Kenai Peninsula Borough vs Ketchikan Gateway Borough

A side-by-side comparison of Kenai Peninsula Borough and Ketchikan Gateway Borough: population, income, housing, and more.

Kenai Peninsula Borough and Ketchikan Gateway Borough are counties in Alaska. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Kenai Peninsula Borough has the higher population (59,843 vs 13,870 in Ketchikan Gateway Borough). Ketchikan Gateway Borough has the higher median household income ($89,155 vs $77,722 in Kenai Peninsula Borough). Ketchikan Gateway Borough has the higher median home value ($379,000 vs $297,500 in Kenai Peninsula Borough).

Population, income & housing

	Kenai Peninsula Borough	Ketchikan Gateway Borough
Population	59,843	13,870
Median age	41.5 yrs	40.8 yrs
Median household income	$77,722	$89,155
Median home value	$297,500	$379,000
Median gross rent	$1,163	$1,388
Housing units	32,707	6,659
Homeownership rate	76.8%	67.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	29.4%	27.0%
Unemployment rate	6.9%	3.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Kenai Peninsula Borough	Ketchikan Gateway Borough
Population	58,464 → 59,843 (+2.4%)	13,800 → 13,870 (+0.5%)
Median household income	$66,064 → $77,722 (+17.6%)	$72,728 → $89,155 (+22.6%)
Median home value	$242,200 → $297,500 (+22.8%)	$289,900 → $379,000 (+30.7%)
Median gross rent	$987 → $1,163 (+17.8%)	$1,169 → $1,388 (+18.7%)

Kenai Peninsula Borough

Population

58,46459,843

Median household income

$66,064$77,722

Median home value

$242,200$297,500

Median gross rent

$987$1,163

Ketchikan Gateway Borough

Population

13,80013,870

Median household income

$72,728$89,155

Median home value

$289,900$379,000

Median gross rent

$1,169$1,388

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Kenai Peninsula Borough	Ketchikan Gateway Borough
Under 5	5.7%	4.7%
5 to 17	16.5%	16.0%
18 to 24	6.9%	7.2%
25 to 34	12.9%	14.2%
35 to 44	12.5%	13.9%
45 to 54	11.8%	12.0%
55 to 64	14.4%	14.5%
65 to 74	12.9%	11.4%
75 and over	6.4%	5.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Kenai Peninsula Borough	Ketchikan Gateway Borough
White (non-Hispanic)	77.9%	61.4%
Black or African American	0.5%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	6.4%	12.5%
Asian	1.8%	9.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.2%
Some other race	0.7%	0.3%
Two or more races	8.2%	11.0%
Hispanic or Latino	4.3%	5.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Kenai Peninsula Borough	Ketchikan Gateway Borough
No high school diploma	5.7%	5.1%
High school graduate	30.6%	29.3%
Some college or associate's	34.3%	38.6%
Bachelor's degree	19.1%	18.2%
Graduate or professional degree	10.3%	8.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Kenai Peninsula Borough	Ketchikan Gateway Borough
Drove alone	66.8%	68.1%
Carpooled	11.6%	14.1%
Public transit	0.3%	2.9%
Walked	5.9%	6.9%
Bicycle	0.7%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.4%	4.7%
Other means	5.3%	3.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Kenai Peninsula Borough	Ketchikan Gateway Borough
1-unit, detached	82.2%	55.1%
1-unit, attached	2.3%	6.4%
2 to 4 units	6.6%	19.4%
5 to 19 units	3.5%	7.8%
20 or more units	1.4%	8.2%
Mobile home & other	3.9%	3.2%

Poverty & households

	Kenai Peninsula Borough	Ketchikan Gateway Borough
Poverty rate	11.6%	9.5%
Average household size	2.43	2.41
Mean commute (minutes)	20	14
Median year structure built	1989	1976