Nome County Local Demographic Profile
Nome County, AK (officially Nome Census Area; county-equivalent)
Population size
- Total population: 10,046 (2020 Census)
Age and sex (ACS 2018–2022, 5-year)
- Median age: ~30.5 years
- Under 18: ~33%
- 65 and over: ~8%
- Sex: ~52.5% male, ~47.5% female
Race and ethnicity (ACS 2018–2022, 5-year)
- American Indian and Alaska Native (alone): ~77%
- White (alone): ~15%
- Two or more races: ~6%
- Asian: ~1%
- Black or African American: ~0.4%
- Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: ~0.3%
- Hispanic or Latino (any race): ~3%
Households (ACS 2018–2022, 5-year)
- Total households: ~3,000
- Average household size: ~3.3
- Family households: ~75% of households
- Average family size: ~3.9
Key insights
- Strong Alaska Native majority (~3 in 4 residents)
- Younger age profile than U.S. overall (median ~30.5 vs. U.S. ~38+)
- Larger households and higher share of family households than U.S. average
- Slight male-skewed population
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Decennial Census (DP1) and 2018–2022 American Community Survey 5-year estimates (DP02, DP05).
Email Usage in Nome County
Scope note: “Nome County” corresponds to the Nome Census Area, Alaska (2020 Census population: 10,046).
Estimated email users
- Adults (18+): ~6,750. Estimated email users: ~6,000 (about 89% of adults), reflecting high mobile-based email use despite uneven fixed broadband.
Age distribution of users (approx.)
- 18–34: ~2,300 users
- 35–64: ~3,100 users
- 65+: ~600 users This mirrors local demographics (young median age) and slightly lower adoption among seniors.
Gender split (approx.)
- Male: 53% of users (3,200)
- Female: 47% of users (2,800) Email usage is broadly similar by gender.
Digital access and trends
- City of Nome has fiber backhaul via Quintillion (since 2017), supporting high-capacity service in town.
- Many outlying villages depend on satellite/microwave; Starlink adoption has accelerated since 2023, raising typical residential speeds to roughly 50–200 Mbps where unobstructed sky view exists.
- Mobile data is a primary access path; fixed wired options remain limited outside Nome.
- The end of the Affordable Connectivity Program in 2024 pressures affordability for lower-income households.
Local density/connectivity facts
- Extremely sparse, roadless region with widely separated communities; connectivity and reliability vary by village and weather, making mobile and satellite crucial for routine email access.
Mobile Phone Usage in Nome County
Mobile phone usage in Nome County, Alaska (Nome Census Area) — 2025 summary
Geography and population baseline
- Geography: The Nome Census Area spans 16 remote communities anchored by the City of Nome on the southern Seward Peninsula. Much of the area is off the road system; roads radiating from Nome (Teller, Kougarok/Taylor, and Council) do not connect to the statewide highway network.
- Population: About 10,300 residents (2023 estimate), roughly 3,100 households. Nome city accounts for just under 40% of residents; the remainder live in smaller coastal and riverine communities and on St. Lawrence Island.
User estimates
- Unique mobile users (2025): Approximately 7,100–7,900 residents use a mobile phone regularly; a central estimate is about 7,500. This is derived from population counts, adult share of the population, and rural smartphone adoption patterns observed in recent ACS/Pew-style indicators for Alaska and the rural U.S.
- Smartphone users: Approximately 6,900–7,300 of those mobile users are on smartphones; remaining users rely on basic/feature phones (especially elders and very remote households).
- Mobile-only households: A larger-than-state-average share of households rely on mobile phones as their primary or only voice line due to limited legacy copper landline support and the cost/availability of fixed services in villages.
