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Place dossier plate
SheetAK-THORNE-BAY-AK · Thorne Bay, AK 475 pop · income 38th 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 Thorne Bay
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Thorne Bay on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Proberta · lowest
36,926
Proberta · lowest
36,926 median HH income
48.0% of the leader · rank #1
Thorne Bay · this city
61,750
Thorne Bay · this city
61,750 median HH income
80.3% of the leader · rank #2
Gillham · near
61,750
Gillham · near
61,750 median HH income
80.3% of the leader · rank #3
Silver Spring… · near
61,750
Silver Spring… · near
61,750 median HH income
80.3% of the leader · rank #4
Kennard · near
61,750
Kennard · near
61,750 median HH income
80.3% of the leader · rank #5
Spurgeon · near
61,750
Spurgeon · near
61,750 median HH income
80.3% of the leader · rank #6
Badger · highest
76,875
Badger · highest
76,875 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 Thorne Bay 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: 475.
Nationally, Thorne Bay sits in the 38th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
38th
percentile, household income
52nd
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: Thorne Bay, AK
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 475 residents in Thorne Bay, a small town within Alaska. Median household income here is $61,750 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 8.8%. Thorne Bay's housing stock carries a median value of $234,600, and the median resident age is 45.4 years. 35.2% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 54.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 44.2°F with 85.2 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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,467 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $271 across Alaska, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Workers in Thorne Bay report an average commute of 16.5 minutes, with 39.8% driving alone and 6.3% working from home. 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 Thorne Bay'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 climate and hazard context to schools and households to population change to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Thorne Bay, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Thorne Bay?
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 8.8%, 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Thorne Bay?
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 39.8%. The reported mean trip to work is 16.5 minutes.
What physical conditions frame life in Thorne Bay?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 44.2°F, with 85.2 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.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Thorne Bay?
Within Alaska, the closest population matches are Kiana (471 residents, $66,719 income); Whittier (471 residents, $57,188 income); Angoon (467 residents, $45,938 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Proberta, CA (475 residents); Hiltonia, GA (475 residents); Leaf River, IL (475 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.
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 Thorne Bay?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 35.2% 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.
Matched public schools
2
Bachelor's degree+
35.2%
Poverty estimate
8.8%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Is Thorne Bay growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +2 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.4% 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.
Period change
+0.4%
2025 estimate
477
2020 estimate
475
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Below median income · poverty 8.8% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
102.4 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Alaska average
D
City profile score · Thorne Bay, AK
42/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share B-
35.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate D
8.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$61,750
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.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Thorne Bay profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 67/100 (B-) · 35.2%
Poverty rate: 44/100 (D) · 8.8%
Household income: 37/100 (F) · $61,750
Cost of living: 29/100 (F) · 102.4 index
How does Thorne Bay compare to other US cities?
Where Thorne Bay sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income38% higher than other cities
Home value52% 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 Thorne Bay 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 Thorne Bay near the bottom of Alaska's cities
Among the 228 Alaska cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Thorne Bay ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Thorne Bay only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#124 of 215
42nd percentile in Alaska
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 228
0th percentile in Alaska
Median Home Value
#91 of 200
55th percentile in Alaska
Poverty Rate
#119 of 225
47th percentile in Alaska
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#31 of 228
86th 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
38th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Thorne Bay's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$234,60048th percentilemore affordable than 48% 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
Thorne Bay'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
#10,057 of 15,516
More affordable than 35% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,948 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.8×, Thorne Bay sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,057 of 15,516 and #7,948 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
$61,750Thorne Bay, AK median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Thorne Bay, 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 Thorne Bay, AK.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)35.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)54.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
475
Median Income
$61,750
Median Home Value
$234,600
Median Age
45.4
Poverty Rate
8.8%
Labor force participation
54.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
35.2%
Climate
Avg Temperature
44.2°F
Annual Precipitation
85.2"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Thorne Bay's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
475 residents
2021
473 residents
2022
468 residents
2023
471 residents
2024
474 residents
2025
477 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
16.5 minutes
Drive Alone
39.8%
Carpool
28.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
21.8%
Work from Home
6.3%
Other
3.5%
Based on 206 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 Thorne Bay. 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 Thorne Bay 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 Thorne Bay sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Thorne Bay 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, 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.