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Place dossier plate
SheetAK-WAINWRIGHT-AK · Wainwright, AK 612 pop · income 67th 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 Wainwright
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Wainwright on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Akiachak · lowest
33,333
Akiachak · lowest
33,333 median HH income
29.5% of the leader · rank #1
Kill Devil Hi… · near
85,747
Kill Devil Hi… · near
85,747 median HH income
75.9% of the leader · rank #2
Wainwright · this city
85,750
Wainwright · this city
85,750 median HH income
75.9% of the leader · rank #3
Rising Sun · near
85,750
Rising Sun · near
85,750 median HH income
75.9% of the leader · rank #4
Rio Rancho · near
85,755
Rio Rancho · near
85,755 median HH income
75.9% of the leader · rank #5
New Windsor · near
85,755
New Windsor · near
85,755 median HH income
75.9% of the leader · rank #6
St. Libory · highest
113,000
St. Libory · highest
113,000 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 Wainwright 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: 612.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Wainwright places in the 67th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
67th
percentile, household income
13th
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: Wainwright, AK
612 people live in Wainwright, Alaska - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $85,750 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 11.1%. Home values in Wainwright run a median of $109,100, and the median resident age is 29.0 years. Educational attainment runs 3.6% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 49.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 14.8°F.
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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Alaska run around $271, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Workers in Wainwright report an average commute of 5.5 minutes, with 31.3% driving alone and 1.8% 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 Wainwright'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 climate and hazard context to work and mobility to population change to schools and households to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Wainwright, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, 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 Wainwright?
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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 11.1%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What physical conditions frame life in Wainwright?
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 14.8°F. 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Wainwright?
Walking is the largest reported mode at 31.9%. The reported mean trip to work is 5.5 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Wainwright?
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 Gustavus (610 residents, $64,167 income); Tuntutuliak (616 residents, $53,625 income); Fox River (605 residents, $75,083 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Pioneer, FL (612 residents); Potomac, IL (612 residents); St. Libory, IL (612 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.
Population change
Is Wainwright growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -39 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -6.2% 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.
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.
2020 estimate
625
2025 estimate
586
Period change
-6.2%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the education layer cover for Wainwright?
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. 3.6% 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.
Poverty estimate
11.1%
Bachelor's degree+
3.6%
Matched public schools
1
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Above median income · poverty 11.1% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
102.4 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Alaska average
F
City profile score · Wainwright, AK
36/100
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 B-
$85,750
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
11.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better 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.
Bachelor's+ share F
3.6%
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).
Wainwright profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 65/100 (B-) · $85,750
Poverty rate: 35/100 (F) · 11.1%
Cost of living: 29/100 (F) · 102.4 index
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 3.6%
How does Wainwright compare to other US cities?
Here's how Wainwright stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income67% higher than other cities
Home value13% 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 Wainwright 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 Wainwright near the bottom of Alaska's cities
Among the 228 Alaska cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Wainwright ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Wainwright only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#59 of 215
73rd percentile in Alaska
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 228
0th percentile in Alaska
Median Home Value
#146 of 200
27th percentile in Alaska
Poverty Rate
#101 of 225
55th percentile in Alaska
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#191 of 228
16th 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
67th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Wainwright's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$109,100Among the most affordablemore affordable than 87% 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
Wainwright's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#155 of 15,516
More affordable than 99% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#152 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.3×, Wainwright sits in the affordable band:
national rank #155 of 15,516 and #152 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$85,750Wainwright, AK median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Wainwright, 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 Wainwright, AK.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)3.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)49.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
612
Median Income
$85,750
Median Home Value
$109,100
Median Age
29.0
Poverty Rate
11.1%
Labor force participation
49.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
3.6%
Climate
Avg Temperature
14.8°F
Annual Precipitation
N/A
Annual Snowfall
N/A
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
Wainwright's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
625 residents
2021
623 residents
2022
607 residents
2023
588 residents
2024
587 residents
2025
586 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
5.5 minutes
Drive Alone
31.3%
Carpool
15.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
31.9%
Work from Home
1.8%
Other
19.3%
Based on 166 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 Wainwright. 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 Wainwright 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 Wainwright sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Wainwright 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.