Alaska
State-to-state migration of people and income, 2022–2023 filing years
At a glance (2023)
The cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. The median home is valued at $333,300 (nominal). Home prices have risen about 34% over the five years to 2023. Median rent is about $1,388 a month. Unemployment averaged 4.3% in 2023 (national 3.6%). Median household income is $89,336. These figures describe all residents, not just tax filers, come from separate sources than the migration data on this page, and do not indicate why anyone moved.
Between the 2022 and 2023 filing years, Alaska saw a net loss of 1,373 tax-filing households and a net loss of 3,992 individuals. Against a population of about 733,406, that is a net outflow of about 5.4 per 1,000 residents. On net, the area lost $211.2M in associated adjusted gross income (AGI, nominal dollars). The largest inflow, about 1,363 households, came from California; the largest outflow, about 1,600 households, went to Washington. In the prior (2022) filing year, the area saw a net loss of 4,864 individuals. These figures cover federal income tax filers only and do not indicate why people moved.
-5.4 net people per 1,000 residents (population 733,406)
Income (AGI) in and out
Alaska counties
Net migration by county. Hover for figures; click a county to open it.
Top origin states
- 1California1,363$86.3M
- 2Washington1,310$91.3M
- 3Texas1,256$87M
- 4Florida866$48.8M
- 5Colorado625$43.2M
- 6Arizona612$42.5M
- 7Oregon607$38.2M
- 8Virginia466$29.7M
- 9North Carolina455$27M
- 10Georgia415$22.4M
Top destination states
- 1Washington1,600$122.7M
- 2Texas1,349$104.8M
- 3California1,143$71.1M
- 4Florida970$73.7M
- 5Arizona926$69M
- 6Oregon755$52.1M
- 7Colorado697$47.9M
- 8North Carolina518$34.5M
- 9Georgia480$29.9M
- 10Virginia425$32.4M
Churn by state · both directions at once
The biggest two-way exchanges of filing households, 2022–2023. Moved in and moved out are gross one-way counts; net is the difference. Click a column to sort.
| Washington | 1,310 | 1,600 | -290 | -$31.4M |
| Texas | 1,256 | 1,349 | -93 | -$17.8M |
| California | 1,363 | 1,143 | +220 | +$15.2M |
| Florida | 866 | 970 | -104 | -$24.9M |
| Arizona | 612 | 926 | -314 | -$26.5M |
| Oregon | 607 | 755 | -148 | -$13.9M |
| Colorado | 625 | 697 | -72 | -$4.6M |
| North Carolina | 455 | 518 | -63 | -$7.4M |
| Georgia | 415 | 480 | -65 | -$7.5M |
| Virginia | 466 | 425 | +41 | -$2.7M |
| Idaho | 311 | 410 | -99 | -$9.8M |
| Utah | 324 | 386 | -62 | -$1M |
Counts are filing households (IRS returns), matching the lists above; income is nominal AGI. A dash means the IRS published only one direction of that exchange (small flows are suppressed), so no net is computed.
Net migration by year
| Year | Net AGI | Net people |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | -$235.9M | -3,976 |
| 2013 | -$425.3M | -8,230 |
| 2014 | -$256.8M | -7,775 |
| 2015 | -$99.8M | -2,138 |
| 2016 | -$278.7M | -5,413 |
| 2017 | -$606.9M | -15,574 |
| 2018 | -$321.4M | -8,907 |
| 2019 | -$290.1M | -7,504 |
| 2020 | -$282.5M | -6,865 |
| 2021 | -$221.7M | -4,060 |
| 2022 | -$308.2M | -4,864 |
| 2023 | -$211.2M | -3,992 |
How big is this move, relative to the state?
In the 2022–2023 filing year, about 3,992 more people left Alaska than moved in (counting tax filers and their dependents) — a net loss of about $211.2M in income (nominal) — in a state of 734,654 people.
The rate lets you compare Alaska with a stateof any size: it’s the net flow divided by population. The IRS counts tax filers; population counts all residents, so read the rate as a scale indicator, not a literal share of people.
Components of population change · 2023 (Census)
Where the state’s overall change came from. Census counts all residents; the IRS migration above is one slice of the domestic-migration component.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program. Figures are people, not tax filers.
What a dollar is worth here
Prices around Alaska run about 3% above the national average. In plain terms: $100 spent here buys about what $97 buys in the average American community. The figures below apply that to income, each compared to the U.S. average of $70,002 per person.
Price parity shown at the state level (BEA does not publish a single figure below the metro level).
Where the cost comes from · price parity by category
Index where 100 = U.S. average for that category. Housing is usually what separates one place from another.
Housing is measured from rents (including an estimated rental value for owner-occupied homes), so a run-up in purchase prices shows here only as it reaches rents. Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Covers all residents, a separate universe from the IRS filer income above. How the data works.
The people of Alaska
American Community Survey, 2019–2023 (a 5-year average of all residents, not just tax filers).
White, Black, and Asian counts are people who are not Hispanic or Latino; Hispanic or Latino can be of any race. Shares are rounded and may not total 100.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Covers all residents, a separate universe from the IRS filer data. A 5-year estimate is an average over 2019–2023; compare years at least five apart, since consecutive windows overlap. How the data works.
Housing · what it costs to live here (ACS 2019–2023)
A repeat-sales index (how much the same homes changed in price), so it tracks the market over time rather than the current level. Source: Federal Housing Finance Agency, annual all-transactions HPI; the county series is FHFA’s developmental index.
Units authorized by residential building permits (new supply), summed from counties for the state and U.S. Permits are authorizations, not completions. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey.
