Buffalo Soapstone vs Knik River

A side-by-side comparison of Buffalo Soapstone and Knik River: population, income, housing, and more.

Buffalo Soapstone and Knik River are places in Alaska. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Knik River has the higher population (858 vs 799 in Buffalo Soapstone). Knik River has the higher median household income ($100,417 vs $68,750 in Buffalo Soapstone). Buffalo Soapstone has the higher median home value ($278,600 vs $266,800 in Knik River).

Population, income & housing

	Buffalo Soapstone	Knik River
Population	799	858
Median age	48.2 yrs	37.1 yrs
Median household income	$68,750	$100,417
Median home value	$278,600	$266,800
Median gross rent	—	$1,250
Housing units	416	381
Homeownership rate	91.4%	86.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	28.7%	24.2%
Unemployment rate	11.6%	1.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Buffalo Soapstone	Knik River
Population	975 → 799 (-18.1%)	866 → 858 (-0.9%)
Median household income	$64,727 → $68,750 (+6.2%)	$58,750 → $100,417 (+70.9%)
Median home value	$229,300 → $278,600 (+21.5%)	$196,100 → $266,800 (+36.1%)
Median gross rent	$883 → $1,075 (+21.7%)	$846 → $1,250 (+47.8%)

Buffalo Soapstone

Population

975799

Median household income

$64,727$68,750

Median home value

$229,300$278,600

Median gross rent

$883$1,075

Knik River

Population

866858

Median household income

$58,750$100,417

Median home value

$196,100$266,800

Median gross rent

$846$1,250

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Buffalo Soapstone	Knik River
Under 5	4.3%	6.4%
5 to 17	16.8%	14.9%
18 to 24	5.3%	9.7%
25 to 34	10.0%	17.1%
35 to 44	10.5%	10.3%
45 to 54	12.9%	10.4%
55 to 64	17.0%	16.2%
65 to 74	19.3%	13.2%
75 and over	4.0%	1.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Buffalo Soapstone	Knik River
White (non-Hispanic)	72.3%	82.3%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	4.4%	4.8%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.9%	2.3%
Two or more races	15.9%	4.8%
Hispanic or Latino	6.5%	5.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Buffalo Soapstone	Knik River
No high school diploma	8.1%	13.5%
High school graduate	34.0%	29.2%
Some college or associate's	29.2%	33.1%
Bachelor's degree	19.5%	18.6%
Graduate or professional degree	9.2%	5.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Buffalo Soapstone	Knik River
Drove alone	82.0%	71.1%
Carpooled	1.7%	9.7%
Public transit	0.0%	2.8%
Walked	2.4%	2.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	10.5%	9.5%
Other means	3.4%	4.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Buffalo Soapstone	Knik River
1-unit, detached	88.2%	83.2%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	1.7%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	1.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	3.4%
Mobile home & other	10.1%	12.3%

Poverty & households

	Buffalo Soapstone	Knik River
Poverty rate	12.4%	9.8%
Average household size	2.45	2.62
Mean commute (minutes)	29	36
Median year structure built	1998	1988