Alaska population projected to peak in 2035, then slide to 724,936 by 2055

Alaska's Department of Labor and Workforce Development has released population projections running to 2055. Under the middle of three scenarios, the state rises from 738,737 now to 746,032 in 2035, then falls to 724,936. The figures rest on current population counts and historical birth, death, and migration trends. A separate Alaska Native projection rises from 165,951 to 172,182.

The previous edition, Alaska Population Projections: 2023 to 2050, projected the state shrinking from 736,812 in 2023 to 722,806 in 2050, with median age rising from 36.5 to 40.9 and the Alaska Native population growing from 160,287 in 2020 to 181,856. In December 2024 the department wrote in Trends magazine, "For the first time, our population projections show a decline in Alaska's population over the long term."

At a Kodiak Island Borough Assembly meeting May 21, Dan Rohr said the state's 2050 figure for the island, 9,871 residents, "scares" him as a business and building owner. The new numbers put Kodiak at 9,634 in 2050 and 9,191 in 2055, from 12,430 now.