Ester vs Salcha

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

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

Ester has the higher population (2,784 vs 1,076 in Salcha). Salcha has the higher median household income ($72,083 vs $67,640 in Ester). Salcha has the higher median home value ($257,500 vs $242,000 in Ester).

Population, income & housing

	Ester	Salcha
Population	2,784	1,076
Median age	36.9 yrs	38.9 yrs
Median household income	$67,640	$72,083
Median home value	$242,000	$257,500
Median gross rent	$1,232	—
Housing units	1,483	645
Homeownership rate	51.8%	93.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	35.9%	27.8%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	2.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ester	Salcha
Population	1,622 → 2,784 (+71.6%)	1,006 → 1,076 (+7.0%)
Median household income	$65,664 → $67,640 (+3.0%)	$70,486 → $72,083 (+2.3%)
Median home value	$232,500 → $242,000 (+4.1%)	$170,500 → $257,500 (+51.0%)
Median gross rent	$668 → $1,232 (+84.4%)	$1,336 → $1,339 (+0.2%)

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

Salcha

Population

1,0061,076

Median household income

$70,486$72,083

Median home value

$170,500$257,500

Median gross rent

$1,336$1,339

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ester	Salcha
Under 5	3.1%	5.8%
5 to 17	10.3%	12.2%
18 to 24	6.0%	2.6%
25 to 34	26.5%	24.3%
35 to 44	13.4%	14.4%
45 to 54	12.3%	10.5%
55 to 64	16.2%	21.1%
65 to 74	12.0%	7.8%
75 and over	0.2%	1.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ester	Salcha
White (non-Hispanic)	78.9%	75.5%
Black or African American	2.6%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	2.1%	4.2%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	6.9%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	6.9%	7.5%
Hispanic or Latino	2.6%	11.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ester	Salcha
No high school diploma	4.6%	9.0%
High school graduate	42.5%	28.4%
Some college or associate's	16.9%	34.7%
Bachelor's degree	18.8%	16.5%
Graduate or professional degree	17.1%	11.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ester	Salcha
Drove alone	85.1%	83.9%
Carpooled	0.7%	7.0%
Public transit	0.0%	2.5%
Walked	1.4%	3.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.4%	2.8%
Other means	4.5%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ester	Salcha
1-unit, detached	80.0%	95.2%
1-unit, attached	5.0%	2.8%
2 to 4 units	9.2%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	1.8%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	4.0%	2.0%

Poverty & households

	Ester	Salcha
Poverty rate	9.9%	6.7%
Average household size	1.95	2.33
Mean commute (minutes)	24	35
Median year structure built	1995	1988