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Place dossier plate
SheetAK-ST-MICHAEL-AK · St. Michael, AK 220 pop · income 29th 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 St. Michael
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest St. Michael on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Holy Cross · lowest
22,917
Holy Cross · lowest
22,917 median HH income
16.3% of the leader · rank #1
St. Michael · this city
56,250
St. Michael · this city
56,250 median HH income
40.0% of the leader · rank #2
Koliganek · near
56,250
Koliganek · near
56,250 median HH income
40.0% of the leader · rank #3
St. Florian · near
56,250
St. Florian · near
56,250 median HH income
40.0% of the leader · rank #4
Fort Defiance · near
56,250
Fort Defiance · near
56,250 median HH income
40.0% of the leader · rank #5
Taylor · near
56,250
Taylor · near
56,250 median HH income
40.0% of the leader · rank #6
Cooper Landing · highest
140,500
Cooper Landing · highest
140,500 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 St. Michael 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: 220.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, St. Michael lands in the 29th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
29th
percentile, household income
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: St. Michael, AK
St. Michael is a small town in Alaska, home to 220 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in St. Michael brings in $56,250 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 13.9%. The median resident age is 19.3 years. Educational attainment runs 3.8% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 40.4% 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: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Alaska scores 102.4 (Near Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. 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. Commute times here average 5.2 minutes, with 0.0% driving alone and 6.8% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. 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 St. Michael'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 schools and households to population change to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For St. Michael, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for St. Michael?
Within Alaska, the closest population matches are Pitkas Point (221 residents, $57,500 income); Koliganek (224 residents, $56,250 income); Halibut Cove (214 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Talladega Springs, AL (220 residents); Dateland, AZ (220 residents); St. Francis, AR (220 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.
What does the education layer cover for St. Michael?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 3.8% 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 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.
Is St. Michael growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -10 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.2% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What does the journey to work look like in St. Michael?
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.
Walking is the largest reported mode at 27.3%. The reported mean trip to work is 5.2 minutes.
Below median income · poverty 13.9% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
102.4 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Alaska average
F
City profile score · St. Michael, AK
23/100
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 F
$56,250
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.
Poverty rate F
13.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
3.8%
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).
St. Michael profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 29/100 (F) · $56,250
Cost of living: 29/100 (F) · 102.4 index
Poverty rate: 25/100 (F) · 13.9%
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 3.8%
How does St. Michael compare to other US cities?
Where St. Michael sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income29% higher 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 St. Michael 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 St. Michael near the bottom of Alaska's cities
Among the 228 Alaska cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, St. Michael ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares St. Michael only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#140 of 215
34th percentile in Alaska
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 228
0th percentile in Alaska
Poverty Rate
#88 of 225
61st percentile in Alaska
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#186 of 228
17th 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
29th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$56,250St. Michael, AK median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context St. Michael, 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 St. Michael, AK.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)3.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)13.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)40.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
220
Median Income
$56,250
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
19.3
Poverty Rate
13.9%
Labor force participation
40.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
3.8%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
St. Michael's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
454 residents
2021
447 residents
2022
442 residents
2023
440 residents
2024
443 residents
2025
444 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
5.2 minutes
Drive Alone
0.0%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
27.3%
Work from Home
6.8%
Other
65.9%
Based on 44 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 St. Michael. 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 St. Michael 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 St. Michael sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How St. Michael 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.