City profile · Alaska · Census ACS 2023

Meadow Lakes, AK

Meadow Lakes's Census ACS profile: residents, income, housing, and the joined public-record layers available for this place.

8,994
Residents
$81,250
Median income
$305,100
Median home
$1,467
Median rent (state)
View my watchlist

Compare or rank this city

Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.

Compare with another city

Starting with Meadow Lakes, AK - add up to three more cities on the compare page.

See how it ranks

State rank, size-class rank, and four peer cities for Meadow Lakes.

Place dossier plate

Sheet AK-MEADOW-LAKES-AK · Meadow Lakes, AK 8,994 pop · income 63rd pct

POP-TOWN · INC-HIGH · COL-PAR · SAFE-UNK · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · HOME-MID · BOOK-UNK

  • POP-TOWN 8,994
  • INC-HIGH $81,250
  • COL-PAR 102.4
  • SAFE-UNK Safety pending
  • RANK-UPPER 63rd
  • PHOTO-FINISH ≈ March ARB
  • HOME-MID $305,100
  • BOOK-UNK Tracts pending

Nearest income peer: March ARB, CA (+ $0 income $)

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 Meadow Lakes

Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Meadow Lakes on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.

median HH income

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.

Source U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 5-Year Estimates As of 2026-08-08

Compare beyond this state

Nationwide peers by population, income

Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Meadow Lakes 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: 8,994.

4 peers

Similar household income

Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS median household income. This city: $81,250. Population peers are excluded.

4 peers

Meadow Lakes - the verdict

Nationally, Meadow Lakes sits in the 63rd percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.

63rd
percentile, household income
66th
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: Meadow Lakes, AK

Meadow Lakes is a small town in Alaska, home to 8,994 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Meadow Lakes households earn a median of $81,250 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 8.3%. Typical homes in Meadow Lakes are valued around $305,100, and the median resident age is 37.9 years. About 17.6% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 52.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.

Alaska tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: the state registers 102.4 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Near Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,467 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Alaska's average monthly utility costs around $271 (state average). The average commute for Meadow Lakes workers runs 33.6 minutes, with 70.2% driving alone and 10.6% working from home. 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 Meadow Lakes'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 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 Meadow Lakes, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares. No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, annual population history; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.

1. Housing and income

How far does income reach against housing in Meadow Lakes?

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 3.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.

Compare the housing trade-off →

Question 2

What does the journey to work look like in Meadow Lakes?

Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 70.2%. The reported mean trip to work is 33.6 minutes.

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.

Compare commute patterns →

3. Comparison shortlist

Which cities make useful reference points for Meadow Lakes?

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.

Within Alaska, the closest population matches are Wasilla (9,435 residents, $70,756 income); Sitka (8,393 residents, $101,207 income); Tanaina (9,738 residents, $95,587 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Windsor, WI (8,992 residents); Indian Harbour Beach, FL (8,991 residents); Kulpsville, PA (8,990 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.

Open a side-by-side comparison →

Population

8,994 residents

Micro place (under 10k)

Median Household Income

$81,250 /yr

Above median income · poverty 8.3% (Above-median poverty)

Cost of Living Index (state)

102.4 (US=100)

Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Alaska average

City profile score · Meadow Lakes, AK

43/100

4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023

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 C+
$81,250

Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.

Poverty rate D
8.3%

Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.

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.

Bachelor's+ share F
17.6%

Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.

Violent crime N/A
N/A

No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).

Meadow Lakes profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions) 4-axis radar comparing 1 series across Household income, Poverty rate, Cost of living, Bachelor's+ share. Household incomePoverty rateCost of livingBachelor's+ share 43 D
Meadow Lakes profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)
Read the chart values
  • Household income: 61/100 (C+) · $81,250
  • Poverty rate: 46/100 (D) · 8.3%
  • Cost of living: 29/100 (F) · 102.4 index
  • Bachelor's+ share: 27/100 (F) · 17.6%

How does Meadow Lakes compare to other US cities?

Where Meadow Lakes sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.

Household income 63% higher than other cities
Home value 66% pricier than other cities
Median rent 70% 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 Meadow Lakes 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 Meadow Lakes near the bottom of Alaska's cities

Among the 228 Alaska cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Meadow Lakes ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Meadow Lakes only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.

Median Household Income
#68 of 215
68th percentile in Alaska
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 228
0th percentile in Alaska
Median Home Value
#49 of 200
76th percentile in Alaska
Poverty Rate
#127 of 225
44th percentile in Alaska
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#107 of 228
53rd 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.

63rdIncome percentile
Gauge source note

63rd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.