Demographic breakdown of the user base
- By race/ethnicity: The mobile user base mirrors the area’s population composition, with Alaska Native people forming the majority of users. Approximate composition of users:
- Alaska Native (primarily Inupiaq and Yupik): about 70–75% of users
- White (non-Hispanic): about 15–20%
- All other groups combined: about 5–10%
- By age:
- Under 18: roughly one-fifth to one-quarter of users (smartphone access is widespread among teens but not universal in the smallest villages)
- 18–34: roughly 28–32% of users (high smartphone dependence for messaging, work, and education)
- 35–54: roughly 28–30%
- 55+: roughly 16–20% (feature-phone usage is most common in this cohort, but smartphone use continues to rise)
- By location:
- Nome hub: the single largest concentration of users, with multi-carrier LTE and more consistent capacity
- Villages (e.g., Unalakleet, Shishmaref, Savoonga, Gambell, Stebbins/St. Michael, Elim, Koyuk, Golovin, Brevig Mission, Wales, White Mountain): smaller cells with tighter capacity and variable backhaul
Digital infrastructure and coverage
- Carriers present:
- GCI: Primary rural wireless carrier with LTE in Nome and most hub/village sites; extensive microwave (TERRA) and leased fiber backhaul.
- AT&T/FirstNet: LTE in Nome and selected communities; FirstNet band 14 improves resilience for public safety users in and around hub areas.
- T-Mobile: Minimal or no native coverage outside Nome; service often relies on roaming.
- 4G/5G availability:
- 4G LTE is the dominant technology area-wide.
- 5G is limited or absent outside the Nome hub; where present, it is typically low-band and capacity-limited compared to urban Alaska. Statewide, 5G is common in metro areas; the Nome area lags this statewide trend.
- Backhaul:
- Quintillion subsea fiber lands in Nome, providing high-capacity backhaul for local networks and ISPs. This is a major differentiator for the hub relative to surrounding villages.
- GCI’s TERRA microwave network and other point-to-point microwave links extend capacity inland but are more latency- and weather-sensitive than fiber.
- Satellite backhaul (including modern LEO like Starlink) remains crucial for off-fiber villages; many households also adopt Starlink for home broadband and rely on Wi‑Fi calling, a pattern more pronounced here than statewide.
- Coverage characteristics:
- Nome city: dense macro coverage with generally higher downlink speeds and better reliability, especially when traffic can ride fiber backhaul.
- Road corridors out of Nome: spotty service that improves near settlements and high points.
- Remote villages: LTE is common but capacity can be constrained at peak times; latency and backhaul congestion are the primary bottlenecks rather than radio signal strength in populated areas.
Usage patterns and trends that differ from Alaska statewide
- Higher dependence on mobile for primary connectivity: A larger share of households use mobile service for both voice and internet access (via tethering or fixed-wireless substitutes), compared with urban Alaska where wired and cable/fiber broadband are more available.
- Lower 5G availability and slower device turnover: 4G remains the workhorse; 5G devices and plans are adopted more slowly due to cost, limited local benefit without dense 5G coverage, and supply logistics.
- Greater reliance on Wi‑Fi calling and OTT messaging: Home Wi‑Fi (often via Starlink in villages) is used to backstop inconsistent cellular coverage, an adaptation less common in Anchorage/Mat-Su/Fairbanks metro areas.
- Pricing sensitivity and prepaid skew: Prepaid and month-to-month plans are more prevalent than in urban Alaska due to credit access, seasonal employment, and travel patterns.
- Seasonal load swings: Summer fisheries, mining, construction, research, and tourism produce noticeable spikes in mobile traffic and roaming in the Nome hub; winter traffic is steadier but can stress microwave/satellite backhaul during events and weather disruptions.
- Public safety and resilience: FirstNet adoption among public agencies is higher relative to population size than in many urban parts of the state, reflecting the importance of priority access during weather and medevac events and limited redundancy off the fiber path.
Performance and quality-of-service notes
- In Nome (on fiber), typical user experience supports app updates, HD video, and telehealth with fewer constraints, though evening congestion can still degrade speeds.
- In microwave- and satellite-fed villages, users experience higher latency and more frequent slowdowns at peak hours; carriers prioritize core services and public safety traffic during congestion events.
- Power and weather resilience is a persistent operational focus; outages are generally shorter in the fiber-served hub than in satellite/microwave-only villages.
What this means for planners and providers
- Investments that extend fiber or increase village backhaul (more microwave capacity, LEO aggregation) provide the greatest marginal improvement in user experience.
- Enhancing Wi‑Fi calling interoperability and eSIM-based roaming between carriers materially improves reliability for residents moving between hub and village environments.
