Fairbanks

Population & Demographics

Fairbanks, AK

Fairbanks is home to 32,083 people. Explore its demographics, housing, and economy — plus how its 12,970 resident workers commute each day.

AlaskaCensus ACS 5-Year · LODES 2016
Based on 2016 Census LODES data — the most recent available for Alaska.
32,083
people
Population

32,083 residents

Median age 29.0 · U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year (2024).

Fairbanks population & demographics

Who lives in Fairbanks — population, age, housing, and income, from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Population
32,083
Median age
29.0yrs
Median household income
$73,534
Median home value
$268,400
Median gross rent
$1,496/mo
Bachelor’s degree or higher
26.2%
Poverty rate
8.7%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 2024 5-Year Estimates. Values shown as “—” are suppressed or unavailable for this place.

Race & ethnicity in Fairbanks

How Fairbanks breaks down by race and ethnicity — each bar is that group’s share of the population, from the U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year (2024).

White55.0%
Hispanic or Latino11.3%
Two or more races10.8%
American Indian / Alaska Native8.4%
Black8.2%
Asian4.2%
Some other race1.1%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander0.9%

Race across Fairbanks

Each dot is a group of people, placed in their 2020 Census block and colored by race or ethnicity — the pattern shows where groups live across Fairbanks.

Fairbanks at a glance
Employed Residents
12,970
Fewer than the city’s total population
Median home–work distance
3.6mi
Straight-line, not road distance
Work Locally
54.5%
Share working within the area
Work from home
5.3%
Residents who work from home (ACS)
Top destination outside city
College
Excludes local — most work in-city

These figures are for Fairbanks proper — the Census place within its city limits — not the surrounding metro area. Metro-wide totals you’ll see elsewhere are larger because they bundle in neighboring cities and suburbs.

How Fairbanks commutes

Every dot is a worker moving between home and job. Trace where the area pulls people in from — and where its residents head each day.

91
Commute Score

91 / 100

How short the typical commute is here, on an absolute 0–100 scale (higher is shorter). How it’s calculated.

Fairbanks

12,970 commutes, one dot at a time

Fairbanks

Where 12,970 workers commute

Each dot ≈ 75 workers

Where residents work

Top destinations for people who live in Fairbanks, by worker count.

1Fairbanks0.0 mi7,070
2College3.6 mi1,357
3Anchorage municipality260.7 mi1,213
4Ketchikan854.7 mi1,167
5Prudhoe Bay381.5 mi410
6South Van Horn2.7 mi401
7Badger10.5 mi150
8North Pole12.2 mi99

Who commutes in

Top origin places for workers who travel into Fairbanks.

1Fairbanks0.0 mi7,070
2Badger10.5 mi3,483
3College3.6 mi3,076
4Steele Creek7.0 mi1,314
5Chena Ridge7.7 mi1,219
6Farmers Loop4.4 mi1,038
7Anchorage municipality260.7 mi970
8Goldstream9.4 mi600

Top industries

The sectors that employ Fairbanks’s workforce. Each bar is scaled to that sector’s share of all local jobs — the top sectors shown don’t add up to 100%.

Bar length = each sector’s share of all local jobs (0–100%)
HCHealth Care and Social Assistance20.4%
RTRetail Trade15.3%
EDEducational Services12.6%
PAPublic Administration10.9%
AFAccommodation and Food Services9.8%
COConstruction4.3%
PTProfessional, Scientific, and Technical Services4.2%
TRTransportation and Warehousing3.8%
OSOther Services (except Public Administration)2.5%
Connectivity

Internet options for Fairbanks

The biggest home-internet providers in the area — tap any to compare local plans.

3 providers
Speed availabilityshare of homes a plan reaches
1 Gbps~all homes
2 Gbps100%
5 Gbps
8 Gbps
See all internet providers in Fairbanks

FindBetterInternet is a CensusFlow partner site — we link out so you can compare local plans, and CensusFlow’s Census data stays independent. Provider data is from the FCC National Broadband Map (satellite + fixed wireless excluded).