Counties / Alaska / Ketchikan Gateway Borough

Ketchikan Gateway Borough, AK

FIPS 02130 · population 13,768 · outside every metro area

$410k
Zillow home value · 2026-06
The numbers

What this county costs and earns

Everything here joins on the county FIPS code, so each figure comes from the agency that publishes it with no name matching in between.

Zillow home value
$410k
▲ 8.1% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$1,505
occupied-unit survey; not current asking rent
Census ACS · surveyed
Gross yield
n/a
gross yield cannot be computed without measured market rent
requires both measured price and measured rent
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,625
the Section 8 payment standard
HUD Fair Market Rent · direct
Independent price check

Do two methods point the same way?

Zillow estimates a current home value. FHFA tracks repeat mortgage transactions. Their growth rates should be read side by side, not averaged.

The annual signals disagree
FHFA five-year cumulative+30.3%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+8.1%FHFA HPI2025−6.3%
Annual changes use different methods and may use different periods. The comparison checks direction and magnitude; it does not create a blended estimate. Zillow county ZHVI pulled 2026-07-26; FHFA annual county HPI pulled 2026-07-28.
Owner-reported value$393k
Surveyed gross rent$1,505
Rent burden 30%+49.0%
Median year built1977
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
14.4%vacant
6,698estimated housing units
Occupied tenure31.4% renter
owner 68.6%renter 31.4%
Structure mix60.3% single-family
Single-family 60.3%20+ units 8.4%Mobile home 3.1%Other 28.3%
ACS estimates describe the standing housing stock and occupied tenure. They do not measure current listings, transaction prices or asking rents.

Survey source: Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30. These values describe different housing universes and are not combined into gross yield.

Annual average covered jobs7,218▼ 0.8% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments636annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,269▲ 5.4% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities35.7% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−0.8%WEEKLY WAGE+5.4%Trade, transportation, and utilities35.7%
Annual QCEW counts cover jobs located at reporting establishments. The industry share uses disclosed private covered employment; it is not a resident-employment measure or a forecast.

Workplace source: BLS QCEW — county employment and wages · annual county employment and wages 2025 vs 2024 · pulled 2026-07-31. QCEW counts covered jobs located in the county, not employed residents or the metro score’s CES/LAUS series.

County brief

What the local evidence says

01Decision frame

Ketchikan Gateway Borough is a verification-first rather than yield-ready case: investors with access to local rent, insurance, and transaction comps should investigate, while buyers relying on headline appreciation should be cautious. Zillow’s county median home value was $410,478 in 2026-06, up 8.07% year over year. This contrasts with FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI, which fell 6.25% in annual 2025 after a 30.28% cumulative five-year gain. FHFA is an appreciation index, not a dollar home value; its period and method cannot be merged with Zillow’s into one growth rate.

02Housing economics

Market rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. The HUD FMR in the record is a payment standard, not an estimate of market asking rent and cannot fill that gap. The effective property-tax rate is 0.67%, with median annual tax of $2,619, a carrying-cost reference that still requires parcel assessment and exemption review. Without rent, operating-cost, condition, and financing evidence, no income or net-cash-flow conclusion is supported.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s MLS listing market in 2026-06 shows visible supply up 4.67%, a 54-day median marketing time, 15.99% of listings reduced, and a 32.14% pending-to-active ratio. These are asking-price, availability, marketing-time, and seller-concession signals—not closed-sale prices or proof of buyer demand alone. Tax-return migration was a one-household outflow, while outgoing movers’ average AGI exceeded incoming movers’ by $6,439. Non-occupants accounted for 2 of 65 purchase mortgages, or 3.08%; that limited measured participation does not capture cash buyers or establish competitive intensity.

04Risk & next checks

QCEW’s 2025 annual workplace data show lower covered employment and higher average weekly wages; Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector by employment, not the whole county economy or a resident-employment measure. Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled annual climate loss equals 0.03% of building value, not an actual loss or parcel-specific insurance quote. Missing lease comps, rent, sale comps, parcel flood data, insurance costs, and property condition prevent yield, exit-price, and hazard-cost underwriting; verify those before treating the conflicting price evidence as actionable.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Ketchikan Gateway Borough

Census-recognized incorporated places and CDPs that intersect this county. The list does not pretend to include every neighborhood or informal community.

Population scale

Largest Census places

ACS 2024 5-year
Ketchikan city8.1KSaxman city324Loring CDP0
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

3 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Ketchikan cityIncorporated place
    8,078
  2. 02
    Saxman cityIncorporated place
    324
  3. 03
    Loring CDPCensus-designated place
    0

Population is the total place-wide ACS estimate, not an allocated county share. A place crossing a county line is labelled explicitly. Source: Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30.

Risk, demand and competition

The three things a price does not tell you

01
Risk & carrying costFEMA NRI + Census ACS
Dominant hazardinland flooding

0.035% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.67%

$2,619 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-1

416 in · 417 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$6,439

$64,813 arriving · $71,252 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors3.1%

2 of 65 mortgages

investorother financed
Current listing pressure

What sellers and visible supply are doing

Realtor.com® Economic Research · county inventory 2026-06 · pulled 2026-07-28
Active listings56▲ 4.7% year over year
Median days on market54▼ 14.9% year over year
Listings price-reduced16.0%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 0.9% year over year

Listing price is an asking price, not a closed sale. Quality-flagged county rows are withheld instead of displayed.

No rent index is published for this county.Zillow’s county rent series does not cover every county, and estimating one from a neighbouring county would be a guess wearing a number’s clothes. Everything above is measured here; no wider market is mapped for it either.
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Market rent and operating costs may not support carrying costs at target acquisition terms.
  2. County-level Zillow, HPI, and MLS indicators may not match a target property’s segment or location.
  3. Parcel-specific flood exposure, insurability, and repair needs may differ from the county modeled loss.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from the supplied record?

No. Published market rent is absent, and HUD FMR cannot be substituted for market asking rent.

Do the price measures provide one usable appreciation rate?

No. Zillow and FHFA show opposing directions across differently labeled periods and different measurement methods.

Does the record quantify parcel-specific flood insurance cost?

No. It provides a county-level modeled climate-loss ratio and the dominant hazard, not a parcel insurance quote or flood determination.