States · Alaska · North Slope Borough

Utqiaġvik, Alaska.

A city in North Slope Borough. Zillow publishes no home prices for it: see North Slope Borough’s.

Living in Utqiaġvik, North Slope Borough, Alaska

Utqiaġvik is a city of 4,927 people in North Slope Borough. 46% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 54% are rented. Unemployment in North Slope Borough was 3.0% in August 2026, and the county had 7.6% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in government, then schools and health care.

People 4,927 in the 2020 census; median age 34.4
Household income Too few homes in Utqiaġvik for the Census survey to measure.
Unemployment 3.0% North Slope Borough, August 2026; 2.9% a year before
Homes 46% lived in by their owners; 54% rented
  • 1,441households
  • 16%of adults have a degree
  • 11%below the poverty line
  • 7%work from home

What residents work in

  • Government32%
  • Schools, hospitals and social care24%
  • Restaurants, hotels and entertainment7%
  • Shops (retail)7%
  • Professional and business services6%
  • Transport, warehouses and utilities6%

Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. North Slope Borough had 12,694 jobs in 2025, 7.6% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).

Weather through the year

Average daily high and low for each month: coldest in February, -6° and -18°; warmest in July, 48° and 36° -20° 0° 20° 40° J F -6° -18° M A M J J 48° 36° A S O N D
Average daily high and low for each month: coldest in February, -6° and -18°; warmest in July, 48° and 36° -20° 0° 20° 40° J F -6° -18° M A M J J 48° 36° A S O N D

Coldest in February, with highs near -6° and lows near -18°; warmest in July, with highs near 48° and lows near 36°. About 46 inches of snow and 5 inches of rain and melted snow a year.

Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Barrow Post Rogers Airport weather station, a mile away (NOAA).

Largest workplaces in Utqiaġvik

  1. Samuel Simmonds Memorial HospitalCritical access hospital478FTE
  2. North Slope Borough School DistrictSchool district414FTE
  3. Tagiugmiullu Nunamiullu Housing Authority - MainLessors of residential buildings and dwellings40

Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 1 workplace with 20 or more staff, 40 people in all. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.

Natural hazards

  1. Cold wavesVery high
  2. Winter weatherVery high

FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Utqiaġvik’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.

From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on North Slope Borough.