By Max R. Weller
One of the newspapers I enjoy following online is the Anchorage Daily News. After reading this report ‘Anchorage homeless numbers drop slightly in new report’ it made me think: how does this compare with Boulder and Longmont in Colorado?
Population per 2012 U.S. Census Bureau estimates:
Anchorage, AK 298,610
Boulder, CO 101,808
Longmont, CO 88,669
Number of homeless people:
Anchorage, AK 1,122 (2013 HUD report)
Boulder, CO 748 (2013 MDHI Point-in-Time report)
Longmont 1,180 (2013 MDHI Point-in-Time report)
Percentage of population which is homeless:
Anchorage, AK 0.4% (approxmately)
Boulder, CO 0.7% (approximately)
Longmont, CO 1.3% (approximately)
Per capita personal income 2012 Bureau of Economic Statistics:
Anchorage, AK Metropolitan Statistical Area $52,360
Boulder, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area* $53,772
*includes Longmont, CO
What surprised me about these numbers is the smaller percentage of Anchorage, AK residents who are homeless, when compared with both Boulder and Longmont, CO.
I’m not surprised at all by the per capita personal incomes of the Anchorage, AK MSA and Boulder, CO MSA being so close — the states of Alaska and Colorado are almost identical by this measure, too.
homelessphilosopher 