53033 FipsDecoder
02050 County FIPS Code

Bethel Census Area

Alaska · Consolidated city-county

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FIPS code 02050 is Bethel Census Area, Alaska. With a population of 18,538 (2022 ACS estimate), it ranks #6 in Alaska and #1947 nationally. The state FIPS code for Alaska is 02. This code is used in Census Bureau, BLS, EPA, HUD, and USDA federal datasets to identify this county.

County FIPS

02050

State FIPS

02

AK

Population

18,538

2022 ACS · #1947 nationally

Density

0.5/mi²

people per sq mile

Land Area

40,570

sq miles

Urban/Rural

Nonmetro — urban 2.5K–19.9K, not adjacent to metro

RUCC 7

How This FIPS Code Works

02 050
02 = State FIPS (Alaska)
050 = County FIPS

The 5-digit FIPS code 02050 is formed by combining the 2-digit state identifier 02 (Alaska) with the 3-digit county identifier 050. Together they uniquely identify Bethel Census Area in every US federal dataset. No two counties share the same 5-digit FIPS code.

Census ACS Data for FIPS 02050

From the 2022 ACS 5-year estimates — the same values you'd retrieve by querying the Census API with county FIPS 02050.

Median Household Income

$64,094

ACS B19013_001E

Poverty Rate

25.3%

ACS B17001 (below poverty level)

Median Age

28.7

ACS B01002_001E

Adjacent Counties (5)

Counties that share a border with Bethel Census Area. Useful for regional analysis — these are the geographies you'd typically include when studying labor markets, commuting zones, or environmental spillovers around FIPS 02050.

Federal Datasets Using Code 02050

FIPS code 02050 appears as the county identifier in the following federal datasets. Analysts joining data across these sources use this code as the common geographic key.

Using FIPS Code 02050 in Code

Common patterns for querying federal datasets by this county's FIPS code. The leading zeros are significant — always treat FIPS codes as strings, not integers.

Census ACS API — Python 02050
import requests

url = "https://api.census.gov/data/2022/acs/acs5"
params = {
    "get":  "NAME,B19013_001E,B01003_001E",
    "for":  "county:050",
    "in":   "state:02",
    "key":  "YOUR_CENSUS_API_KEY",
}
r = requests.get(url, params=params)
data = r.json()  # [[header...], [Bethel Census Area, Alaska, income, pop, ...]
SQL — filtering by county FIPS 02050
-- 5-digit combined FIPS (state + county)
SELECT * FROM your_table WHERE county_fips = '02050';

-- Some datasets store state and county separately
SELECT * FROM your_table
WHERE state_fips = '02'
  AND county_fips = '050';

-- ⚠ Never cast to integer — leading zeros are lost:
-- county_fips = 2050 is WRONG for this county
R — tidycensus 02050
library(tidycensus)

get_acs(
  geography = "county",
  variables = c(income = "B19013_001E", pop = "B01003_001E"),
  state     = "02",
  county    = "050",
  year      = 2022
)
Zero-padding reminder: FIPS codes must always be stored and compared as zero-padded strings. 02 (not 2) and 050 (not 50) — losing the leading zeros is one of the most common data-join bugs in federal datasets. Full guide →

ZIP Codes in Bethel Census Area

ZIP codes do not align perfectly with county boundaries — a single ZIP code can span multiple counties, and a county can contain parts of many ZIP codes. The ratios below (from the Census 2020 ZCTA relationship file) show the land area share of each ZCTA that falls within Bethel Census Area. Why FIPS ≠ ZIP →

ZIP Code % in county
99690 100.0%
99551 100.0%
99552 100.0%
99557 100.0%
99559 100.0%
99561 100.0%
99575 100.0%
99578 100.0%
99589 100.0%
99607 100.0%
99609 100.0%
99614 100.0%
99621 100.0%
99622 100.0%
99626 100.0%
99630 100.0%
99634 100.0%
99637 100.0%
99641 100.0%
99651 100.0%
99655 100.0%
99656 100.0%
99668 100.0%
99679 100.0%
99680 100.0%
99681 100.0%
99503 83.7%

Other Counties in Alaska