Ketchikan Costs: What a Visit Actually Costs

Alaska levies no state sales tax. What you pay in Ketchikan is entirely local, and the local figure changes twice a year.

Inside Ketchikan city limits the combined rate is 8.0% from April 1 through September 30. That total splits into 5.5% city tax and 2.5% borough tax. From October 1 through March 31 the combined rate drops to 5.5%, made up of 3.0% city and the same 2.5% borough share.

Other rates apply elsewhere. Residential rent is taxed at 5.5% year-round, whatever the season. Areas of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough outside city limits charge only the 2.5% borough portion. The neighboring City of Saxman charges 6.5%. There is also a 5% marijuana sales tax that applies borough-wide.

What this means at the register is simple. A $100 purchase in a downtown shop in July costs $108. The same purchase in a February shop costs $105.50. The same $100 item bought ten miles north at Ward Cove, outside city limits, would carry only $2.50 in tax. Food, fuel, souvenirs and tours sold within the city all carry the same seasonal rate, so the summer rate is the one almost every cruise passenger actually pays. The cruise season runs roughly May through September, which sits almost entirely inside the 8.0% window.

Nobody in town absorbs or rebates this for you, so the practical advice is to treat the sticker price as about eight percent light during your summer visit. Source: the Ketchikan Gateway Borough sales tax page.

Three levels of day, costed from published figures only.

The free-ish day. Creek Street is a public boardwalk with no entry fee, and Married Man's Trail costs nothing either. Misty Fjords National Monument itself charges no entrance fee per the US Forest Service, though reaching it costs money. The realistic floor for a walk-everything day is the Discovery Center at $5 plus Totem Bight State Historical Park at $5, so $10 per person before tax and food. If you skip both paid venues entirely, admission is $0. See Ketchikan without a tour for the full walking plan.

The one-trip day. Take the cheapest booked trip in our catalogue, the Alaska Native cultural excursion at $84 per person, add the Discovery Center at $5 and a single $2.00 bus ride, and the activity total is $91. With a mid-range lunch and coffee, budget roughly $130 for the day, plus the 8.0% summer sales tax on anything bought in town.

The expensive-trip day. A floatplane tour runs $389 and the Neets Bay bear viewing trip is $399. Add the $5 Discovery Center and you are at $394 to $404 per person for activities alone. The priciest option in the catalogue is a private custom tour at $575 for a group of up to six, which is $96 per person at full occupancy. Compare all options on Ketchikan tours.

Here is every published entry fee we could confirm, with where it is published.

- Totem Bight State Historical Park: $5 per person day-use fee, on the Alaska DNR unit fee schedule. Open 7:00am to 6:00pm year-round with free parking. See Totem Bight. - Southeast Alaska Discovery Center: $5 per person from May through September, children 15 and under free with an adult, and free admission October through April. A season pass is $15. Published by the US Forest Service. See the Discovery Center. - Airport ferry: $6.00 one-way per adult passenger, $7.00 per standard vehicle. Published by the Ketchikan Gateway Borough. - City bus: $2.00 adult single ride, $5.00 day pass, $25.00 monthly pass. Published on the borough transit fares page.

Now the ones that publish nothing. The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show does not print exact prices on its official public pages and directs buyers into its ticket flow. Secondary sources report adults at roughly $43-45 and children at about $23. Totem Heritage Center's exact current admission could not be confirmed on any official ketchikan.gov page, with third parties reporting about $7 adult. The City of Saxman sets the self-guided Saxman village admission but no exact current fee could be confirmed on an official page. Potlatch Totem Park publishes no admission price on its own site. Dolly's House Museum has no official venue website at all, with secondary sources reporting about $10 adult. The Tongass Historical Museum's official page shows no price and refers visitors to phone for current pricing. Budget for these from secondary figures only, and confirm on the spot.

The local bus is the cheapest published way to move. Ketchikan Gateway Borough Transit, known as The Bus, charges $2.00 per adult ride for ages 19-59, with youth and senior riders at half that. A Token Transit digital day pass is $5.00, a monthly unlimited pass is $25.00 and an annual pass is $179.00. Pay with exact change cash or the app.

If your ship docks at Ward Cove, the free shuttle runs continuously from ship arrival between the Welcome Center and Berth IV downtown, taking about 20 minutes each direction. The operator does not publish a fixed start clock time or a frequency figure, only last-departure times tied to each ship's schedule.

The airport ferry to Gravina Island costs $6.00 one-way per adult passenger aged 12 and up, or $7.00 for a standard vehicle. It runs 6:15am to 9:30pm, departing the Ketchikan side on the quarter hours and the airport side on the hour and half hour, with extra 15-minute weekday service in summer.

No official municipal page lists taxi companies or confirms Uber or Lyft coverage in Ketchikan, so ride-hail availability is not stated on any source we checked. For the full picture of buses, walking and shuttles, read getting around, and for flights and ferries into town see getting there.

Be honest with your budget. The booked excursions are the large number in any Ketchikan day, and everything else is small change. Our catalogue spans $84 for a van-based cultural tour to $575 for a private group trip, with flightseeing at $389 and bear viewing at $399. The single biggest line item is whatever tour you choose, so the best cost decision most visitors make is picking one good trip instead of two mediocre ones, then walking the free boardwalks and trails the rest of the day.

There is a second charge you never see at a register. Ketchikan Municipal Code 13.10.030 imposes a passenger wharfage fee of $13.00 per passenger on ships docking at a city-owned wharf, and $10.00 per passenger on ships that tender passengers to a city or private facility. The cruise line pays this to the city and it is priced into your cruise fare, which is one reason a port day costs what it does. More on the docks and berths is on Ketchikan cruise port.

The remaining costs are the $5 park and museum fees, the 8.0% summer sales tax on retail purchases, food and drink, and transit at $2 a ride. No official source publishes a tipping percentage for local guides or restaurants, so any gratuity you add is a custom decision rather than a published fee.