This list tracks and ranks the population of the ten most populous cities and other settlements in the State of Alaska by decade, as reported by each decennial United States Census, starting with the 1880 Census.
The ten largest "places" from 1880 through 1900 are all unincorporated as there were no incorporated places recorded during those censuses. The top 10 places listed areas from 1910 through 2020 are all separate incorporated places.
This list generally refers only to the population of individual places within their defined limits at the time of the indicated census.In the earlier censuses, the rankings were not definite due to the fact that not all places were enumerated separately. Some of these places have since been annexed or merged into other cities. Other places may have expanded their borders due to such annexation or consolidation.
Six consolidated city-borough governments exist; Juneau City and Borough, Skagway Municipality, Sitka City and Borough, Yakutat City and Borough, Wrangell City and Borough, as well as the state's most populous city, Anchorage. Though its legal name is the Municipality of Anchorage, it is considered a consolidated city-borough under state law.
1880
There were no incorporated places recorded during the census. The following are ten largest unincorporated villages that were enumerated separately. The territory was divided into six divisions. Rank Unincorporated villageDivisionPopulationNotes 1 Sitka Southeastern 916 2 Hoonah Southeastern 800 Returned as "Koudekan" in census reports. 3 Klukwan Southeastern 565 Returned as "Kluckquan" in census reports. 4 Angoon Southeastern 420 Returned as "Augoon" in census reports. 5 Unalaska Aleutian 406 Returned as "Iliuliuk" in census reports. 6 Noatak Arctic 400 Returned as "Noatagamut" in census reports. 7 Wales Arctic 400 Returned as "Kingigamute" in census reports. 8 Karluk Kodiak 302 9 Yakutat Southeastern 300 10 St. Paul Kuskokwim 298
1890
There were no incorporated places recorded during the census. The following are ten largest unincorporated settlements that were enumerated separately. The territory was divided into seven districts. Rank Unincorporated villageDistrictPopulationNotes 1 Juneau 1st, Southeastern 1,253 2 Sitka 1st, Southeastern 1,190 3 Karluk 2nd, Kodiak 1,123 4 Metlakatla 1st, Southeastern 823 5 Kodiak 2nd, Kodiak 495 Returned as "Kadiak" in census reports. 6 Wales 7th, Arctic 488 Returned as "Kingaghee in census reports. 7 Port Clarence 7th, Arctic 485 8 Hoonah 1st, Southeastern 438 Returned as "Huna" in census reports. 9 Akhiok 2nd, Kodiak 420 Returned as "Alitak" in census reports. 10 Afognak 2nd, Kodiak 409
1900
There were no incorporated places recorded during the census. The following are ten largest unincorporated settlements that were enumerated separately. Only two "districts" existed as the subdivisions couldn't be further ascertained.
Rank Unincorporated placeDistrictPopulationNotes 1 Nome Northern 12,488 2 Skagway Southern 3,117 3 Juneau Southern 1,864 4 Sitka Southern 1,396 5 Wrangell Southern 868 6 St. Michael Northern 857 7 Douglas Southern 825 8 Point Hope Northern 623 9 Koggiung Southern 533 10 Treadwell Southern 522
1910
In 1910 census, all incorporated places in the dataset were referred to as "towns". "Villages" and other areas were unincorporated. The territory was also divided into four judicial divisions.
Rank Incorporated townJudicial DivisionPopulationNotes 1 Fairbanks Fourth 3,541 2 Nome Second 2,600 3 Douglas First 1,722 4 Juneau First 1,644 5 Ketchikan First 1,613 6 Treadwell First 1,222 7 Cordova Third 1,152 8 Skagway First 872 9 Valdez Third 810 10 Wrangell First 743
1920
Rank Incorporated townJudicial DivisionPopulationNotes 1 Juneau First 3,058 2 Ketchikan First 2,458 3 Sitka First 1,175 4 Fairbanks Fourth 1,155 5 Cordova Third 955 6 Douglas First 919 7 Petersburg First 879 8 Nome Second 852 9 Wrangell First 821 10 Seward Third 652
1930
The 1930 census for Alaska was conducted October 1, 1929.
Rank Incorporated townJudicial DivisionPopulationNotes 1 Juneau First 4,043 2 Ketchikan First 3,796 3 Anchorage Third 2,277 Although enumerated separately, Anchorage was classified as "unincorporated" in 1920. 4 Fairbanks Fourth 2,101 5 Petersburg First 1,252 6 Nome Second 1,213 7 Sitka First 1,056 8 Cordova Third 980 9 Wrangell First 948 10 Seward Third 835
1940
The 1940 census for Alaska was conducted October 1, 1939.
Rank Incorporated place Judicial DivisionPopulationNotes 1 Juneau First 5,729 2 Ketchikan First 4,695 3 Anchorage Third 3,495 4 Fairbanks Fourth 3,455 5 Sitka First 1,987 6 Nome Second 1,559 7 Petersburg First 1,353 8 Wrangell First 1,162 9 Seward Third 949 10 Cordova Third 938
1950
For the first time since the first census in 1880, all ten incorporated places surpassed 1,000 residents.
