About Anchorage

Anchorage (Tanaina: Dgheyay Kaq'; Dgheyaytnu) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Matanuska-Susitna Borough, had a population of 398,328 in 2020, accounting for more than half the state's population. At 1,706sqmi (4,420km2) of land area, the city is the fourth-largest by area in the United States and larger than the smallest state, Rhode Island, which has 1,212sqmi (3,140km2).

Anchorage is in Southcentral Alaska, at the terminus of the Cook Inlet, on a peninsula formed by the Knik Arm to the north and the Turnagain Arm to the south. In September 1975, the City of Anchorage merged with the Greater Anchorage Area Borough, creating the Municipality of Anchorage. The municipal city limits span 1,961.1sqmi (5,079.2km2), encompassing the urban core, a joint military base, several outlying communities, and almost all of Chugach State Park.[11] Because of this, less than 10% of the Municipality (or Muni) is populated, with the highest concentration of people in the 100 square-mile area that makes up the city proper, on a promontory at the headwaters of the inlet, commonly called Anchorage, the City of Anchorage, or the Anchorage Bowl.[12]

Due to its location, almost equidistant from New York City, Tokyo, and Frankfurt, Germany (across the Arctic Ocean), Anchorage lies within 10 hours by air of nearly 90% of the industrialized world.[13][14] For this reason, Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is a common refueling stop for international cargo flights and home to a major FedEx hub, which the company calls a "critical part" of its global network of services.[15][16]
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