Alaska Boroughs: History and Information

Find a brief history of Alaska Boroughs

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait. Alaska is the 4th least populous and the least densely populated of the 50 United States. Approximately half of Alaska's 722,718 residents live within the Anchorage metropolitan area. Alaska was purchased from Russia on March 30, 1867. The land went through several administrative changes before becoming an organized (or incorporated) territory on May 11, 1912, and the 49th state of the US on January 3, 1959. Alaska is the largest state in the United States in land area at 586,412 square miles, over twice the size of Texas, the next largest state. Alaska capital city is Juneau.

In Alaska, the county level governments are called boroughs. Not all areas in Alaska are part of a borough. These unorganized areas are divided into Census Areas for statistical purposes which are the statistical equivalent of a county in Alaska. Census areas are delineated cooperatively by the State of Alaska Department of Labor and the Census Bureau for statistical purposes in the portion of Alaska not within an organized borough.