Palmer vs South Lakes

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

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

Palmer has the higher population (6,141 vs 6,132 in South Lakes). South Lakes has the higher median household income ($89,632 vs $70,550 in Palmer). South Lakes has the higher median home value ($367,700 vs $275,900 in Palmer).

Population, income & housing

	Palmer	South Lakes
Population	6,141	6,132
Median age	32.9 yrs	33.0 yrs
Median household income	$70,550	$89,632
Median home value	$275,900	$367,700
Median gross rent	$1,134	$1,191
Housing units	2,516	2,381
Homeownership rate	62.4%	65.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.8%	23.3%
Unemployment rate	8.4%	7.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Palmer	South Lakes
Population	7,131 → 6,141 (-13.9%)	6,151 → 6,132 (-0.3%)
Median household income	$62,339 → $70,550 (+13.2%)	$87,000 → $89,632 (+3.0%)
Median home value	$207,200 → $275,900 (+33.2%)	$316,800 → $367,700 (+16.1%)
Median gross rent	$976 → $1,134 (+16.2%)	$1,042 → $1,191 (+14.3%)

Palmer

Population

7,1316,141

Median household income

$62,339$70,550

Median home value

$207,200$275,900

Median gross rent

$976$1,134

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)

	Palmer	South Lakes
Under 5	6.8%	8.3%
5 to 17	16.0%	17.0%
18 to 24	13.3%	11.3%
25 to 34	17.4%	16.2%
35 to 44	11.9%	12.4%
45 to 54	10.1%	12.1%
55 to 64	9.3%	11.5%
65 to 74	8.8%	8.7%
75 and over	6.3%	2.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Palmer	South Lakes
White (non-Hispanic)	71.1%	79.7%
Black or African American	2.7%	1.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	8.3%	2.1%
Asian	1.4%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	1.9%	2.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.5%
Two or more races	9.1%	6.0%
Hispanic or Latino	5.2%	6.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Palmer	South Lakes
No high school diploma	6.9%	4.3%
High school graduate	36.5%	31.6%
Some college or associate's	32.8%	40.8%
Bachelor's degree	15.3%	17.7%
Graduate or professional degree	8.5%	5.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Palmer	South Lakes
Drove alone	76.7%	78.1%
Carpooled	10.1%	9.7%
Public transit	0.4%	0.0%
Walked	3.7%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.2%	6.4%
Other means	2.6%	3.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Palmer	South Lakes
1-unit, detached	65.4%	68.6%
1-unit, attached	3.9%	3.0%
2 to 4 units	7.6%	10.4%
5 to 19 units	13.6%	16.3%
20 or more units	8.4%	0.5%
Mobile home & other	1.1%	1.2%

Poverty & households

	Palmer	South Lakes
Poverty rate	11.0%	10.6%
Average household size	2.54	2.76
Mean commute (minutes)	26	30
Median year structure built	1989	1989