Kenai vs Sterling

A side-by-side comparison of Kenai and Sterling: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Kenai has the higher population (7,562 vs 6,776 in Sterling). Sterling has the higher median household income ($110,341 vs $74,907 in Kenai). Sterling has the higher median home value ($346,100 vs $249,400 in Kenai).

Population, income & housing

	Kenai	Sterling
Population	7,562	6,776
Median age	34.1 yrs	45.1 yrs
Median household income	$74,907	$110,341
Median home value	$249,400	$346,100
Median gross rent	$1,134	$1,095
Housing units	3,326	3,883
Homeownership rate	64.8%	86.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.1%	31.3%
Unemployment rate	8.8%	7.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Kenai	Sterling
Population	7,742 → 7,562 (-2.3%)	5,169 → 6,776 (+31.1%)
Median household income	$61,348 → $74,907 (+22.1%)	$83,889 → $110,341 (+31.5%)
Median home value	$229,100 → $249,400 (+8.9%)	$303,800 → $346,100 (+13.9%)
Median gross rent	$950 → $1,134 (+19.4%)	$951 → $1,095 (+15.1%)

Kenai

Population

7,7427,562

Median household income

$61,348$74,907

Median home value

$229,100$249,400

Median gross rent

$950$1,134

Sterling

Population

5,1696,776

Median household income

$83,889$110,341

Median home value

$303,800$346,100

Median gross rent

$951$1,095

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Kenai	Sterling
Under 5	7.1%	5.0%
5 to 17	17.2%	16.7%
18 to 24	10.5%	6.7%
25 to 34	16.9%	10.3%
35 to 44	12.6%	11.1%
45 to 54	13.2%	11.5%
55 to 64	11.5%	13.6%
65 to 74	7.7%	16.8%
75 and over	3.3%	8.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Kenai	Sterling
White (non-Hispanic)	68.7%	91.5%
Black or African American	1.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	7.3%	2.7%
Asian	3.2%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.6%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	11.1%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	8.1%	1.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Kenai	Sterling
No high school diploma	5.3%	3.5%
High school graduate	37.6%	27.9%
Some college or associate's	32.9%	37.3%
Bachelor's degree	14.9%	19.5%
Graduate or professional degree	9.3%	11.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Kenai	Sterling
Drove alone	69.7%	64.2%
Carpooled	11.3%	15.2%
Public transit	0.0%	1.1%
Walked	5.9%	2.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.0%	12.7%
Other means	6.0%	4.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Kenai	Sterling
1-unit, detached	66.4%	92.8%
1-unit, attached	3.9%	2.7%
2 to 4 units	14.3%	1.1%
5 to 19 units	8.2%	0.4%
20 or more units	6.2%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.9%	2.9%

Poverty & households

	Kenai	Sterling
Poverty rate	12.3%	5.9%
Average household size	2.56	2.46
Mean commute (minutes)	14	29
Median year structure built	1981	1993