Alaska Population 2023

The last nationwide census in the United States was carried out in 2010, when the population of Alaska was officially counted at 710,231 people. That figure represented a growth in population of 13.3% from the year 2000. Since the 2010 census results were announced, the United States Census Bureau has announced a further estimates of the population in 2011 (722,718) and 2012 (731,449).

Alaska Area and Population Density

The current population of Alaska ranks the state 48th in the country in total population. With a massive surface area of 665,384 square miles, Alaska is by far the largest state in the US. It's obvious that Alaska is also by far the most sparsely populated state in the Union, with an average density of just 1.2 people per square mile.

As you would imagine, there aren't many big cities in Alaska. In total, there are just 29 cities and towns with a population of more than 1,000 people. The largest city, Anchorage, was home to 298,695 people in 2015, making it the 82nd largest city in the USA. Aside from Anchorage, there are only two cities with a population of more than 10,000 people - Juneau, the State capital, (pop: 32,756) and Fairbanks (pop: 32,325).

Alaska Gender and Religion Statistics

The median age is 33.6, with 47.7% females to 52.2% males. In religious terms, 62% of Alaskans relate to a Christian based faith, 6% with a non-Christian faith, and 31% having no affiliation with any religion.

Alaska Boundary, Statehood, and Census History

Alaska was purchased from Russia in 1867, with essentially its present boundaries. "Skeptics had dubbed the purchase of Alaska “Seward’s Folly,” but the former Secretary of State was vindicated when a major gold deposit was discovered in the Yukon in 1896, and Alaska became the gateway to the Klondike gold fields" (Office of the Historian, 2018) It was made a territory in 1912 and admitted as a State on January 3, 1959.

Census coverage of Alaska began in 1880. For the censuses of 1930 and 1940, Alaska actually was enumerated in the fall of the preceding year (1929, 1939).

Alaska Population Growth

Back in 1880, shortly after Alaska had been acquired from Russia, the population of Alaska was declared at 33,426. Like many areas within the United States, it has enjoyed healthy growth ever since and just twenty years later in 1900, numbers had risen to 63,592, nearly double those of 1880.

Around this period, gold rushes in Alaska and the nearby Yukon brought many thousands of new settlers just as similar finds had brought in immigrants to the rest of America. Alaska began to thrive and by 1940, the population of Alaska had grown to 72,524.

Alaska Population Growth

From the 2010 Census to the 2015 estimates, Alaska grew at 3.97%, making it the 24th fastest growing state during that time period.

More periods of extensive growth followed, and some significant rises in the Alaska population were on the horizon. In 1950, the official statistics showed that there were 128,643 residents, a rise of 77.4% on the 1940 figures and by 1960, a year after Alaska became the 49th state, numbers had increased by an additional 75.8% to 226,167.

Alaska Population Projections

That was the last time that such a rise took place in decades, but the population of Alaska continues to grow at a healthy rate, considerably faster than the US average.

Alaska Natives, or indigenous people of Alaska, make up the majority of the population of western and northern Alaska, where the population is quite sparse. Southeast Alaska also has a large population of Alaska Natives. The primary groups of indigenous people in Alaska are: Aleuts, Northern Eskimos (Inupiat), Southern Eskimos (Yuit), Interior Indians (Athabascans) and Southeast Coastal Indians (Tlingit and Haida.)

The state also has the highest population of American Indians in the entire nation, with Native Alaskans and American Indians comprising just under 15% of the state's total population. According to 2010 data, over 36,000 Native Alaskans and American Indians lived in the city of Anchorage alone.

Alaska is also one of the top ten states with the highest population of Asian residents. Ranked at number seven in the nation, this state experienced growth of 54.2% of its Asian population between the 2000 and 2010 censuses. The majority of the Asian population that resides in Alaska is of Filipino heritage, with a history dating back to the 1700s when early Filipinos worked as crew members on fur trading and exploratory ships.

• 17 of the 20 highest mountain peaks in the United States are located in Alaska.
• There are over 70 volcanoes in Alaska that could still be active. Alaska's Bogoslof Volcano has erupted as recently as 2017.
• There are over 3 million lakes and 3,000 rivers located within the state.
• The strongest earthquake on the North American continent occurred in 1964. The earthquake measured a 9.2 on the Richter scale.
• Alaska is located less than 50 miles from Russia.
• Alaska is known for its cold winters, and the average temperature in Fairbanks in January is -1 degree Fahrenheit. That is warm compared to the lowest recorded temperature of -80 degrees Fahrenheit, recorded in 1971 at Prospect Creek Camp.
• Twenty-five percent of the oil produced in the US comes from Alaska.
• The largest salmon ever caught -- a whopping 97.5 pounds -- was caught in the state's Kenai River.
• Alaska's area is so big, the state of Rhode Island could fit within it 425 times.
• Alaska Natives comprise about 15.4% of the total Alaskan population and include the Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and Athabaskan cultures.
• Many Alaskan Native traditions ceremonies are still practiced throughout Alaska today, such as birth celebrations, marriage ceremonies, giving of a name, raising totems, sharing of wealth, and honoring the departed, among others.
• Alaska has a palindromic place called Kanakanak. This means that this neighborhood's name can be reversed— spelled either from left to right or right to left— and it would be spelled or read identically.