Alaska Borough Map: All 30 Boroughs & Census Areas
Alaska does not have counties. Under Article X of the Alaska Constitution, the state is organized into 19 organized boroughs and one vast Unorganized Borough covering 323,440 square miles—an unorganized expanse larger than Texas itself.
Alaska at a Glance
Alaska Borough Map
Boroughs & Census Areas of Alaska with the state capital, Juneau, marked. Hover a shape for its name or click it to jump to its row in the list below.
Printable Blank Map of Alaska with All Boroughs & Census Areas
Download the Alaska outline as SVG or PNG, or print it to PDF, in several variants: blank boundary, with boroughs and census areas lines, color-filled and labeled. Free to use (CC0).
Alaska Borough Rankings: Population & Land Area
Comparative demographic and territorial distribution across Alaska's largest administrative subdivisions based on the 2020 US Census Decennial count.
Top 10 Most Populous Boroughs & Census Areas
| # | Borough / Census Area | Seat | Population | % State |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anchorage Municipality | Anchorage | 291,244 | 39.7% |
| 2 | Matanuska-Susitna Borough | Matanuska-Susitna | 107,068 | 14.6% |
| 3 | Fairbanks North Star Borough | Fairbanks North Star | 95,660 | 13.0% |
| 4 | Kenai Peninsula Borough | Kenai Peninsula | 58,801 | 8.0% |
| 5 | Juneau City and Borough | Juneau City and | 32,256 | 4.4% |
| 6 | Bethel Census Area | Bethel | 18,657 | 2.5% |
| 7 | Ketchikan Gateway Borough | Ketchikan Gateway | 13,953 | 1.9% |
| 8 | Kodiak Island Borough | Kodiak Island | 13,100 | 1.8% |
| 9 | North Slope Borough | North Slope | 11,032 | 1.5% |
| 10 | Nome Census Area | Nome | 10,050 | 1.4% |
Top 10 Largest Boroughs & Census Areas by Land Area
| # | Borough / Census Area | Seat | Land Area | % State |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area | Yukon-Koyukuk | 145,575.5 sq mi | 25.5% |
| 2 | North Slope Borough | North Slope | 88,823.6 sq mi | 15.6% |
| 3 | Bethel Census Area | Bethel | 40,627.1 sq mi | 7.1% |
| 4 | Northwest Arctic Borough | Northwest Arctic | 35,663.3 sq mi | 6.2% |
| 5 | Southeast Fairbanks Census Area | Southeast Fairbanks | 24,831.1 sq mi | 4.4% |
| 6 | Matanuska-Susitna Borough | Matanuska-Susitna | 24,707 sq mi | 4.3% |
| 7 | Copper River Census Area | Copper River | 24,692.1 sq mi | 4.3% |
| 8 | Lake and Peninsula Borough | Lake and Peninsula | 23,831.8 sq mi | 4.2% |
| 9 | Nome Census Area | Nome | 22,969.5 sq mi | 4.0% |
| 10 | Dillingham Census Area | Dillingham | 18,334 sq mi | 3.2% |
How Local Government Operates in Alaska: Borough Assembly & Unorganized Borough Census Areas
Organized boroughs provide three mandatory powers: public education, planning/zoning, and tax assessment. Where no borough exists, the Alaska State Legislature serves as the local governing assembly, and the Census Bureau tracks 11 statistical Census Areas.
The Unorganized Borough: 323,440 Square Miles Without Local Government
Alaska is the only state in the Union where more than half of its total landmass operates entirely outside any municipal or county-level administration.
When Alaska entered the Union in 1959, constitutional delegates sought to avoid the overlapping, inefficient layers of township and county bureaucracies common in the lower 48 states. Article X of the Alaska Constitution established that the state would be divided only into "boroughs"—designed to reflect natural economic and geographical drainage basins.
However, massive stretches of rural bush Alaska lacked the property tax base or population density required to support self-funding municipal services. The delegates created the "Unorganized Borough"—a legal entity encompassing all Alaskan land not included in any organized borough.
Covering approximately 323,440 square miles, the Unorganized Borough has no assembly, no borough mayor, and no local taxing authority. The Alaska State Legislature serves as its de jure governing board, while Alaska State Troopers handle rural law enforcement and the state Department of Education funds rural education through Regional Educational Attendance Areas (REAAs).
Because the US Census Bureau requires complete national county-equivalent coverage for demographic tabulation, the Census Bureau and State of Alaska established 11 statistical "Census Areas" within the Unorganized Borough (e.g., Bethel, Yukon-Koyukuk, Nome). These lines exist purely for statistical data and have zero governmental power.
North Slope Borough: An Administrative Giant Larger Than 39 States
The North Slope Borough encompasses 88,817 square miles along the Arctic Ocean coastline.
Incorporated in 1972 by Iñupiat leaders (seat: Utqiaġvik, formerly Barrow), the North Slope Borough is the largest county-level administrative subdivision in the United States. Its territory exceeds the total land areas of Idaho, Utah, or Minnesota, and is larger than 39 individual US states.
