Most Densely Populated Cities in Alaska: Ranked by People per Square Mile

The densest city in Alaska in our data is Ketchikan, AK, with about 2,170 people per square mile, followed by Kodiak, AK (1,479) and Palmer, AK (1,469). This list ranks the top 24 places among the 24 Alaska communities with at least 5,000 residents.

What are the top 24 in Alaska?

How dense are the cities in Alaska?

The densest place is about 9 times as dense as the median place in the state, which has about 253 people per square mile. At the other end, Sitka, AK has about 3. Under our scale, 0 places are an urban core (over 5,000 per square mile), 3 are suburban, and the rest are small towns or rural. Matanuska-Susitna Borough contributes 7 of the top 24.

Which counties do the top 24 belong to?

The 24 places on this list are spread across 9 counties of Alaska. Matanuska-Susitna Borough has 7 (Palmer, Wasilla, Tanaina, Gateway, Knik-Fairview, Meadow Lakes, Fishhook); Fairbanks North Star Borough has 6 (Fairbanks, College, Badger, Farmers Loop, Chena Ridge, Steele Creek); Kenai Peninsula Borough has 5 (Soldotna, Homer, Kenai, Kalifornsky, Sterling). Counties with several entries are usually centers of a metropolitan area, where one large city is surrounded by many suburbs that each pass the 5,000-resident threshold.

How does Alaska compare with the rest of the country?

The median Alaska place with a page has about 8,321 residents, compared with about 13,459 nationwide, so the state's typical community is smaller than the national typical place. The state has 326 communities in total, of which 24 reach 5,000 residents. See the national ranking of the largest cities for comparison.

Quick answers about Alaska cities

• Which is the densest city in Alaska? Ketchikan (2,170 per square mile).
• How many Alaska cities have more than 100,000 people? 1 in our data.
• How many have 25,000 to 100,000? 2.
• What is the typical size? About 8,321 residents for a place with a page.

How is this ranking made?

The data comes from the SimpleMaps US Cities Database, which gives each place an estimated population and a density in people per square kilometer. We convert density to people per square mile and rank the places with at least 5,000 residents. Boundaries matter: a city that includes large parks or farmland scores lower on density than a compact city of the same size, and population estimates can include areas that share a city's ZIP codes. Read why population figures differ and how density is calculated before you quote a number.

Where to go next

Rankings use dataset estimates, not official counts.