North Pole vs Salcha

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

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

North Pole has the higher population (2,663 vs 1,076 in Salcha). North Pole has the higher median household income ($93,355 vs $72,083 in Salcha). North Pole has the higher median home value ($272,000 vs $257,500 in Salcha).

Population, income & housing

	North Pole	Salcha
Population	2,663	1,076
Median age	29.2 yrs	38.9 yrs
Median household income	$93,355	$72,083
Median home value	$272,000	$257,500
Median gross rent	$1,281	—
Housing units	1,110	645
Homeownership rate	57.0%	93.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.1%	27.8%
Unemployment rate	6.0%	2.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	North Pole	Salcha
Population	2,740 → 2,663 (-2.8%)	1,006 → 1,076 (+7.0%)
Median household income	$81,042 → $93,355 (+15.2%)	$70,486 → $72,083 (+2.3%)
Median home value	$226,000 → $272,000 (+20.4%)	$170,500 → $257,500 (+51.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,122 → $1,281 (+14.2%)	$1,336 → $1,339 (+0.2%)

North Pole

Population

2,7402,663

Median household income

$81,042$93,355

Median home value

$226,000$272,000

Median gross rent

$1,122$1,281

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)

	North Pole	Salcha
Under 5	11.4%	5.8%
5 to 17	24.9%	12.2%
18 to 24	5.9%	2.6%
25 to 34	25.5%	24.3%
35 to 44	16.1%	14.4%
45 to 54	4.1%	10.5%
55 to 64	4.2%	21.1%
65 to 74	6.1%	7.8%
75 and over	1.6%	1.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	North Pole	Salcha
White (non-Hispanic)	57.1%	75.5%
Black or African American	3.2%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	4.4%	4.2%
Asian	1.9%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	17.5%	7.5%
Hispanic or Latino	14.9%	11.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	North Pole	Salcha
No high school diploma	2.2%	9.0%
High school graduate	31.1%	28.4%
Some college or associate's	39.6%	34.7%
Bachelor's degree	19.5%	16.5%
Graduate or professional degree	7.6%	11.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	North Pole	Salcha
Drove alone	86.0%	83.9%
Carpooled	9.1%	7.0%
Public transit	1.0%	2.5%
Walked	3.1%	3.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	0.0%	2.8%
Other means	0.7%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	North Pole	Salcha
1-unit, detached	61.7%	95.2%
1-unit, attached	4.7%	2.8%
2 to 4 units	21.4%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	6.3%	0.0%
20 or more units	5.9%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	2.0%

Poverty & households

	North Pole	Salcha
Poverty rate	7.0%	6.7%
Average household size	2.64	2.33
Mean commute (minutes)	24	35
Median year structure built	1985	1988