Kotzebue is a very small coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Alaska. With a population of 2,889 people and just one neighborhood, Kotzebue is the 24th largest community in Alaska.
Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Kotzebue is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Kotzebue is a city of professionals, sales and office workers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Kotzebue who work in office and administrative support (17.27%), business and financial occupations (9.48%), and management occupations (8.31%).
Kotzebue is also nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery.
Residents of the city have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 8.84 minutes getting to work every day.
The percentage of adults in Kotzebue who are college-educated is close to the national average for all communities of 21.84%: 18.69% of the adults in Kotzebue have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.
The per capita income in Kotzebue in 2022 was $43,384, which is middle income relative to Alaska, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $173,536 for a family of four. However, Kotzebue contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Kotzebue is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Kotzebue home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Kotzebue residents report their race to be Native American, followed by White. Important ancestries of people in Kotzebue include German, Irish, English, Swedish, and European.
The most common language spoken in Kotzebue is English. Other important languages spoken here include Native American languages and Spanish.
When you see a neighborhood for the first time, the most important thing is often the way it looks, like its homes and its setting. Some places look the same, but they only reveal their true character after living in them for a while because they contain a unique mix of occupational or cultural groups. This neighborhood is very unique in some important ways, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive exploration and analysis.
This neighborhood has wide open spaces, few people, and lots of space to stretch out. If you like locations that fit that description, you may like this neighborhood. Based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis, with only 12 people per square mile living here, this neighborhood is less crowded than 96.6% of America. is a neighborhood that is on the ocean, a bay, or inlet. Many times, such places have amenities that bring locals and visitors to the waterfront for recreational activities or to check out the scenery. In some densely populated areas that are less financially well-off, the neighborhood waterfront can be relatively industrial and less open to recreation. In addition to being coastal, is a very nautical neighborhood, meaning that it is somewhat historic, walkable, densely populated and on the water. This gives the neighborhood a very nautical feel, with some seaside and shipping feel, which some may really enjoy the sights and sounds of.
In addition, most neighborhoods are composed of a mixture of ages of homes, but the stands out as rather unique in having nearly all of its residential real estate built in one time period, namely between 1970 and 1999, generally considered to be established, but not old housing. What you'll sense when you look around or drive the streets of this neighborhood is that many of the residences look the same because of this similarity of age. In fact, 82.2% of the residential real estate here was built in this one time period.
Whether walking, biking, riding, or driving, the length of one's commute is an important factor for one's quality of life. The neighborhood stands out for its commute length, according to NeighborhoodScout's analysis. Residents of the neighborhood have the pleasure of having one of the shortest commutes to work of any neighborhood in America. 92.8% of the residents have a commute time from home to work (one way) of less than fifteen minutes. This is a higher proportion of residents enjoying a short trip to work than NeighborhoodScout found in 99.9% of U.S. neighborhoods. Less time commuting means more time for other things in life.
In the neighborhood, walking to work is a real option for many. In fact, NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research reveals walking to and from work is the chosen way to commute for 44.4% of residents here. This is a higher proportion of walking commuters than we found in 99.8% of American neighborhoods. Get ready to put on your walking shoes if you move here!
Also, our research shows that more people carpool to work here in the (27.6%) than in 98.0% of the neighborhoods in America.
The government often provides some of the more stable jobs in the economy. From local, to state, to federal government workers, the government can also be a major employer. What NeighborhoodScout's analysis revealed, is that the neighborhood in particular stands out when compared nationally for the proportion of its working residents who are employed by the government. At 24.8% of its workforce, this neighborhood has a greater concentration of government workers than 99.6% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Most American households own a car or other vehicle. Many own two cars or perhaps three. In the United States, it is useful to have an automobile not only for commuting, but also for shopping and getting to other services one needs. But NeighborhoodScout's analysis revealed that households in the neighborhood have a highly unusual car ownership. 28.0% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 96.8% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Native American ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 62.7% of this neighborhood's residents have Native American ancestry.
is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 27.7% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Native American languages at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 99.9% of the neighborhoods in America.
There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in Kotzebue are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 78.2% of the neighborhoods in America. With 18.2% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 67.1% of U.S. neighborhoods.
What we choose to do for a living reflects who we are. Each neighborhood has a different mix of occupations represented, and together these tell you about the neighborhood and help you understand if this neighborhood may fit your lifestyle.
In the neighborhood, 43.3% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is manufacturing and laborer occupations, with 25.6% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions (24.8%), and 19.5% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
The languages spoken by people in this neighborhood are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 80.6% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Native American languages and Spanish.
Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.
In the neighborhood in Kotzebue, AK, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Native American (62.7%). There are also a number of people of German ancestry (6.4%), and residents who report Mexican roots (4.1%), and some of the residents are also of Irish ancestry (3.7%), along with some English ancestry residents (2.9%), among others.
How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (92.8% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (44.4%) hop out the door and walk to work to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (27.6%) and 23.4% of residents also drive alone in a private automobile for their daily commute. This is a special neighborhood for the number of people who walk to work. Combining exercise, low cost, and reduced pollution, plus the chance to see your neighbors, walking to work is fairly uncommon in America but likely to increase as people try to reduce their dependence on automobiles, and this neighborhood offers that opportunity today.