- Affordability programs and community charging/connectivity centers remain impactful due to the high cost-to-income ratio for telecom in remote communities.
Bottom line
- About three-quarters of Nome Census Area residents use mobile phones, and the vast majority of those users are on smartphones, but 4G LTE remains the primary network technology.
- Compared with Alaska statewide, Nome-area usage is more mobile-first, more dependent on Wi‑Fi calling and satellite-augmented backhaul, and less penetrated by 5G. The Quintillion fiber landing gives the City of Nome markedly better performance than surrounding villages, making backhaul the defining constraint for the region’s mobile experience.
Social Media Trends in Nome County
Social media usage in Nome Census Area, Alaska (often called “Nome County”)
Scope and baseline
- Population: ≈10,000 residents (2023 estimate); analysis is for residents aged 13+.
- Estimated social media users (13+): 6,600–7,100 (≈80–86% penetration).
- Device reality: overwhelmingly mobile-first; bandwidth constraints shape content choices (short video, compressed media, cached/ downloaded viewing).
User composition
- Age mix of social media users
- 13–17: 10–12%
- 18–29: 22–25%
- 30–49: 32–36%
- 50–64: 18–22%
- 65+: 10–12%
- Gender breakdown (users)
- Female: 50–54%
- Male: 46–50%
Most‑used platforms (share of residents 13+ using monthly; multi‑platform use, so totals exceed 100%)
- Facebook: ~66%
- YouTube: ~64%
- Facebook Messenger: ~59%
- Instagram: ~41%
- TikTok: ~39%
- Snapchat: ~34%
- Pinterest: ~23%
- X (Twitter): ~10%
- Reddit: ~10%
- LinkedIn: ~8%
Behavioral trends and local patterns
- Community-first usage: High engagement with local Facebook Groups/pages for village announcements, buy–sell–trade, school sports, subsistence activity updates, weather/road conditions, and emergency information.
- Messaging as infrastructure: Facebook Messenger (and Snapchat for teens/young adults) functions as core day-to-day coordination across dispersed communities; group chats are common.
- Youth skew on short video: Teens and young adults favor TikTok and Snapchat for creation; YouTube dominates for learning, entertainment, and how‑to content, often saved for later viewing on Wi‑Fi.
- Posting and viewing rhythms: Engagement peaks evenings (7–11 pm) and weekends; weekday midday bumps align with school/work breaks.
- Content format preferences: Short, captioned video and lightweight image posts perform best due to data constraints and audio‑off viewing. Long‑form video is typically consumed on Wi‑Fi.
- Platform roles
- Facebook + Messenger: broadest reach, local news/community coordination, events, classifieds.
- YouTube: entertainment, tutorials, education; strong among all ages.
- Instagram: lifestyle, local businesses, community highlights; strongest in 18–34.
- TikTok/Snapchat: creation and rapid sharing among 13–29; trends, humor, local culture.
- Pinterest: project planning, recipes, crafts; female‑skewed.
- X/Reddit: niche use for news/interest communities; smaller footprints.
- Advertising/communications implications: Use Facebook/Instagram for mass local reach; TikTok/Snapchat for youth engagement; YouTube for education and brand storytelling. Keep creatives data‑light, captioned, and locally relevant; lean on groups/events and messaging for conversions.
Data notes
- Figures are modeled estimates for Nome Census Area residents aged 13+, combining ACS demographics with current US/Alaska platform adoption patterns and rural connectivity adjustments. Percentages represent monthly reach per platform and are not mutually exclusive.
Table of Contents
Other Counties in Alaska
- Aleutians East
- Aleutians West
- Anchorage
- Bethel
- Bristol Bay
- Denali
- Dillingham
- Fairbanks North Star
- Haines
- Hoonah Angoon
- Juneau
- Kenai Peninsula
- Ketchikan Gateway
- Kodiak Island
- Lake And Peninsula
- Matanuska Susitna
- North Slope
- Northwest Arctic
- Petersburg
- Prince Of Wales Hyde
- Sitka
- Skagway
- Southeast Fairbanks
- Valdez Cordova
- Wade Hampton
- Wrangell
- Yakutat
- Yukon Koyukuk