Alaska is America's great northern frontier: a state so big that its east–west span reaches 2,400 miles, with more than three million lakes, North America's highest peak and tens of thousands of miles of shoreline. Here are ten facts that show the scale of the 49th state.
Size and history
1. It is by far the largest U.S. state
According to the state's geography overview, Alaska covers 586,412 square miles, about one-fifth the size of the entire lower 48 states. It measures 2,400 miles from east to west and 1,420 miles from north to south. With so much land and so few people, there is almost a square mile for every resident.
2. Canada separates it from the rest of the country
Alaska shares a 1,538-mile border with Canada, which lies between it and the contiguous United States. Any road trip from the lower 48 to Alaska therefore runs through Canada.
3. It became the 49th state in 1959
Congress passed the Alaska Statehood Act in 1958: the House on 28 May and the Senate on 30 June. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed it into law on 7 July 1958, and on 3 January 1959 he signed the proclamation admitting Alaska as the 49th state. The Eisenhower Presidential Library’s document collection holds the original records.
4. Juneau is the capital, not Anchorage
Anchorage is the largest city by far, but the capital is Juneau in Southeast Alaska, with around 33,000 people. In area, Sitka is the largest city in the state at 4,710 square miles, most of it land, and Juneau comes second.
Mountains, glaciers and water
5. North America's highest mountain is here
The peak in the Alaska Range widely known as Denali, and listed by the National Park Service as Mount McKinley, rises to 20,310 feet, the highest point in North America. The NPS geology overview explains how immense tectonic forces crumpled the crust to build the range. Alaska has 39 mountain ranges and 17 of the 20 highest peaks in the United States.
6. Glaciers and ice fields cover thousands of square miles
Ice fields cover about 5% of Alaska, some 29,000 square miles. The largest glacier is the Bering Glacier complex, at 2,250 square miles. In Denali National Park alone, glaciers fill about one-sixth of the park, about one million acres, carving valleys and carrying rock down from the peaks.
7. Its shoreline runs to tens of thousands of miles
Measured point to point, Alaska's coastline is 6,640 miles long. Include the islands and smaller details shown on the most detailed maps, and the shoreline grows to 33,904 miles. Count every inlet and tidal shore, and it reaches an estimated 47,300 miles. About 1,800 islands have names; the largest, Kodiak, covers 3,588 square miles.
8. Three million lakes and 3,000 rivers
Alaska has more than three million lakes, 94 of them larger than 10 square miles. The biggest, Iliamna Lake, covers 1,150 square miles. More than 3,000 rivers drain the state. The longest, the Yukon, runs 1,875 miles within Alaska and 2,298 miles in total, making it the third-longest river in the United States.
Wild Alaska: plants, tides and weather
9. Some of its wild plants are deadly
The U.S. Forest Service's Tongass safety guidance warns that baneberry, water hemlock and false hellebore can be fatal if eaten, while devil's club and cow parsnip can irritate the skin. Only eat wild plants you can identify with certainty. The same guidance notes that paralytic shellfish poisoning from Alaskan shellfish has killed people, so collect shellfish only from tested beaches.
10. The Southeast is a rainforest with huge tides
Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska is a temperate rainforest with about 11,000 miles of coastline. Rainfall ranges from about 26 inches a year in Skagway to about 225 inches at Little Port Walter. Tides can rise and fall by about 20 feet. Summer temperatures average in the 50s and 60s °F. Both black and brown bears live here.
Pack layers that are not cotton, because hypothermia is a risk even in summer, and carry a tide table if you plan to camp or paddle along the shore.
More Alaska and winter adventures
For a dramatic mountain story from Alaska, watch Ian McIntosh’s ski footage from the Neacola Range. To compare different ways to enjoy the snow, explore our winter sports guide.
Related reading
- Alaska’s Changing Glaciers: A Guide to the Historic Photo Pairs
- Valdez Heli-Skiing: H2O Guides in the Chugach
- Five Alaskan Landscape Photographs: Mountains, Water and Northern Light
- Ruth Glacier and the Great Gorge: Ice in the Alaska Range
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