53033 FipsDecoder
02170 County FIPS Code

Matanuska-Susitna Borough

Alaska · County seat: Palmer · Active county or equivalent

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FIPS code 02170 is Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska. With a population of 108,661 (2022 ACS estimate), it ranks #2 in Alaska and #565 nationally. Matanuska-Susitna Borough is part of the Anchorage, AK. 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

02170

State FIPS

02

AK

Population

108,661

2022 ACS · #565 nationally

Density

4.4/mi²

people per sq mile

Land Area

24,608

sq miles

Urban/Rural

Metro — 250K–1M population

RUCC 2

How This FIPS Code Works

02 170
02 = State FIPS (Alaska)
170 = County FIPS

The 5-digit FIPS code 02170 is formed by combining the 2-digit state identifier 02 (Alaska) with the 3-digit county identifier 170. Together they uniquely identify Matanuska-Susitna Borough in every US federal dataset. No two counties share the same 5-digit FIPS code.

Census ACS Data for FIPS 02170

From the 2022 ACS 5-year estimates — the same values you'd retrieve by querying the Census API with county FIPS 02170.

Median Household Income

$86,435

ACS B19013_001E

Poverty Rate

10.2%

ACS B17001 (below poverty level)

Median Age

36.3

ACS B01002_001E

Metropolitan Area

Adjacent Counties (6)

Counties that share a border with Matanuska-Susitna Borough. Useful for regional analysis — these are the geographies you'd typically include when studying labor markets, commuting zones, or environmental spillovers around FIPS 02170.

Federal Datasets Using Code 02170

FIPS code 02170 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 02170 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 02170
import requests

url = "https://api.census.gov/data/2022/acs/acs5"
params = {
    "get":  "NAME,B19013_001E,B01003_001E",
    "for":  "county:170",
    "in":   "state:02",
    "key":  "YOUR_CENSUS_API_KEY",
}
r = requests.get(url, params=params)
data = r.json()  # [[header...], [Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, income, pop, ...]
SQL — filtering by county FIPS 02170
-- 5-digit combined FIPS (state + county)
SELECT * FROM your_table WHERE county_fips = '02170';

-- Some datasets store state and county separately
SELECT * FROM your_table
WHERE state_fips = '02'
  AND county_fips = '170';

-- ⚠ Never cast to integer — leading zeros are lost:
-- county_fips = 2170 is WRONG for this county
R — tidycensus 02170
library(tidycensus)

get_acs(
  geography = "county",
  variables = c(income = "B19013_001E", pop = "B01003_001E"),
  state     = "02",
  county    = "170",
  year      = 2022
)
Zero-padding reminder: FIPS codes must always be stored and compared as zero-padded strings. 02 (not 2) and 170 (not 170) — losing the leading zeros is one of the most common data-join bugs in federal datasets. Full guide →

ZIP Codes in Matanuska-Susitna Borough

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 Matanuska-Susitna Borough. Why FIPS ≠ ZIP →

ZIP Code % in county
99694 100.0%
99623 100.0%
99645 100.0%
99652 100.0%
99654 100.0%
99667 100.0%
99674 100.0%
99676 100.0%
99683 100.0%
99688 100.0%
99729 89.4%
99588 44.1%

Other Counties in Alaska