Statistics for Sarah Palin's Alaska

Report on Alaskan Population, Financial and Social Issues Statistics

Sep 16, 2008 Rosemary E. Bachelor

Sarah Palin presides over a low population state with high oil revenues where homelessness, poverty, infant mortality and abortions were on the rise when she took office.

Alaska appears to be a wealthy state which gets more federal money per capita than most states. We will not, however, be able to assess Palin’s effectiveness as Governor until her term is over. That means there is no good yardstick to use to judge her competency to handle the top executive posts in our federal government.

Alaska’s Population

Alaska’s current population is estimated at 670,000. That means that 17 U. S. cities have more people than the state Palin governs. However, North Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming have even less population.

More than half of Alaska’s people live in the Anchorage and Fairbanks metropolitan areas.

Youth under age 18 are slightly over 27% of its population, whereas people over age 65 are only 6.89%. The former is higher than the U. S. average and the latter is considerably lower.

Land Area and Finances

Alaska has 2.5 times as much land as runner-up Texas. Even though Alaska has more than 400 times as much land as tiny Rhode Island, Rhode Island has a population of more than one million residents.

The state’s major source of income (80%) is related to the petroleum industry, but its federal government income stream is also high for its low population. At the end of Alaska’s fiscal year 2007, its assets exceeded its liabilities by $52.1 billion, yet its long-term debt increased by $159 million.

The 2005 gross state product was $39.9 billion. Its per-capita GSP for 2006 was $43,748, fifth in the nation. Alaska, with the lowest individual tax burden in the United States, is one of only five states with no state sales tax and one of seven states that do not levy an individual income tax. Most towns do not levy a property tax.

Social Issues

Alaskan teenagers accounted for almost one of every nine births in Alaska between 1993 and 2002, with the highest incidence among Alaska’s native mothers. Later statistics couldn’t be located. Infant deaths in 2006 (79 per thousand) were higher than any year since 2001. There were 1,943 known abortions in 2005, that being considerably more than in 2003.

The unemployment rate in 2005 was 6.8%. In 2004, the median household income was $52,141, which was higher than the national average. The last census reported 21 percent of the population had an income of less than $25,000.

In 2006 there were 3,019 homeless people in shelters, up 16% from 2005. In 2006 the monthly average of 21,545 food stamp cases was up 3.8% over the previous year. In 2006, there were 16,514 public assistance cases, up 2% over 2005.

The percent of high school graduates among people over age 25 in the last census was 88.3, slightly above the national average. The percent of college graduates in the over age 25 population was 24.7.

Sources: U. S. Census Bureau; Health Status in Alaska, 2000 Edition; Alaska Health Care Data Book, by Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (2007: Juneau); Alaska Department of Administration’s Division of Finance audited report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2007.

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