How it works
A random place in Alaska here is one of the state's 149 incorporated cities in the Census Bureau's 2025 estimates. Four are a city and a borough in one: Anchorage, Juneau, Sitka and Wrangell.
Read the full guide
A random city in Alaska is usually a small one
Anchorage has 287,155 of the 493,424 people who live in an Alaska city. Only three other cities have 10,000 or more, and half of the 149 have under 400. The Bethel and Yukon-Koyukuk Census Areas have the most cities, 18 each.
Five boroughs and areas that never come up
A card names the city's borough or census area, and 25 of the 30 have a city. Bristol Bay Borough, Haines Borough, Skagway, Yakutat and the Copper River Census Area have none. Denali Borough has only Anderson, and Petersburg Borough only Kupreanof: Petersburg gave up its city government in 2013 to become the borough.
- Utqiaġvik, the northernmost city in the United States, was called Barrow until December 2016.
- No road links Juneau, the capital, to the rest of the state; people and goods arrive by plane or boat.
Questions and answers
How many cities are in Alaska?
Alaska has 149 incorporated cities, counting the four that are also boroughs. Twenty-six have 1,000 people or more and 27 have under 100.
Does Alaska have counties?
No. Alaska has 19 organized boroughs in their place. The rest of the state, the Unorganized Borough, is divided by the Census Bureau into 11 census areas, which have no government of their own.
What is the difference between a city and a town in Alaska?
Every incorporated community in Alaska is a city: home rule, first class or second class. It takes 400 permanent residents to form a home rule or first class city, and most of the 149 are second class.
What is the smallest city in Alaska?
Kupreanof, with 18 people in the 2025 estimates. Bettles, in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, has 23, and Edna Bay, in the Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, 26.
What are the largest cities in Alaska?
Anchorage, then Juneau, the capital, with 31,609 people, Fairbanks with 31,468, Wasilla with 10,556 and Sitka with 8,319.