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.
Place dossier plate
SheetAK-PETERSBURG-AK · Petersburg, AK 3,346 pop · income 58th pct · 1 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 Petersburg
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Petersburg on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Jefferson · lowest
47,469
Jefferson · lowest
47,469 median HH income
41.8% of the leader · rank #1
Ouray · near
76,458
Ouray · near
76,458 median HH income
67.3% of the leader · rank #2
Petersburg · this city
76,466
Petersburg · this city
76,466 median HH income
67.3% of the leader · rank #3
University Ci… · near
76,466
University Ci… · near
76,466 median HH income
67.3% of the leader · rank #4
Lathrop · near
76,468
Lathrop · near
76,468 median HH income
67.3% of the leader · rank #5
Conyngham · near
76,468
Conyngham · near
76,468 median HH income
67.3% of the leader · rank #6
Nome · highest
113,561
Nome · highest
113,561 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 Petersburg 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: 3,346.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Petersburg - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Petersburg places in the 58th percentile for household income and the 72nd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
58th
percentile, household income
65th
percentile, home value
70th
percentile, median rent
72nd
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: Petersburg, AK
Petersburg is a small town in Alaska, home to 3,346 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Petersburg brings in $76,466 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 4.4%. Typical homes in Petersburg are valued around $298,500, and the median resident age is 45.5 years. 27.1% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 62.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Petersburg reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 808.1 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 43.0°F with 110.2 inches of precipitation per year and 85.6 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). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,467 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $271 across Alaska, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Petersburg'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 comparison shortlist to reported crime to climate and hazard context to schools and households to work and mobility to housing and income to within-city variation; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Petersburg, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, annual population history; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Petersburg?
Within Alaska, the closest population matches are Big Lake (3,291 residents, $76,292 income); Goldstream (3,238 residents, $92,604 income); Mill Bay (3,541 residents, $94,359 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Williamsburg, IA (3,347 residents); Jefferson, OH (3,347 residents); Mount Oliver, PA (3,347 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Petersburg?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 808.1 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 65% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
What physical conditions frame life in Petersburg?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 43.0°F, with 110.2 inches of precipitation and 85.6 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 can 1 Census tracts reveal inside Petersburg?
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.
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 Petersburg?
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 27.1% 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.
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.
Matched public schools
3
Bachelor's degree+
27.1%
Poverty estimate
4.4%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in Petersburg?
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 52.2%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.2%
Work from home
7.4%
Drive alone
52.2%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,746 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Petersburg?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.4%, 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.
Household income
$76,466
Home value
$298,500
Value / income
3.9×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Above median income · poverty 4.4% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
102.4 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Alaska average
C-
City profile score · Petersburg, AK
51/100
5 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 B-
4.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income C
$76,466
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share C-
27.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime D
202 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger 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.
Petersburg profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 69/100 (B-) · 4.4%
Household income: 56/100 (C) · $76,466
Bachelor's+ share: 53/100 (C-) · 27.1%
Violent crime: 47/100 (D) · 202 /100k
Cost of living: 29/100 (F) · 102.4 index
Where Petersburg sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Petersburg'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 - Petersburg highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Petersburg, AK (this city): home $298,500, crime 808/100k
Williamsburg, IA : home $194,000, crime 1,075/100k
Jefferson, OH : home $189,500, crime 851/100k
Mount Oliver, PA : home $84,700, crime 4,036/100k
Nesquehoning, PA : home $105,400, crime 927/100k
Essexville, MI : home $121,200, crime 579/100k
Newcastle, WY : home $173,500, crime 935/100k
Nome, AK : home $338,900, crime 1,547/100k
How does Petersburg compare to other US cities?
Petersburg measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income58% higher than other cities
Home value65% pricier than other cities
Median rent70% pricier than other cities
Safety72% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Alaska alone, Petersburg ranks #8 of 23 Alaska cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Petersburg 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 Petersburg near the bottom of Alaska's cities
Among the 228 Alaska cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Petersburg ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Petersburg only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#78 of 215
64th percentile in Alaska
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 228
0th percentile in Alaska
Median Home Value
#51 of 200
74th percentile in Alaska
Poverty Rate
#167 of 225
26th percentile in Alaska
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#57 of 228
75th 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
58th percentile nationally for median household income · 72nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Petersburg's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Petersburg'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 Petersburg's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$298,50035th percentilemore affordable than 35% 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
Petersburg's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,405 of 15,516
More affordable than 33% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,172 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.9×, Petersburg sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,405 of 15,516 and #8,172 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
$76,466Petersburg, AK median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Petersburg, 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 Petersburg, AK.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)27.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)62.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,346
Median Income
$76,466
Median Home Value
$298,500
Median Age
45.5
Poverty Rate
4.4%
Labor force participation
62.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
27.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
808.1
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
202.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
606.1
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
43.0°F
Annual Precipitation
110.2"
Annual Snowfall
85.6"
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
52.2%
Carpool
9.9%
Public Transit
0.2%
Walk
21.0%
Work from Home
7.4%
Other
9.3%
Based on 1,746 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 Petersburg. 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 Petersburg 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 Petersburg sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Petersburg 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.