Chena Ridge vs Ester

A side-by-side comparison of Chena Ridge and Ester: population, income, housing, and more.

Chena Ridge and Ester are places in Alaska. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Chena Ridge has the higher population (5,927 vs 2,784 in Ester). Chena Ridge has the higher median household income ($140,722 vs $67,640 in Ester). Chena Ridge has the higher median home value ($411,600 vs $242,000 in Ester).

Population, income & housing

	Chena Ridge	Ester
Population	5,927	2,784
Median age	38.5 yrs	36.9 yrs
Median household income	$140,722	$67,640
Median home value	$411,600	$242,000
Median gross rent	$1,148	$1,232
Housing units	2,557	1,483
Homeownership rate	73.2%	51.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	47.4%	35.9%
Unemployment rate	6.6%	4.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chena Ridge	Ester
Population	6,111 → 5,927 (-3.0%)	1,622 → 2,784 (+71.6%)
Median household income	$100,744 → $140,722 (+39.7%)	$65,664 → $67,640 (+3.0%)
Median home value	$281,000 → $411,600 (+46.5%)	$232,500 → $242,000 (+4.1%)
Median gross rent	$789 → $1,148 (+45.5%)	$668 → $1,232 (+84.4%)

Chena Ridge

Population

6,1115,927

Median household income

$100,744$140,722

Median home value

$281,000$411,600

Median gross rent

$789$1,148

Ester

Population

1,6222,784

Median household income

$65,664$67,640

Median home value

$232,500$242,000

Median gross rent

$668$1,232

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chena Ridge	Ester
Under 5	6.5%	3.1%
5 to 17	17.7%	10.3%
18 to 24	7.0%	6.0%
25 to 34	14.8%	26.5%
35 to 44	14.3%	13.4%
45 to 54	16.3%	12.3%
55 to 64	13.0%	16.2%
65 to 74	6.7%	12.0%
75 and over	3.6%	0.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chena Ridge	Ester
White (non-Hispanic)	68.4%	78.9%
Black or African American	0.4%	2.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	12.5%	2.1%
Asian	2.4%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	6.9%
Some other race	0.5%	0.0%
Two or more races	10.6%	6.9%
Hispanic or Latino	5.2%	2.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chena Ridge	Ester
No high school diploma	1.6%	4.6%
High school graduate	18.8%	42.5%
Some college or associate's	32.2%	16.9%
Bachelor's degree	23.2%	18.8%
Graduate or professional degree	24.3%	17.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chena Ridge	Ester
Drove alone	72.7%	85.1%
Carpooled	13.9%	0.7%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.6%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.7%	8.4%
Other means	2.6%	4.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chena Ridge	Ester
1-unit, detached	91.4%	80.0%
1-unit, attached	2.8%	5.0%
2 to 4 units	2.8%	9.2%
5 to 19 units	3.0%	1.8%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	4.0%

Poverty & households

	Chena Ridge	Ester
Poverty rate	4.0%	9.9%
Average household size	2.59	1.95
Mean commute (minutes)	22	24
Median year structure built	1996	1995