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Place dossier plate
SheetAK-NIKISKI-AK · Nikiski, AK 4,656 pop · income 40th 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 Nikiski
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Nikiski on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Gifford · lowest
27,765
Gifford · lowest
27,765 median HH income
23.0% of the leader · rank #1
Desloge · near
63,018
Desloge · near
63,018 median HH income
52.3% of the leader · rank #2
La Monte · near
63,021
La Monte · near
63,021 median HH income
52.3% of the leader · rank #3
Nikiski · this city
63,023
Nikiski · this city
63,023 median HH income
52.3% of the leader · rank #4
Sherburn · near
63,026
Sherburn · near
63,026 median HH income
52.3% of the leader · rank #5
St. Johns · near
63,030
St. Johns · near
63,030 median HH income
52.3% of the leader · rank #6
Grant-Valkaria · highest
120,500
Grant-Valkaria · highest
120,500 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 Nikiski 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: 4,656.
Nationally, Nikiski sits in the 40th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
40th
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: Nikiski, AK
4,656 people live in Nikiski, Alaska - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Nikiski brings in $63,023 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 9.4%. Home values in Nikiski run a median of $309,200, and the median resident age is 37.1 years. Educational attainment runs 15.6% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 44.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 1 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
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. Monthly utility costs average around $271 across Alaska, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Workers in Nikiski report an average commute of 30.2 minutes, with 74.6% driving alone and 0.1% working from home. Natural-hazard exposure scores 35.2 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Nikiski'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 work and mobility to housing and income to comparison shortlist to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Nikiski, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, annual population history; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Nikiski?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 74.6%. The reported mean trip to work is 30.2 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Nikiski?
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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 9.4%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Nikiski?
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 Utqiaġvik (4,850 residents, $89,038 income); Soldotna (4,448 residents, $62,984 income); Unalaska (4,430 residents, $114,286 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Pacheco, CA (4,657 residents); Silverthorne, CO (4,657 residents); Grant-Valkaria, FL (4,655 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.
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 15.6% 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.
Below median income · poverty 9.4% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
102.4 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Alaska average
F
City profile score · Nikiski, AK
34/100
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.
Poverty rate D
9.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$63,023
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.
Bachelor's+ share F
15.6%
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).
Nikiski profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 42/100 (D) · 9.4%
Household income: 39/100 (F) · $63,023
Cost of living: 29/100 (F) · 102.4 index
Bachelor's+ share: 22/100 (F) · 15.6%
How does Nikiski compare to other US cities?
Nikiski measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income40% higher than other cities
Home value66% 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 Nikiski 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 Nikiski near the bottom of Alaska's cities
Among the 228 Alaska cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Nikiski ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Nikiski only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#118 of 215
45th percentile in Alaska
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 228
0th percentile in Alaska
Median Home Value
#44 of 200
78th percentile in Alaska
Poverty Rate
#112 of 225
50th percentile in Alaska
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#113 of 228
50th 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
40th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Nikiski's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$309,20034th percentilemore affordable than 34% 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
Nikiski's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#12,733 of 15,516
More affordable than 18% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,659 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.9×, Nikiski sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,733 of 15,516 and #9,659 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
$63,023Nikiski, AK median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Nikiski, 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 Nikiski, AK.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)15.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)9.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)44.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
4,656
Median Income
$63,023
Median Home Value
$309,200
Median Age
37.1
Poverty Rate
9.4%
Labor force participation
44.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
15.6%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
30.2 minutes
Drive Alone
74.6%
Carpool
16.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
2.3%
Work from Home
0.1%
Other
6.7%
Based on 1,517 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 Nikiski. 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 Nikiski 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 Nikiski sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Nikiski 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, NCES CCD, 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.