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Place dossier plate
SheetAK-WILLOW-AK · Willow, AK 1,769 pop · income 56th pct · 24 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 Willow
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Willow on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Woodville · lowest
45,089
Woodville · lowest
45,089 median HH income
44.2% of the leader · rank #1
Leavenworth · near
74,653
Leavenworth · near
74,653 median HH income
73.1% of the leader · rank #2
Fivepointville · near
74,659
Fivepointville · near
74,659 median HH income
73.1% of the leader · rank #3
Upland · near
74,663
Upland · near
74,663 median HH income
73.1% of the leader · rank #4
Willow · this city
74,669
Willow · this city
74,669 median HH income
73.2% of the leader · rank #5
Chester · near
74,673
Chester · near
74,673 median HH income
73.2% of the leader · rank #6
Kodiak Station · highest
102,069
Kodiak Station · highest
102,069 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 Willow 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: 1,769.
Willow ranks in the 56th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
56th
percentile, household income
62nd
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: Willow, AK
Willow is a small town in Alaska, home to 1,769 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $74,669 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 12.2%. Home values in Willow run a median of $285,100, and the median resident age is 46.7 years. 25.8% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 43.7% 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: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Alaska at 102.4 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Near Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,467 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Alaska's average monthly utility costs around $271 (state average). 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 Willow'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 within-city variation to work and mobility 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 Willow, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, annual population history; 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 Willow?
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.
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 12.2%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
PlainCities matches 24 Census tracts to this city.
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.
What does the journey to work look like in Willow?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 67.8%. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Willow?
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 Haines (1,781 residents, $72,250 income); Point MacKenzie (1,728 residents); Houston (1,693 residents, $60,865 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Lewisburg, OH (1,769 residents); Woodville, CA (1,768 residents); Spirit Lake, ID (1,768 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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Willow?
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. 25.8% 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.
Poverty estimate
12.2%
Bachelor's degree+
25.8%
Matched public schools
1
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Above median income · poverty 12.2% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
102.4 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Alaska average
D
City profile score · Willow, AK
41/100
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 C-
$74,669
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share C-
25.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
12.2%
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.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Willow profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 54/100 (C-) · $74,669
Bachelor's+ share: 51/100 (C-) · 25.8%
Poverty rate: 31/100 (F) · 12.2%
Cost of living: 29/100 (F) · 102.4 index
How does Willow compare to other US cities?
Willow measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income56% higher than other cities
Home value62% 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 Willow 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 Willow near the bottom of Alaska's cities
Among the 228 Alaska cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Willow ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Willow only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#82 of 215
62nd percentile in Alaska
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 228
0th percentile in Alaska
Median Home Value
#60 of 200
70th percentile in Alaska
Poverty Rate
#94 of 225
58th percentile in Alaska
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#64 of 228
72nd 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
56th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Willow's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$285,10038th percentilemore affordable than 38% 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
Willow'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
#10,123 of 15,516
More affordable than 35% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,991 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.8×, Willow sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,123 of 15,516 and #7,991 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
$74,669Willow, AK median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Willow, 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 Willow, AK.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)25.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)12.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)43.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,769
Median Income
$74,669
Median Home Value
$285,100
Median Age
46.7
Poverty Rate
12.2%
Labor force participation
43.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
25.8%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
67.8%
Carpool
8.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.9%
Work from Home
13.1%
Other
8.5%
Based on 587 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 Willow. 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 Willow 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 Willow sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Willow 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.