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Summary of Kenai Peninsula and Homer IndustriesAt present, Homer is primarily a fishing, trade and service center, and enjoys seasonal tourist revenue. During summer months, the population swells with students and others seeking seasonal employment. Sport fishing for halibut and salmon contributes significantly to the economy. Homer is also home to the 10th largest employer in the Kenai Peninsula Borough, Homer's South Peninsula Hospital making it the largest single employer in the city of Homer. Seafood/Fisheries. Commercial fishers of the Kenai Peninsula and Homer are well diversified in the various regional fisheries especially salmon and halibut. Homer in the year 2000 saw over 30 million pounds of salmon and over 9 million pounds of halibut come across its docks. With the advent of the Individual Fishing Quota program, halibut earnings steadily increased over the decade. At least 18 seafood processors were operating in the Census Area at the start of 2001 with seven of them in Homer. The small boat harbor on the Homer spit is home base for over 900 boat slips and transient services. Homer is repeatedly the top port for commercial halibut deliveries in Alaska with over 13 million pounds last year. Eight cranes make it convenient for boats to deliver their catch 24 hours a day. Commercial fishing remains to be Homer's top employer with 45% of all Cook Inlet fishing permits and over 800 crewmembers living in Homer. Local fisheries inject an estimated $20 million dollars into the Homer community annually.
Oil and Gas. Kenai Peninsula oil output currently stands at 11 million barrels of oil annually. All Cook Inlet oil is shipped to the Tesoro refinery at Nikiski. Natural gas production is used for space heating and electric generation in Anchorage and on the Kenai Peninsula . It also is exported to Japan in the form of liquid natural gas. Gas production reached a high of 311 billion cubic feet in 1994, and fell to 218 billion cubic feet in 1999. Unocal Alaska and Marathon Oil Co. joined to form the Kenai Kachemak Limited Liability Corp. to extend the natural gas pipeline system from Anchor Point to the City of Kenai . British Petroleum is constructing a pilot plant in Nikiski to convert natural gas to liquid fuel. There is also a likelihood of natural gas coming to Homer.
Minerals. Two small placer gold mines in the Hope-Sunrise district are still active and several of the known hard rock prospects have been the subjects of sporadic exploration. If the price of coal and metallic minerals rebound, the Beluga coal field and the Johnson River polymetallic prospect on the west shore of Cook Inlet may attract further investments in exploration. The Kenai Peninsula has several sand and gravel pits that operate seasonally as needed to provide a local source of aggregate.
Tourism. The Homer area is a popular tourist destination both for in-state and out-of-state visitors. The area benefits from a well-developed transportation system of roads, harbors and airports. The tourism industry on the peninsula has a diverse visitor market. Visitors to the region can participate in nearly every form of outdoor recreation, including hiking, kayaking, camping, rafting and sailing. But the area is best known for sport fishing and boasts the largest charter fishing fleet in Alaska . Between 1990 and 1998, recreational sales almost tripled, from $9.2 million to $27.2 million. Homer's retail sales grow steadily each year showing Homer's growing popularity with tourists from gross retail sales averaging $50 million in 1991 growing to an average of $70 million in 2000. Homer welcomes over 100,000 visitors each year. Nearly 100% of Homer businesses offering services regarding tourism are locally owned and operated elevating the quality of service and product offered.
Agriculture . Commercial agricultural activities in the Kenai Peninsula and Homer principally involve livestock ranching and raising hay for livestock. Many small-scale vegetable and domestic growers supply the successful and growing farmers' markets in Homer and Soldotna. Almost all farm operators earned income from other sources of employment, but farm-based income has provided a significant source of support at the Homer Farmers Market (235-8176). Transportation. Peninsula and Homer residents rely heavily on year-round air transportation. Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport provides regional air service for the Kenai Peninsula . Airport planners in Homer and Seldovia began updating their plans starting in 2001 for improved taxiways and utilities. Currently the Homer Airport offers two flights to and from Anchorage daily. The runway measures 7,401 feet long making it ideal for smaller model planes, the Homer Municipal Airport 's runways would not be able to accommodate a commercial jet because of its size. Between 1995 and 2002, the Kenai Peninsula Borough received $107.4 million for transportation-related capital improvement projects. Roads received $91.5 million, port and harbor projects were given $10 million and airport projects received $5.5 million. Recent federal appropriations for Alaska railroad projects totaled $150 million. In Homer recently a multi-purpose dock was built to replace an aging wooden dock and secure the longevity of the Alaska Maritime Highway and the U.S. Coast Guard in the community. The new steel-pile dock is designed to berth an 850-foot ship and sustain a line pull of 70 tons. The unique easy on and off design of the dock makes it ideal for small cruise ships, freighter ships or smaller visiting vessels, ensuring Homer's place in the marine economy.
