Alaska Facts

25 Facts about Alaska

30 Alaska Facts for Kids

• Alaska is the largest state in the U.S. by total area, with 663,268 square miles (1,717,856 sq km).
• Alaska is larger than Texas, California, and Montana combined and also larger than the combined area of the 22 smallest U.S. states.
• Alaska was part of the Russian Empire until March 30, 1867, when the United States purchased it for US$ 12.5 per square mile of land, a grand total of US$ 7.2 million.
• On January 3, 1959, Alaska was admitted as the 49th state of the U.S.
• In Aleut language, Alaska means "object to which the action of the sea is directed."
• While Alaska is technically part of the continental U.S., it's the only non-contiguous state.
• Alaska is the most sparsely populated of the 50 United States and the third least populous, with 738,432 people.
• About half of Alaska's residents live around the Anchorage metropolitan area.
• Juneau is the capital city of Alaska. It's the second most populous city.
• The 6 regions of Alaska are: South Central, Southeast, Interior, Southwest, North Slope and the Aleutian Islands.
• Alaska has more than three million lakes and nearly 34,000 miles of tidal shoreline.
• About 65% of Alaska is owned and managed by the U.S. federal government as public lands.
• There's little private land ownership in Alaska, the smallest percentage among U.S. states.
• The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, located in Alaska, is the world's largest wildlife refuge, comprising 16 million acres (6.5 million hectares).
• Oil, fishing and natural gas industries dominate Alaska's industry.
• −80 °F (−62 °C) was the lowest official temperature ever recorded in Alaska, more precisely, in Prospect Creek on January 23, 1971.
• The highest temperature ever recorded was 100 °F (38 °C), on June 27, 1915.
• Over 66% of Alaskans are White, 5.4% Asian and 3.3% Black or African American. Indigenous peoples of Alaska constitute almost 15% of the population and include the Aleut, Iñupiat, Yupik, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida and the Tsimshian.
• The first Russians established in Alaska around the 17th century, researchers believe, while the first permanent European settlement was founded in 1784.
• Even Spain sent expeditions to Alaska, between 1774 and 1800. But the Russians settled, making Sitka their capital.
• For the first ten years under the U.S. flag, Sitka was the only community inhabited by American settlers. Juneau was named the capital of Alaska in 1906.
• Gold rushes started in the 1890s, bringing thousands of miners and settlers to Alaska.
• Later, the discovery of oil in 1968 led to an oil boom. Its revenues funded large state budgets since 1980.
• Alaska was the 7th wealthiest state in 2018, with a per capita personal income of US$ 73,000.
• The cost of living in Alaska is one of the highest in the country, mostly due to reduced transportation and infrastructure.
• 83.4% of people in Alaska speak only English at home, while about 3.5% speak Spanish and about 4.3% speak an Asian language.
• Alaska is governed as a republic, with a governor, a House of Representatives and Senate, and a Supreme Court.
• With no state sales tax and no individual income tax, Alaska has the lowest individual tax burden in the United States.
• A 13-year-old boy named Benny Benson designed Alaska's state flag. Benny participated in a contest for young children to design the flag in the 1920s.
• "North to the Future" is Alaska's state motto.

Alaska is so big you could fit 75 New Jerseys in it.

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A cat has been the mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska for 15 years.

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In Alaska, there's a pizza place that delivers the pizza by plane.

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Alaska has a sand desert with dunes over 150 feet (45 m) high.

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Every resident of Alaska gets an annual "oil royalty check", a payment representing their share of revenue from Alaskan oil. In 2008, it was US$2,069.

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A ship abandoned off the coast of Alaska in 1931 was spotted, still adrift in the Arctic, in 1969.

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If Manhattan had the same population density as Alaska, only 28 people would live on the island.

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Hawaii, Vermont, Alaska, and Maine have all banned billboards.

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The most Eastern and Western and Northern state in the U.S. is Alaska.

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Alaska has a longer coastline than all the other U.S. states combined.

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There are two U.S. states where the temperature has never surpassed 100 °F: Alaska and Hawaii.

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Alaska is geographically big enough to fit 19 U.S. states within its borders.

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Alexander II, Emperor of Russia, sold Alaska to the U.S.A., fearing the remote colony would fall into British hands if there were another war.

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