Home value is what owners estimate their homes are worth, not recent sale prices. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2019–2023), nominal dollars. How the data works.
Jobs and natural hazards
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (LAUS) and FEMA. A disaster declaration marks federal assistance eligibility, not damage severity, and says nothing about why anyone moved. How the data works.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (LAUS). Monthly unemployment for this state, not seasonally adjusted. Updated every month, so it moves faster than the annual average above. How the data works.
Net migration by income bracket
Tax-filing households that moved into Alaska minus those that left, by the adjusted gross income they reported, 2022–2023. Positive means more arrived than left at that income level.
Among the highest earners ($200k+), Alaska ranks #34 of 51 states for net household migration (-270).
Source: IRS Statistics of Income, state-level gross migration file (returns with negative AGI are excluded, so this won’t exactly match the totals above). Income is what filers reported, not a reason anyone moved. Compare all states by income bracket. How the data works.
What Alaska ships and receives
Physical goods shipped between Alaska and other states, 2022. This is freight, not the migration of people or income shown above.
Top goods shipped out
Top goods received
Biggest trading partners (both ways)
Goods trade runs in both directions: states swap different goods, so a partner is often near the top of both columns. Net is ships minus receives (positive means Alaska ships more to that partner than it gets back).
| Partner | Ships to | Receives | Net | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | $73M | $7.3B | -$7.2B | $7.4B |
| Washington | $2.9B | $3.0B | -$92M | $5.9B |
| Massachusetts | — | $1.5B | — | $1.5B |
| Oregon | $7M | $1.4B | -$1.4B | $1.4B |
| Pennsylvania | — | $1.3B | — | $1.3B |
| Texas | $57M | $1.2B | -$1.1B | $1.2B |
| Minnesota | — | $1.2B | — | $1.2B |
| Ohio | — | $809M | — | $809M |
Goods shipped every five years by the Census Commodity Flow Survey (a sample, so figures are estimates and the smallest flows are withheld). Value is nominal. The totals and partner table above count trade between Alaska and other states; the goods lists count everything the state ships or receives, including within-state shipments. Compare all states. How the data works.
What Alaska collects in taxes
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Survey of State Government Tax Collections. This is what the state government collected (not local taxes), not a measure of any individual’s tax burden. How the data works.
Elections
National maps →How Alaska has voted. Certified returns, popular vote only. This is a separate dataset from the migration figures on this page.
President, 1976–2024
| Year | Democratic | Republican | Other | Margin | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 140,026 | 184,458 | 13,693 | R +13.1 | 338,177 |
| 2020 | 153,778 | 189,951 | 13,840 | R +10.1 | 357,569 |
| 2016 | 116,454 | 163,387 | 38,557 | R +14.7 | 318,398 |
| 2012 | 122,640 | 164,676 | 13,179 | R +14.0 | 300,495 |
| 2008 | 123,594 | 193,841 | 8,762 | R +21.5 | 326,197 |
| 2004 | 180,365 | 292,267 | 16,061 | R +22.9 | 488,693 |
| 2000 | 79,004 | 167,398 | 39,128 | R +31.0 | 285,530 |
| 1996 | 80,380 | 122,746 | 38,494 | R +17.5 | 241,620 |
| 1992 | 78,294 | 102,000 | 78,212 | R +9.2 | 258,506 |
| 1988 | 72,584 | 119,251 | 8,281 | R +23.3 | 200,116 |
| 1984 | 62,007 | 138,377 | 7,221 | R +36.8 | 207,605 |
| 1980 | 41,842 | 86,112 | 30,491 | R +27.9 | 158,445 |
| 1976 | 44,058 | 71,555 | 7,961 | R +22.3 | 123,574 |
U.S. Senate races · all states →
| Year | Winner | Democratic | Republican | Other | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Murkowski, Lisa | — | — | 263,526 | — |
| 2020 | Dan Sullivan | 146,068 | 191,112 | 16,806 | R +12.7 |
| 2016 | Lisa Murkowski | 36,200 | 138,149 | 136,386 | R +32.7 |
| 2014 | Dan Sullivan | 129,431 | 135,445 | 16,148 | R +2.1 |
| 2010 | Lisa Murkowski | 60,045 | 90,839 | 104,537 | R +12.1 |
| 2008 | Mark Begich | 151,767 | 147,814 | 17,065 | D +1.2 |
| 2004 | Lisa Murkowski | 140,424 | 149,773 | 17,695 | R +3.0 |
| 2002 | Ted Stevens | 24,133 | 179,438 | 25,686 | R +67.7 |
U.S. House seats won · district maps →
Source: MIT Election Data and Science Lab county returns (CC0). Margins are the popular-vote gap as a share of all votes cast.
Counties in Alaska (30)
- Aleutians East Borough
- Aleutians West Census Area
- Anchorage Municipality
- Bethel Census Area
- Bristol Bay Borough
- Chugach Census Area
- Copper River Census Area
- Denali Borough
- Dillingham Census Area
- Fairbanks North Star Borough
- Haines Borough
- Hoonah-Angoon Census Area
- Juneau City and Borough
- Kenai Peninsula Borough
- Ketchikan Gateway Borough
- Kodiak Island Borough
- Kusilvak Census Area
- Lake and Peninsula Borough
- Matanuska-Susitna Borough
- Nome Census Area
- North Slope Borough
- Northwest Arctic Borough
- Petersburg Borough
- Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area
- Sitka City and Borough
- Skagway Municipality
- Southeast Fairbanks Census Area
- Wrangell City and Borough
- Yakutat City and Borough
- Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area
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