U.S. Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham addresses state and Alaska Native leaders Friday, Jan. 17, 2020, in Anchorage, Alaska. Results of the 2020 census showed a 6% growth in the Kenai Peninsula Borough. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

U.S. Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham addresses state and Alaska Native leaders Friday, Jan. 17, 2020, in Anchorage, Alaska. Results of the 2020 census showed a 6% growth in the Kenai Peninsula Borough. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

Census shows slight peninsula population growth

The 2020 census kicked off in January 2020 in Toksook Bay, Alaska.

The population of the Kenai Peninsula Borough grew by about 6.1% over the last 10 years, or from about 55,400 to about 58,800 people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Municipality of Anchorage remains the state’s most populated area, with about 291,247 people — about 39.7% of the state’s total population of about 733,391 people. It’s almost triple the population of the next highest region — the Matanuska-Susitna Borough with about 107,081. The Mat-Su, however, saw the most population growth over the past 10 years — about 20.3%.

Alaska as a whole saw population growth of about 3.3% over the last 10 years — or by about 23,160 people.

The 2020 census kicked off last January in Toksook Bay, Alaska. Census data is used, among other things, to determine state legislative districts and how much funding communities receive for local services, according to Alaska Counts, a nonpartisan census education initiative.

Census data can be accessed online at data.census.gov, with more data expected to be released in September.

Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.

More in News

Poster for Return of the Reds. (Photo courtesy Kenai Peninsula Food Bank)
Poster for Return of the Reds. (Photo courtesy Kenai Peninsula Food Bank)
Return of the Reds returns after several-year hiatus

The Kenai event celebrates the start of the 2023 salmon season

Middle schoolers practice fly casting into the Kenai River during a kids camp put on by Trout Unlimited on Wednesday, May 24, 2023, at the Donald E. Gilman Kenai River Center in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Learning to love the watershed

Kids camp teaches fly fishing, ecology

Alaska State Troopers logo.
Seward man arrested on drug charges gave false identification, troopers say

Kevin Hakala, 42, was pulled over by Seward-based troopers on Saturday

Poster for 100% Alaska Town Hall & Family Day (Photo courtesy Change 4 the Kenai)
100% Alaska Town Hall to share assessment results, discuss state of ‘vital services’

The project is composed of four steps: assess, plan, act and evaluate

Division of Forestry & Fire Protection engines responding to the Charland Fire on May 21, 2023, near Soldotna. (Photo courtesy Kenai-Kodiak DOF)
9 fires reported on Kenai Peninsula since start of May

The largest local fire was the Charland Fire, which was reported on Sunday

File.
4 days in July set for Ninilchik razor clam harvest

The abundance of adult clams is below the threshold necessary to open the fishery in Clam Gulch

Foliage surrounds the Soldotna Police Department sign on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Police identify human remains found near Sterling Highway

They were located approximately 200 yards southeast of 43199 Sterling Highway

Most Read