41 Facts About Alaska

1. The western part of Alaska has no road system connecting the communities with the rest of Alaska.

2. Climate of Western Alaska is determined in large part by the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska.

3. Alaska is the only non-contiguous US state on continental North America; about 500 miles of British Columbia (Canada) separates Alaska from Washington.

4. Alaska is a US state situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent.

5. Alaska is almost as close to Tokyo as New York City (3,280 miles).

6. Alaska is the last great wilderness in the United States Civilization has only encroached on about 160,000 acres of its 365 million acres.

7. The University of Alaska is the state's leading higher-educational institution.

8. In 2003, Alaska had 19 hospitals with about 1,500 beds.

9. In 2000, Alaska ranked first among the states in per capita energy consumption, with a total of 944 million Btu.

10. In 2005, Alaska was the leading commercial fishing state in terms of volume and value.

11. In 2004, Alaska's manufacturing sector paid $351.5 million in wages.

12. In 2004, Alaska has the 17th highest per capita income in the United States at $34,000.

13. In 2005, Alaska had a gross state product of $40 billion.

14. In 2006, Alaska ranked 47th in United States with an estimated total of 670,053 residents.

15. In 1958, when Alaska was approved for statehood, Ernest *Gruening, a former territorial governor, was elected as a United States senator.

16. In the period of Russian rule, the Jews of Alaska were trappers and traders.

17. Alaska is the largest state in the United States, equal to one-fifth of the country's continental land mass.

18. In the same year Alaska was finally awarded a territorial representative in Congress.

19. Alaska is a member state of the regional Western States Arts Federation.

20. In 1979, Alaska became the first state to withdraw its government workers from the Social Security system.

21. In 2003, Alaska had 19 community hospitals, with about 1,500 beds.

22. In 2004, federal government grants to Alaska were $3.2 billion.

23. In the 2002 Census of Retail Trade, Alaska was listed as having 2,661 retail establishments with sales of $7.4 billion.

24. In 2004, a total of 10,262 people in Alaska were employed in the state's manufacturing sector, according to the ASM.

25. In 2004, Alaska had 224 producing natural gas and gas condensate wells.

26. In 2005, Alaska had the lowest personal bankruptcy rate in the United States.

27. In 2003, Alaska spent $207,159,311 on homeland security, an average of $296 per state resident.

28. Alaska is divided into 149 municipalities, ranging from the geographically small Bristol Bay to the expansive North Slope (87,860 sq mi or 227,557 sq mi).

29. In 2005, Alaska had a total of 678 public—and private-use aviation-related facilities.

30. In 2004, Alaska had 5,497 mi of navigable inland waterways.

31. Alaska is home to 16 of the 20 highest mountains in the US.

32. In the United States, Alaska is the state that is farthest north, east, and west.

33. For the second time, an Alaska Sports Hall of Fame plaque has been removed from an exhibit at the Anchorage airport in order to edit what it says.

34. Alaska is not divided into counties, as most of the other US states, but it is divided into boroughs.

35. In 2006 Alaska had the highest number of pilots per capita of any US state.

36. In October 2014, the governor of Alaska signed a bill declaring the state's 20 indigenous languages as official languages.

37. Alaska is the largest US state by area, and the tenth wealthiest.

38. In 2010, Alaska ranked as the 47th state by population, ahead of North Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming.

39. That same year, not coincidentally, Alaska repealed its state income tax.

40. Alaska is the largest state in the United States by total area at 663,268 square miles, over twice the size of Texas, the next largest state.

41. Alaska is the northernmost and westernmost state in the United States and has the most easterly longitude in the United States because the Aleutian Islands extend into the Eastern Hemisphere.