How Meadow Lakes's home value compares nationally

Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)

$305,100 34th percentile more affordable than 34% of 15,600 US cities

Show national distribution $0–$25,000: 5 US cities (0%). Below this entry. $25,000–$50,000: 54 US cities (0%). Below this entry. $50,000–$75,000: 352 US cities (2%). Below this entry. $75,000–$100,000: 1,086 US cities (7%). Below this entry. $100,000–$125,000: 1,516 US cities (10%). Below this entry. $125,000–$150,000: 1,170 US cities (8%). Below this entry. $150,000–$175,000: 1,278 US cities (8%). Below this entry. $175,000–$200,000: 1,229 US cities (8%). Below this entry. $200,000–$225,000: 1,035 US cities (7%). Below this entry. $225,000–$250,000: 976 US cities (6%). Below this entry. $250,000–$275,000: 754 US cities (5%). Below this entry. $275,000–$300,000: 712 US cities (5%). Below this entry. $300,000–$325,000: 521 US cities (3%). This entry sits in this band. $325,000–$350,000: 526 US cities (3%). Above this entry. $350,000–$375,000: 465 US cities (3%). Above this entry. $375,000–$400,000: 393 US cities (3%). Above this entry. $400,000–$425,000: 317 US cities (2%). Above this entry. $425,000–$450,000: 300 US cities (2%). Above this entry. $450,000–$475,000: 307 US cities (2%). Above this entry. $475,000–$500,000: 250 US cities (2%). Above this entry. $500,000–$525,000: 160 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $525,000–$550,000: 156 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $550,000–$575,000: 172 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $575,000–$600,000: 172 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $600,000–$625,000: 163 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $625,000–$650,000: 167 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $650,000–$675,000: 135 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $675,000–$700,000: 101 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $700,000–$725,000: 95 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $725,000–$750,000: 71 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $750,000–$775,000: 65 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $775,000–$800,000: 70 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $800,000–$825,000: 57 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $825,000–$850,000: 67 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $850,000–$875,000: 60 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $875,000–$900,000: 58 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $900,000–$925,000: 47 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $925,000–$950,000: 37 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $950,000–$975,000: 31 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $975,000–$1,000,000: 470 US cities (3%). Above this entry. $1,000,000–$1,025,000: 0 US cities (0%). Above this entry. Meadow Lakes $0 $1,025,000 every US city, bucketed by value

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

Meadow Lakes's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.8×

ACS median home value divided by median household income.

Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,895 of 15,516
More affordable than 36% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,843 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)

At 3.8×, Meadow Lakes sits in the moderate band: national rank #9,895 of 15,516 and #7,843 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

$81,250 Meadow Lakes, AK median household income (Census ACS)

Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Household income distribution - Meadow Lakes, AK Meadow Lakes, AK's median household income ($81,250) against the U.S. national quintile-share pattern. The Lorenz curve and quintile bars are national context, not Meadow Lakes, AK-specific shares. $ Household Income Distribution Meadow Lakes, AK median $81,250/yr, vs. U.S. national quintile pattern QUINTILE SHARE OF AGGREGATE INCOME Lowest 20% 3.4% Second 20% 9.2% Middle 20% 15.1% Fourth 20% 23.2% Top 20% 49.1% LORENZ CURVE cumulative income vs. population 100% 0% 100% pop. 0%
Meadow Lakes, 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 Meadow Lakes, AK.

Key socioeconomic indicators

Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+) 17.6%

Census ACS S1501, educational attainment

Poverty rate (households below FPL) 8.3%

Census ACS S1701, poverty status

Labor force participation (adults 16+) 52.6%

Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force

Population
8,994
Median Income
$81,250
Median Home Value
$305,100
Median Age
37.9
Poverty Rate
8.3%
Labor force participation
52.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
17.6%

Commute Patterns

Commute source

How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023

Average Commute Time
33.6 minutes
Drive Alone
70.2%
Carpool
11.9%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.4%
Work from Home
10.6%
Other
5.9%

Based on 3,608 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 Meadow Lakes. 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 Meadow Lakes 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 Meadow Lakes sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.

How Meadow Lakes 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.

City Population Median Household Income
Meadow Lakes (this city) 8,994 $81,250
Wasilla 9,435 $70,756
Sitka 8,393 $101,207
Tanaina 9,738 $95,587
Primary sources on this page

Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, 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.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Citation & verification links Data sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCities

Primary sources: Census ACS, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES. Joins use OMB Bulletin 23-01 / FIPS keys.

Browse all city profiles → · Explore city rankings →

Verify with HUD →

Verify with FBI →

Verify with NOAA →

Verify with U.S. Census Bureau →

Verify with EPA →

Verify with FEMA →

Verify with BEA →

Verify with EIA →

Verify with NCES →

Estimate caveats

ACS and UCR figures are citywide estimates with vintage lags; they do not replace a local visit, school visit, or insurance quote.

Editorial standards, provenance, and how to cite this page

Every figure on PlainCities is rendered directly from Census ACS source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on Census ACS source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.

Share or download this profile