Rank Incorporated placeJudicial DivisionPopulationNotes 1 Anchorage Third 11,254 2 Juneau First 5,956 3 Fairbanks Fourth 5,771 4 Ketchikan First 5,305 5 Seward Third 2,114 6 Sitka First 1,985 7 Nome Second 1,876 8 Kodiak Third 1,710 9 Petersburg First 1,619 10 Wrangell First 1,263
1960
The 1960 census was the first census taken since statehood in 1959. Method of divisions changed from four judicial divisions to twenty-four election districts.
Rank Incorporated placeElection District #PopulationNotes 1 Anchorage 10 44,237 2 Fairbanks 19 13,311 3 Juneau 5 6,797 4 Ketchikan 2 6,483 5 Sitka 4 3,237 6 Kodiak 13 2,628 7 Nome 23 2,316 8 Seward 11 1,891 9 Petersburg 3 1,502 10 Wrangell 3 1,315
1970
The 1970 census saw the method of divisions changed once again from Election Districts to Boroughs and Census Areas.
Rank Incorporated placeBorough/Census AreaPopulationNotes 1 Anchorage Greater Anchorage Area Borough 48,029 2 Fairbanks Fairbanks North Star Borough 14,771 3 Ketchikan Ketchikan Gateway Borough 6,994 4 Juneau Juneau Borough 6,050 5 Kodiak Kodiak Island Borough 3,798 6 Kenai Kenai Peninsula Borough 3,533 7 Sitka Sitka 3,370 8 Nome Nome 2,488 9 Bethel Bethel 2,416 10 Barrow Barrow 2,104
1980
Rank Incorporated placeBorough/Census AreaPopulationNotes 1 Anchorage Anchorage Municipality 174,431 City of Anchorage merged with Greater Anchorage Area Borough in 1975 to form the Municipality of Anchorage. 2 Fairbanks Fairbanks North Star Borough 22,645 3 Juneau City & Borough of Juneau 19,528 The City of Juneau and the Borough of Juneau merged in 1970, which includes the former city of Douglas. 4 Sitka City & Borough of Sitka 7,803 The City of Sitka and Greater Sitka Borough merged in 1971.Home Rule Charter of the City and Borough of Sitka 5 Ketchikan Ketchikan Gateway Borough 7,198 6 Kodiak Kodiak Island Borough 4,756 7 Kenai Kenai Peninsula Borough 4,324 8 Bethel Bethel 3,576 9 Valdez Valdez-Cordova 3,079 10 Petersburg Wrangell-Petersburg 2,821
1990
Rank Incorporated placeBorough/Census AreaPopulationNotes 1 Anchorage Anchorage Municipality 226,338 2 Fairbanks Fairbanks North Star Borough 30,843 3 Juneau City & Borough of Juneau 26,751 4 Sitka City & Borough of Sitka 8,588 5 Ketchikan Ketchikan Gateway Borough 8,283 6 Kodiak Kodiak Island Borough 6,365 7 Kenai Kenai Peninsula Borough 6,327 8 Bethel Bethel 4,674 9 Valdez Valdez-Cordova 4,068 10 Wasilla Matanuska-Susitna Borough 4,028
2000
Rank Incorporated placeBorough/Census AreaPopulationNotes 1 Anchorage Anchorage Municipality 260,283 2 Juneau City & Borough of Juneau 30,711 3 Fairbanks Fairbanks North Star Borough 30,224 4 Sitka City & Borough of Sitka 8,835 5 Ketchikan Ketchikan Gateway Borough 7,922 6 Kenai Kenai Peninsula Borough 6,942 7 Kodiak Kodiak Island Borough 6,334 8 Bethel Bethel 5,471 9 Wasilla Matanuska-Susitna Borough 5,469 10 Barrow North Slope Borough 4,581
2010
Rank Incorporated place Borough/Census AreaPopulationNotes 1 Anchorage Anchorage Municipality 291,826 2 Fairbanks Fairbanks North Star Borough 31,535 3 Juneau City & Borough of Juneau 31,275 4 Sitka City & Borough of Sitka 8,881 5 Ketchikan Ketchikan Gateway Borough 8,050 6 Wasilla Matanuska-Susitna Borough 7,831 7 Kenai Kenai Peninsula Borough 7,100 8 Kodiak Kodiak Island Borough 6,130 9 Bethel Bethel 6,080 10 Palmer Matanuska-Susitna Borough 5,937
2020
Rank Incorporated place Borough/ Census AreaPopulationNotes 1 Anchorage Anchorage Municipality 291,247 2 Fairbanks Fairbanks North Star Borough 32,515 3 Juneau City & Borough of Juneau 32,255 4 Wasilla Matanuska-Susitna Borough 9,054 5 Sitka City & Borough of Sitka 8,458 6 Ketchikan Ketchikan Gateway Borough 8,192 7 Kenai Kenai Peninsula Borough 7,424 8 Bethel Bethel 6,325 9 Palmer Matanuska-Susitna Borough 5,888 10 Kodiak Kodiak Island Borough 5,581
See also Alaska Demographics of Alaska List of cities in Alaska List of census-designated places in Alaska Alaska statistical areas List of Alaska placenames of Native American origin List of most populous cities in the United States by decade
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