Cartogram of Population in Alaska

Nov 5, 2018
Population of Alaska

The geographically accurate cartogram above represents the size of the boroughs and census areas of Alaska based on their population.  Anchorage makes up nearly half (41.09%) of the state's population and thus takes up a significantly larger portion of the state's landmass than it currently does.

Findings

  • Anchorage Municipality has the largest population in the state.  It alone is responsible for two out of every five people in the state.
  • Yakutat City and Borough has the smallest population and accounts for 0.09% of the state's total population.
  • Two boroughs (Anchorage Municipality and Fairbanks North Star Borough) are responsible for just over half the population.
  • Outside of the two boroughs above, only Matanuska-Susitna Borough has over 10% of the state's population.

Caveats

  • The data is from 2010.
  • The borders represent the area of the state if it were based on the number of people.  The larger the county, the more people it has.
  • The map is presented in an Albers equal-area conic projection.

Details

Anchorage Municipality and Fairbanks North Star Borough take up 54.83% of the state's landmass when rescaled according to population leaving just under half the state's area to the other 27 boroughs and census areas.

The total population of the state is 710,231.

Data

Borough or Census AreaPopulationPercent of State Population
Anchorage Municipality291,82641.09
Fairbanks North Star Borough97,58113.74
Matanuska-Susitna Borough88,99512.53
Kenai Peninsula Borough55,4007.80
Juneau City and Borough31,2754.40
Bethel Census Area17,0132.40
Kodiak Island Borough13,5921.91
Ketchikan Gateway Borough13,4771.90
Valdez-Cordova Census Area9,6361.36
Nome Census Area9,4921.34
North Slope Borough9,4301.33
Sitka City and Borough8,8811.25
Northwest Arctic Borough7,5231.06
Wade Hampton Census Area7,4591.05
Southeast Fairbanks Census Area7,0290.99
Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area5,5880.79
Aleutians West Census Area5,5610.78
Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area5,5590.78
Dillingham Census Area4,8470.68
Petersburg Census Area3,8150.54
Aleutians East Borough3,1410.44
Haines Borough2,5080.35
Wrangell City and Borough2,3690.33
Hoonah-Angoon Census Area2,1500.30
Denali Borough1,8260.26
Lake and Peninsula Borough1,6310.23
Bristol Bay Borough9970.14
Skagway Municipality9680.14
Yakutat City and Borough6620.09

Sources

United States Census Bureau.  "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2016."  Accessed December 12, 2017.  http://factfinder2.census.gov.

Filed under: Projecting Power