Eielson AFB vs Ester

A side-by-side comparison of Eielson AFB and Ester: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Eielson AFB has the higher population (3,133 vs 2,784 in Ester). Ester has the higher median household income ($67,640 vs $59,716 in Eielson AFB). Since 2019, Ester's population has grown faster (+71.6% vs -3.0%).

Population, income & housing

	Eielson AFB	Ester
Population	3,133	2,784
Median age	21.9 yrs	36.9 yrs
Median household income	$59,716	$67,640
Median home value	—	$242,000
Median gross rent	$2,021	$1,232
Housing units	881	1,483
Homeownership rate	0.0%	51.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	34.2%	35.9%
Unemployment rate	12.9%	4.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Eielson AFB	Ester
Population	3,229 → 3,133 (-3.0%)	1,622 → 2,784 (+71.6%)
Median household income	$68,583 → $59,716 (-12.9%)	$65,664 → $67,640 (+3.0%)
Median home value	—	$232,500 → $242,000 (+4.1%)
Median gross rent	$2,042 → $2,021 (-1.0%)	$668 → $1,232 (+84.4%)

Eielson AFB

Population

3,2293,133

Median household income

$68,583$59,716

Median gross rent

$2,042$2,021

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)

	Eielson AFB	Ester
Under 5	12.9%	3.1%
5 to 17	27.4%	10.3%
18 to 24	19.1%	6.0%
25 to 34	26.5%	26.5%
35 to 44	12.5%	13.4%
45 to 54	0.8%	12.3%
55 to 64	0.2%	16.2%
65 to 74	0.0%	12.0%
75 and over	0.6%	0.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Eielson AFB	Ester
White (non-Hispanic)	65.5%	78.9%
Black or African American	5.6%	2.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	2.1%
Asian	1.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	6.9%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	13.2%	6.9%
Hispanic or Latino	14.5%	2.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Eielson AFB	Ester
No high school diploma	0.0%	4.6%
High school graduate	15.9%	42.5%
Some college or associate's	49.9%	16.9%
Bachelor's degree	28.2%	18.8%
Graduate or professional degree	6.0%	17.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Eielson AFB	Ester
Drove alone	77.1%	85.1%
Carpooled	8.1%	0.7%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	11.0%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	2.5%	8.4%
Other means	0.8%	4.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Eielson AFB	Ester
1-unit, detached	2.5%	80.0%
1-unit, attached	63.1%	5.0%
2 to 4 units	29.1%	9.2%
5 to 19 units	1.6%	1.8%
20 or more units	3.7%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	4.0%

Poverty & households

	Eielson AFB	Ester
Poverty rate	1.8%	9.9%
Average household size	3.50	1.95
Mean commute (minutes)	9	24
Median year structure built	1999	1995