Matanuska-Susitna Borough
Alaska · County seat: Palmer · Active county or equivalent
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
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
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.
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, ...]
-- 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
library(tidycensus)
get_acs(
geography = "county",
variables = c(income = "B19013_001E", pop = "B01003_001E"),
state = "02",
county = "170",
year = 2022
)
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% |