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Place dossier plate
SheetAK-SOLDOTNA-AK · Soldotna, AK 4,448 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 Soldotna
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Soldotna on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Salinas zona… · lowest
19,405
Salinas zona… · lowest
19,405 median HH income
17.0% of the leader · rank #1
Soldotna · this city
62,984
Soldotna · this city
62,984 median HH income
55.1% of the leader · rank #2
Marathon · near
62,984
Marathon · near
62,984 median HH income
55.1% of the leader · rank #3
Olivarez · near
62,985
Olivarez · near
62,985 median HH income
55.1% of the leader · rank #4
Green Valley · near
62,986
Green Valley · near
62,986 median HH income
55.1% of the leader · rank #5
Westfield · near
62,986
Westfield · near
62,986 median HH income
55.1% of the leader · rank #6
Unalaska · highest
114,286
Unalaska · highest
114,286 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 Soldotna 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: 4,448.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Soldotna - the verdict
Nationally, Soldotna sits in the 40th percentile for household income and the 55th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
40th
percentile, household income
61st
percentile, home value
70th
percentile, median rent
55th
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: Soldotna, AK
Alaska's Soldotna is a small town, with 4,448 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Soldotna households earn a median of $62,984 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 17.5%. Home values in Soldotna run a median of $277,300, and the median resident age is 34.2 years. About 21.4% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 54.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 9 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 44% from five years earlier. Soldotna reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 1224.8 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Soldotna's yearly average temperature at 34.1°F with 21.6 inches of precipitation per year.
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. 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. 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 Soldotna'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 population change to climate and hazard context to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to reported crime to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Soldotna, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, local building permits, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; 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 Soldotna?
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 4.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 17.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Is Soldotna growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +253 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +5.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 9 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
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.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 34.1°F, with 21.6 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Soldotna?
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.
Within Alaska, the closest population matches are Unalaska (4,430 residents, $114,286 income); Nikiski (4,656 residents, $63,023 income); Utqiaġvik (4,850 residents, $89,038 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are La Grange, TX (4,448 residents); Salinas zona urbana, PR (4,448 residents); Level Green, PA (4,450 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.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Soldotna?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 63.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Drive alone
63.4%
Work from home
4.1%
Public transit
1.8%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,834 workers age 16+.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Soldotna?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1224.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 46% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
Total reported rate
1224.8
Violent rate
85.9
Property rate
1138.8
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
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.
The NCES join finds 8 public schools within the city match. 21.4% 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.
Poverty estimate
17.5%
Bachelor's degree+
21.4%
Matched public schools
8
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Below median income · poverty 17.5% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
102.4 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Alaska average
D
City profile score · Soldotna, AK
40/100
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.
Violent crime B
86 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$62,984
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
21.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; 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.
Poverty rate F
17.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Soldotna profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 74/100 (B) · 86 /100k
Household income: 39/100 (F) · $62,984
Bachelor's+ share: 38/100 (F) · 21.4%
Cost of living: 29/100 (F) · 102.4 index
Poverty rate: 18/100 (F) · 17.5%
Where Soldotna sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Soldotna'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 - Soldotna highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Soldotna, AK (this city): home $277,300, crime 1,225/100k
La Grange, TX : home $320,000, crime 1,546/100k
Tulia, TX : home $87,300, crime 2,437/100k
Falfurrias, TX : home $78,500, crime 893/100k
Unalaska, AK : home $448,700, crime 214/100k
Valdez, AK : home $312,400, crime 466/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Soldotna compare to other US cities?
Where Soldotna sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income40% higher than other cities
Home value61% pricier than other cities
Median rent70% pricier than other cities
Safety55% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Alaska, Soldotna ranks #12 of 23 Alaska cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Soldotna 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 Soldotna near the bottom of Alaska's cities
Among the 228 Alaska cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Soldotna ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Soldotna only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#119 of 215
45th percentile in Alaska
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 228
0th percentile in Alaska
Median Home Value
#66 of 200
67th percentile in Alaska
Poverty Rate
#72 of 225
68th percentile in Alaska
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#91 of 228
60th 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 · 55th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Soldotna's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Soldotna'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 Soldotna's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$277,30039th percentilemore affordable than 39% 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
Soldotna's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,772 of 15,516
More affordable than 24% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,044 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.4×, Soldotna sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,772 of 15,516 and #9,044 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
$62,984Soldotna, AK median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Soldotna, 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 Soldotna, AK.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)21.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)54.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
4,448
Median Income
$62,984
Median Home Value
$277,300
Median Age
34.2
Poverty Rate
17.5%
Labor force participation
54.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
21.4%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1224.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
85.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1138.8
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
34.1°F
Annual Precipitation
21.6"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
8
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Soldotna's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
4,362 residents
2021
4,451 residents
2022
4,523 residents
2023
4,574 residents
2024
4,582 residents
2025
4,615 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
9
housing units authorized
Single-Family
9
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
16
16
0
$3.3M
2020
15
9
6
$3.2M
2021
16
6
10
$3.1M
2022
12
10
2
$3.4M
2023
4
4
0
$0.8M
2024
9
9
0
$4.1M
Permit volume decreased 44% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
63.4%
Carpool
19.5%
Public Transit
1.8%
Walk
5.2%
Work from Home
4.1%
Other
6.0%
Based on 1,834 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 Soldotna. 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 Soldotna 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 Soldotna sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Soldotna 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 BPS 2024, 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.