Education and Research . With its reliance on the sea, Homer is a haven for marine education and research. Many groups offer monitoring and advocacy services on behalf of Kachemak Bay . Also there are several education-based businesses that provide classroom and hands-on learning opportunities. Kenai Peninsula College 's Kachemak Bay campus serves as the focal point of the University of Alaska 's programs and services on the southern Kenai Peninsula providing area residents with quality education. Additional information, bulletin/catalogs, and applications may be obtained by visiting or writing Kenai Peninsula College at the following addresses: Kachemak Bay Branch 533 East Pioneer Avenue Homer, AK 99603-7624. http://www.homer.alaska.edu/ National Estuarine Research Reserves ( NERR http://www.ocrm.nos.noaa.gov/nerr/ ) have been established to provide opportunities for long-term estuarine research and monitoring, estuarine education and interpretation, and to provide a basis for more informed coastal management decisions. The objective of the program is to create a nationwide system of research reserves containing regional representatives of each estuarine ecosystem type in the United States based on a biogeographic classification scheme.
Construction . A growing industry in Homer is the construction industry. Increased federal and state grants have turned the construction industry into a year round business. The number of building permits is up 42% over last year with an average of 22 new homes being built each year, showing Homer's growth. In 2001 there was over 4 million dollars in new home construction alone. This demand for new homes has fueled job growth, with construction employment growing 30% over the past six years.
*Source: Alaska Economic Information System (AEIS) and the “2000 Situations and Prospects of the Kenai Peninsula Borough” Links ALASKA DEPT. OF LABOR The City of Homer 's Largest Employers - 2002
Average Hourly Wage by Occupation
 Percent of Employment by Industry in the Kenai Peninsula Borough as of 2001
Economy, Employment, Income and PovertyGeneral Description of the Local Economy: Homer is primarily a fishing, trade and service center, and enjoys a considerable seasonal tourist industry. Approximately 10 cruise ships dock in Homer each summer. During summer months, the population swells with students and others seeking seasonal employment. Sport fishing for halibut and salmon contributes significantly to the economy. 541 area residents hold commercial fishing permits. In 2000, the estimated gross fishing earnings of residents neared $27 million. The fish dock is equipped with cold storage facilities, ice manufacturing and a vacuum fish-loading system. A sawmill processes borough timber, and Circle De Pacific Corp. is exporting wood chips from Homer to Japan . Plans for a multi-million dollar U.S. Fish & Wildlife Visitors Center for the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge are underway. The following Income and Employment data is from the 2000 U.S. Census . Additional detail is available from the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Census and Geographic Information Network and the U.S. Census Bureau's American FactFinder . Income and Poverty Levels: These figures are estimates based on a sample, and are subject to sampling variability. The percent of all households sampled in Homer was 47.7% . Note: Current socio-economic measures could differ significantly. Homer is located in the Kenai Peninsula Census Area.
*Source: Alaska Economic Information System (AEIS) and the “2000 Situations and Prospects of the Kenai Peninsula Borough” |
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Marine Trades. To support the large commercial fishing activity, the city of Homer has the largest group of trades persons and services in the state with welding, fiberglass, canvas work and electronic services from the more than 100 marine support businesses in Homer. Boat building is also a growing industry in Homer with five different companies offering custom made aluminum, wood and fiberglass sea-going vessels.
Wood Products. A mix of coastal Alaska rain forests and Interior boreal forests grow on the Kenai Peninsula and Homer. The low-lying southern and western portion of the peninsula supports commercial quality forests dominated by Lutz spruce, a hybrid of white and Sitka spruce. In the 1990s, harvest activity dramatically increased in response to the largest known spruce bark beetle infestation in North America . However, most salvaged logs from the infestation area can only be chipped and shipped to distant markets.The primary target market for sawmills is Anchorage and to a lesser extent the rest of the rail belt and other log cabin and timber frame home kits, and a few have provided turned or profiled logs to larger Lower 48 and Canadian house log distributors. Most sawmills focus on a mix of rough-cut lumber and house logs. A number of Alaska mills sell a new opportunity for commerce, as housing demands skyrocketed. Timber industry business licenses only average out to be 1.1% of the business licenses on the Kenai Peninsula , with 16 of the72 licenses issued to businesses in Homer. Gross timber sales for Homer in 2000 was just over $700,000.
Utilities .
The region's rapid population growth has forced the Kenai Peninsula and Homer to confront a number of utility issues, including mounting maintenance costs for aging infrastructure, limited funding sources and higher operating costs resulting from stricter regulatory standards for water and sewer treatment facilities as systems are brought into compliance. Over the past nine years, state and federal capital projects in the area totaled $272 million. About $20 million (7%) went for basic utility infrastructure - including safe drinking water, new rural sanitation and solid waste systems, or bulk fuel tank farm planning and design. Continued funding will target new utility facilities and upgrades of existing facilities.
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