Alaska’s population continues to decline, according to the state’s most recent estimate.
The estimate says Anchorage lost about 3,000 residents from July 2019 to July 2020, while Fairbanks gained about a thousand people, associated with a buildup related to F-35 fighter jets stationed nearby. And the Matanuska-Susitna Borough continued its long-term, steady increase with about 520 new residents.
State Demographer David Howell helps put together the population estimate. Howell told Alaska Public Media’s Casey Grove he can’t point to any one reason for the overall statewide decline of about a half a percent, but he said there are some interesting things about the trends.
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Casey Grove is host of Alaska News Nightly, a general assignment reporter and an editor at Alaska Public Media. Reach him atcgrove@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Caseyhere.
