Petersburg is a very small coastal town (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Alaska. With a population of 3,043 people and just one neighborhood, Petersburg is the 25th largest community in Alaska.
Unlike some towns, Petersburg isn’t mainly white- or blue-collar. Instead, the most prevalent occupations for people in Petersburg are a mix of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Petersburg is a town of service providers, sales and office workers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Petersburg who work in sales jobs (11.00%), food service (10.81%), and office and administrative support (10.69%).
There are many members of the armed forces living in Petersburg. You will notice when you visit or live here that some of the people you meet or see around town are employed by the armed services - even if they are not always in uniform.
It is a fairly quiet town because there are relatively few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. (Children, for example, often can't help themselves from being noisy, and being parents ourselves, we know!) Petersburg has relatively few families with children living at home, and is quieter because of it. Renters and college students, for their own reasons, can also be noisy. Petersburg has few renters and college students. But the biggest reason it is quieter in Petersburg than in most places in America, is that there are just simply fewer people living here. If you think trees make good neighbors, Petersburg may be for you.
Petersburg 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.
Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of Petersburg spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 9.34 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the town are less than they would otherwise be.
The overall education level of Petersburg is somewhat higher than in the average US city of 21.84%: 26.70% of adults 25 and older in the town have at least a bachelor's degree.
The per capita income in Petersburg in 2022 was $42,483, 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 $169,932 for a family of four. However, Petersburg contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Petersburg is an extremely ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Petersburg home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Petersburg residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Petersburg include German, Norwegian, English, Irish, and Swedish.
The most common language spoken in Petersburg is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Tagalog.
The way a neighborhood looks and feels when you walk or drive around it, from its setting, its buildings, and its flavor, can make all the difference. This neighborhood has some really cool things about the way it looks and feels as revealed by NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research. This might include anything from the housing stock to the types of households living here to how people get around.
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 1 people per square mile living here, this neighborhood is less crowded than 99.3% of America. Do you like a coastal setting? If so, this neighborhood may be to your liking. The neighborhood is on the ocean, a bay, or inlet. Often such coastal places have amenities and recreational activities on the waterfront that are attractive to residents and visitors alike. 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.
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.
More people in choose to walk to work each day (22.8%) than almost any neighborhood in America. If you are attracted to the idea of being able to walk to work, this neighborhood could be a good choice.
It used to be that most Americans lived on the farm, or otherwise made their living from the land, the forests, or the sea. With global trade and an economy increasingly based on providing services to one another, fewer people farm, fish or harvest timber now than at any time in American history. But according to NeighborhoodScout's leading analysis, the neighborhood stands apart from most American neighborhood due to the proportion of its residents still working in these fields. With 7.3% of the workforce so employed, this neighborhood has a greater concentration of such workers than 98.4% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Furthermore, with 2.1% of employed workers living in the neighborhood active in the military, this neighborhood has the distinction of having a higher proportion of people in the military than 96.3% of American neighborhoods. This is a major shaper of the neighborhood's culture and character.
If you are planning to retire in Alaska, this neighborhood should be on your must-see list. For many reasons, may be considered a retiree's dream neighborhood. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis and metrics, it's peaceful and quiet, has above average safety from crime compared to other neighborhoods in Alaska, while also offering a diverse range of housing options. This, along with the vibrant mix of very educated seniors and other age groups who choose to live here, makes the neighborhood more retiree-friendly than 96.6% of neighborhoods in AK. If a Alaska retirement is in your future, this neighborhood should be one of the places you visit.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Norwegian and Native American ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 12.1% of this neighborhood's residents have Norwegian ancestry and 5.0% have Native American ancestry.
is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 1.6% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Japanese at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 98.6% of the neighborhoods in America.
How wealthy a neighborhood is, from very wealthy, to middle income, to low income is very formative with regard to the personality and character of a neighborhood. Equally important is the rate of people, particularly children, who live below the federal poverty line. In some wealthy gated communities, the areas immediately surrounding can have high rates of childhood poverty, which indicates other social issues. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in Petersburg are middle-income, making it a moderate income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 47.2% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 5.8% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 61.1% of America's neighborhoods.
The old saying "you are what you eat" is true. But it is also true that you are what you do for a living. The types of occupations your neighbors have shape their character, and together as a group, their collective occupations shape the culture of a place.
In the neighborhood, 28.7% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 28.5% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (19.4%), and 16.1% 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 81.1% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish, Tagalog (the first language of the Philippine region), Chinese and Italian.
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 Petersburg, AK, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (18.7%). There are also a number of people of Asian ancestry (12.4%), and residents who report Norwegian roots (12.1%), and some of the residents are also of English ancestry (9.5%), along with some Irish ancestry residents (8.5%), among others. In addition, 13.8% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.
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 (49.2%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also hop out the door and walk to work to get to work (22.8%) and 19.7% of residents also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors for their daily commute. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.