Big Lake vs South Lakes

A side-by-side comparison of Big Lake and South Lakes: population, income, housing, and more.

Big Lake and South Lakes are places in Alaska. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

South Lakes has the higher population (6,132 vs 3,291 in Big Lake). South Lakes has the higher median household income ($89,632 vs $76,292 in Big Lake). South Lakes has the higher median home value ($367,700 vs $286,600 in Big Lake).

Population, income & housing

	Big Lake	South Lakes
Population	3,291	6,132
Median age	36.9 yrs	33.0 yrs
Median household income	$76,292	$89,632
Median home value	$286,600	$367,700
Median gross rent	$1,165	$1,191
Housing units	2,762	2,381
Homeownership rate	77.8%	65.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.6%	23.3%
Unemployment rate	3.9%	7.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Big Lake	South Lakes
Population	2,678 → 3,291 (+22.9%)	6,151 → 6,132 (-0.3%)
Median household income	$54,324 → $76,292 (+40.4%)	$87,000 → $89,632 (+3.0%)
Median home value	$207,000 → $286,600 (+38.5%)	$316,800 → $367,700 (+16.1%)
Median gross rent	$976 → $1,165 (+19.4%)	$1,042 → $1,191 (+14.3%)

Big Lake

Population

2,6783,291

Median household income

$54,324$76,292

Median home value

$207,000$286,600

Median gross rent

$976$1,165

South Lakes

Population

6,1516,132

Median household income

$87,000$89,632

Median home value

$316,800$367,700

Median gross rent

$1,042$1,191

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Big Lake	South Lakes
Under 5	5.3%	8.3%
5 to 17	17.0%	17.0%
18 to 24	7.9%	11.3%
25 to 34	16.2%	16.2%
35 to 44	12.7%	12.4%
45 to 54	10.1%	12.1%
55 to 64	16.8%	11.5%
65 to 74	10.0%	8.7%
75 and over	3.9%	2.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Big Lake	South Lakes
White (non-Hispanic)	81.4%	79.7%
Black or African American	0.4%	1.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	3.1%	2.1%
Asian	0.9%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	2.0%
Some other race	1.7%	0.5%
Two or more races	6.1%	6.0%
Hispanic or Latino	6.3%	6.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Big Lake	South Lakes
No high school diploma	3.7%	4.3%
High school graduate	47.3%	31.6%
Some college or associate's	29.4%	40.8%
Bachelor's degree	13.9%	17.7%
Graduate or professional degree	5.7%	5.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Big Lake	South Lakes
Drove alone	63.8%	78.1%
Carpooled	6.5%	9.7%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.1%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	25.2%	6.4%
Other means	3.4%	3.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Big Lake	South Lakes
1-unit, detached	87.6%	68.6%
1-unit, attached	0.9%	3.0%
2 to 4 units	6.5%	10.4%
5 to 19 units	0.6%	16.3%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.5%
Mobile home & other	4.3%	1.2%

Poverty & households

	Big Lake	South Lakes
Poverty rate	12.6%	10.6%
Average household size	2.46	2.76
Mean commute (minutes)	40	30
Median year structure built	1992	1989