 225
19th percentile in Alaska
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#30 of 228
87th 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
47th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Ester's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$242,00046th percentilemore affordable than 46% 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
Ester's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,278 of 15,516
More affordable than 40% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,456 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.6×, Ester sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,278 of 15,516 and #7,456 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
$67,640Ester, AK median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Ester, 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 Ester, AK.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)35.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)56.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,784
Median Income
$67,640
Median Home Value
$242,000
Median Age
36.9
Poverty Rate
2.3%
Labor force participation
56.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
35.9%
Climate
Avg Temperature
26.8°F
Annual Precipitation
14.6"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
85.1%
Carpool
0.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.4%
Work from Home
8.4%
Other
4.4%
Based on 1,340 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 Ester. 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 Ester 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 Ester sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Ester 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.