Despite its colossal territory, the North Slope Borough is inhabited by only 11,031 permanent residents (2020 Census). However, the borough exercises immense economic influence: it levies property taxes on the massive industrial infrastructure of the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), allowing it to fund state-of-the-art schools, search-and-rescue aviation, and Arctic health clinics across its isolated native villages.
Within the Unorganized Borough, the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area covers 145,505 square miles with only 5,343 residents (0.037 people per sq mi). It is larger than Germany, yet contains fewer people than a modest college campus.
Which borough or census area of Alaska are you in?
Use your device location to see which borough or census area of Alaska you are in right now.
List of All 30 Boroughs & Census Areas in Alaska
Every borough or census area in Alaska is listed below with its seat, 2020 Census population, land area and FIPS code. Search by name, seat or FIPS, sort any column, or export the full table as CSV.
Borough / Census Area | Seat | 2020 Census Pop | Land Area (sq mi) | FIPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Anchorage Municipality | Anchorage | 291,244 | 1,707 sq mi | 02020 |
Matanuska-Susitna Borough | Matanuska-Susitna | 107,068 | 24,707 sq mi | 02170 |
Fairbanks North Star Borough | Fairbanks North Star | 95,660 | 7,335 sq mi | 02090 |
Kenai Peninsula Borough | Kenai Peninsula | 58,801 | 16,017 sq mi | 02122 |
Juneau City and Borough | Juneau City and | 32,256 | 2,704 sq mi | 02110 |
Bethel Census Area | Bethel | 18,657 | 40,627 sq mi | 02050 |
Ketchikan Gateway Borough | Ketchikan Gateway | 13,953 | 4,857 sq mi | 02130 |
Kodiak Island Borough | Kodiak Island | 13,100 | 6,689 sq mi | 02150 |
North Slope Borough | North Slope | 11,032 | 88,824 sq mi | 02185 |
Nome Census Area | Nome | 10,050 | 22,970 sq mi | 02180 |
Sitka City and Borough | Sitka City and | 8,449 | 2,870 sq mi | 02220 |
Kusilvak Census Area | Kusilvak | 8,370 | 17,077 sq mi | 02158 |
Northwest Arctic Borough | Northwest Arctic | 7,796 | 35,663 sq mi | 02188 |
Chugach Census Area | Chugach | 7,103 | 9,530 sq mi | 02063 |
Southeast Fairbanks Census Area | Southeast Fairbanks | 6,807 | 24,831 sq mi | 02240 |
Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area | Prince of Wales-Hyder | 5,755 | 5,268 sq mi | 02198 |
Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area | Yukon-Koyukuk | 5,351 | 145,576 sq mi | 02290 |
Aleutians West Census Area | Aleutians West | 5,225 | 4,393 sq mi | 02016 |
Dillingham Census Area | Dillingham | 4,856 | 18,334 sq mi | 02070 |
Aleutians East Borough | Aleutians East | 3,421 | 6,985 sq mi | 02013 |
Petersburg Borough | Petersburg | 3,397 | 2,901 sq mi | 02195 |
Copper River Census Area | Copper River | 2,616 | 24,692 sq mi | 02066 |
Hoonah-Angoon Census Area | Hoonah-Angoon | 2,360 | 6,555 sq mi | 02105 |
Wrangell City and Borough | Wrangell City and | 2,125 | 2,556 sq mi | 02275 |
Haines Borough | Haines | 2,078 | 2,343 sq mi | 02100 |
Denali Borough | Denali | 1,624 | 12,641 sq mi | 02068 |
Lake and Peninsula Borough | Lake and Peninsula | 1,474 | 23,832 sq mi | 02164 |
Skagway Municipality | Skagway | 1,240 | 434 sq mi | 02230 |
Bristol Bay Borough | Bristol Bay | 843 | 482 sq mi | 02060 |
Yakutat City and Borough | Yakutat City and | 663 | 7,623 sq mi | 02282 |
Data Sources & FIPS Codes
Alaska uses state FIPS code 02; each borough or census area adds a three-digit code to form the five-digit FIPS (now INCITS 31) identifiers in the table. Populations are 2020 Census counts and land areas come from the Census Gazetteer. The map above is drawn from the Census Bureau's generalized 2017 cartographic boundary file (1:10,000,000), so it suits overview and printing, not parcel-level or legal boundary questions; for those, check the local assessor or GIS office.
Questions About Alaska Boroughs & Census Areas
Why does Alaska have boroughs instead of counties?
When drafting the Alaska Constitution in 1955–1956, framers rejected the county model because traditional counties in the lower 48 were burdened by rigid boundaries, duplicative administrative offices, and inability to manage vast subarctic ecosystems. Boroughs were designed to encompass natural watersheds and unified economic regions.
What is a "Unified Home Rule Municipality" in Alaska?
A unified home rule municipality is a consolidated government where a city and borough merge into a single entity. Examples include Anchorage (Municipality of Anchorage), Juneau (City and Borough of Juneau), and Sitka (City and Borough of Sitka). There are no separate city council and borough assembly seats in these jurisdictions.
Can Census Areas in Alaska collect local taxes or pass laws?
No. Alaska Census Areas are statistical abstractions created solely by the US Census Bureau and state demographers to report data. They have no elected officials, no charter, no courthouse, and zero taxing authority.
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