List of boroughs and census areas in Alaska

Alaska is a large state in the United States, and it is divided into different areas for government and statistical purposes. There are 19 organized boroughs and 11 census areas in the Unorganized Borough. These boroughs and census areas work like counties in other states but have their own special rules.

The people who wrote Alaska's constitution wanted a different system than other states, so they created boroughs with different powers. Some boroughs can make many rules by themselves, while others need approval from voters for certain actions. The organized boroughs do not cover all of Alaska's land. The parts not in an organized borough are called the Unorganized Borough, and the U.S. Census Bureau divides this area into 11 census areas for counting people. These census areas do not have their own governments but help collect important information.

There are also seven places where the city and borough governments are combined, called consolidated city-boroughs. Examples include Juneau City and Borough, Anchorage, and Sitka City and Borough. Each borough and census area has a special number called a FIPS code, which helps the Census Bureau organize data about the population and other details. Alaska's state code is 02, so each code starts with "02" followed by other numbers.

List of boroughs

Alaska is divided into 19 organized boroughs and 11 census areas in the Unorganized Borough. Both boroughs and census areas are treated the same way by the Census Bureau, like counties in other states. When creating their system, leaders in Alaska decided not to use the usual county system. Instead, they made their own special plan with different types of boroughs that have various jobs and powers.

Census areas in the Unorganized Borough

Alaska is special because it is not fully divided into organized areas like other U.S. states. The Unorganized Borough is the part of Alaska that is not inside any of its 19 organized boroughs. Even though it is called the "Unorganized Borough," it is not actually a borough. This area covers more than half of Alaska’s land, spanning 970,500 km². If it were its own state, it would be bigger than any other U.S. state, including Texas or California.

For the 1980 census, the United States Census Bureau split the Unorganized Borough into 12 census areas to help count people in this large region. As new boroughs form, these areas change, and today there are 11 census areas.