e-ReferenceDesk's College and 50 State Learning Resource Guide

Find Online Colleges

Find Campus Colleges

Alaska State...

Alaska

Choose a Borough

Aleutians East, Anchorage, Bristol Bay, City & Juneau, City & Sitka, City & Yakutat, Denali, Fairbanks North Star, Haines, Kenai Peninsula, Ketchikan Gateway, Kodiak Island, Lake And Peninsula, Matanuska-Susitna, North Slope, Northwest Arctic

Alaska Boroughs

Click Image to Enlarge

Alaska Boroughs

The U.S. state of Alaska is not divided into counties, as are 48 other states, but it is divided into boroughs (Louisiana is divided into parishes). Many of the more densely populated parts of the state are part of Alaska's sixteen boroughs, which function somewhat similarly to counties in other states.

Alaska Boroughs

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.

Alaska has 16 Boroughs plus 11 Geographical Census Areas

bor·ough (bûr'ō, bŭr'ō)

A self-governing incorporated town in some US states, such as New Jersey.
One of the five administrative units of New York City.
A civil division of the state of Alaska that is the equivalent of a county in most other US states.

County	2000 Population	Square Miles	County Seat	Created
Aleutians East Borough	2,697	6,985	Sand Point	1987
Anchorage Borough	260,283	1,698	Anchorage	1975
Bristol Bay Borough	1,258	519	Naknek	1962
City & Borough of Juneau	30,711	2,594	Juneau	1970
City & Borough of Sitka	8,835	2,882	Sitka	1971
City & Borough of Yakutat	808	7,650	Yakutat	1992
Denali Borough	1,893	12,750	Healy	1990
Fairbanks North Star Borough	82,840	7,362	Fairbanks	1964
Haines Borough	2,392	2,357	Haines	1968
Kenai Peninsula Borough	49,691	16,079	Soldotna	1964
Ketchikan Gateway Borough	14,070	1,220	Ketchikan	1963
Kodiak Island Borough	13,913	6,463	Kodiak	1963
Lake And Peninsula Borough	1,823	23,632	King Salmon	1989
Matanuska-Susitna Borough	59,322	24,694	Palmer	1964
North Slope Borough	7,385	87,860	Barrow	1972
Northwest Arctic Borough	7,208	35,862	Kotzebue	1986

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."