Quick Facts About Alaska

Miscellaneous Facts About Alaska from The Alaska Almanac 32nd ed.

• Motto: "North to the Future." Adopted in 1967.
• State Capitol: Juneau.
• Purchased from Russia by U.S.: 1867.
• Organized as a territory: 1912.
• Entered the union: Jan. 3, 1959; 49th state.
• Number of boroughs: 18 as of July 1, 2009. *
• Governor: Sean Parnell
• Land area: 570,373.6 square miles, or about 365 million acres -- largest state in the union; one-fifth the size of the "Lower 48." *
• State population: 710,231 from Census 2010. *
• Largest municipality in population: Anchorage, 277,000 as of 2010.*
• Largest city in area: Sitka with 4,710 square miles, 1816 square miles of which are water. Juneau is second, with an area of 3,108 square miles.
• Typical Alaskan: According to Census 2000 figures, the median age for males is 32.4 years and 32.5 for females. About 52 percent of Alaskans are male.*
• Average household income: $60,853 in 1989, fifth highest in the nation
• Median household income: $68,460 in 2008. *
• Per capita personal income: $44,039 in 2008, eighth highest in the nation. * (Up 7 places from 2007). **
• Area per person: There is .85 square mile for each resident of Alaska. New York has .003 square miles per resident.
• Highest/Lowest temperatures: Highest 100 degrees F at Fort Yukon, 1915. Lowest -80 degrees at Prospect Creek Camp, 1971.
• Heaviest annual snowfall: 974.5 inches at Thompson Pass near Valdez, during the winter of 1952-53.
• Tallest mountain: Mount McKinley, 20,320 feet.
• World's largest producer of zinc: Red Dog Mine
• Largest natural freshwater lake: Iliamna, 1,150 square miles.
• "Nessie" of the North: The legendary giant trout of Lake Iliamna.
• Number of stores that sell fishing licenses: 1,200.
• Longest river: Yukon, 1,875 miles in Alaska, rest in Canada, 2,298 miles total.
• Largest glacier: Bering Glacier complex, 2,250 square miles, which includes the Bagley Icefield.
• Oldest building: Erskine House/Baranof Museum in Kodiak, built by the Russians as a storehouse, probably between 1793 and 1796.
• Farthest north supermarket: In Barrow, constructed on stilts to prevent central heating from thawing permafrost; cost, $4 million.
• World's largest and busiest seaplane base: Lake Hood in Anchorage, accommodating more than 800 takeoffs and landings on a peak summer day; record peak set in 1984 for one day, 1,200. Weekdays see an average of 500 landings and takeoffs.
• Largest state park in the nation: Wood-Tikchik State Park with 1.6 million acres of wilderness.
• State bird: Willow ptarmigan, a small grouse.
• State fish: King Salmon.
• State flower: Forget-me-not.
• State fossil: Woolly mammoth.
• State insect: Four-spot skimmer dragonfly.
• State gem: Jade.
• Land mammal: Moose, Alces alces.
• Marine mammal: Bowhead whale.
• State mineral: Gold, adopted in 1968.
• State sport: Dog mushing.
• State tree: Sitka spruce.
• World's largest concentration of bald eagles: Along the Chilkat River, just north of Haines. As many as 3,000 bald eagles can gather here in fall and winter months for late salmon runs.
• America's biggest earthquake: Occurred March 27, 1964, Good Friday. Measures 8.9 on the Richter scale (since revised upward to 9.2 -- the strongest ever recorded in North America), the earthquake devastated much of Southcentral Alaska.
• Second greatest tide range in North America: 38.9 feet near Anchorage in Upper Cook Inlet.
• Tourism: Alaska ranks fifth among the top-ten destinations for "fantasy vacations." and second among U.S. destinations.***
• Attractions: The top most-visited attractions in Alaska are natural/scenic: the Inside Passage, Portage Glacier and Mendenhall Glacier.
• Barrels per day: On June 11, 1996, BP's Milne Field on Alaska's North Slope reached a production of 50,000 barrels of oil per day. When it reaches an expected production of 65,000 barrels/day late in 1996, it will be among the top 10 producing fields in the U.S.
• Sources:
• * State pf Alaska, Dept. of Labor and Workforce Development, Research and Analysis.
• ** Alaska Economic Trends, Feb 2010.
• *** New York Times poll.
• The Alaska Almanac: Facts About Alaska. Anchorage: Alaska Northwest Books, 2009.