Anchorage

Anchorage 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. At 1,706 sq mi (4,420 km²) of land area, the city is the fourth-largest by area in the United States and larger than the smallest state, Rhode Island. It is almost equidistant from New York City, Tokyo, and Frankfurt, Germany (across the Arctic Ocean), and within 10 hours by air of nearly 90% of industrialized world. Captain James Cook was among the first European explorers to map the Alaskan coastline, and many of the geographical features (mountains, islands, rivers, waterways, etc.) still bear the names he gave them. In September 1975, the City of Anchorage merged with the Greater Anchorage Area Borough, creating the Municipality of Anchorage. The municipal city limits span 1,961.1sq mi (5,079.2 km²), encompassing the urban core, a joint military base, several outlying communities, and almost all of Chugach State Park. The city has won the All-America City Award four times: in 1956, 1965, 198485, and 2002, from the National Civic League. Kiplinger has named it the United states' most tax-friendly city. In the 19th century, Russian trading posts along the Cook Inlet were well-established, such as the Shelovov-Golovov Company.

History

Archaeological evidence suggests habitation of the Cook Inlet began 5,000 years ago by a tribe of Alutiiq Eskimos that arrived by kayak. Captain James Cook was among the first European explorers to map the Alaskan coastline, and many of the geographical features (mountains, islands, rivers, waterways, etc.) still bear the names he gave them. In the 19th century, Russian presence in south-central Alaska was well-established. The Russians introduced diseases such as smallpox that had devastating effects on the local Native population, which plummeted by half just 10 years after the first census. In 1888, gold was discovered along Turnagain Arm just south of modern-day Anchorage, and small towns such as Spenard, Hope, Rainbow, Bird, Indian, and Girdwood began to spring up. Anchorage, unlike every other large town in Alaska south of the Brooks Range, was neither a fishing nor mining camp. The area surrounding Anchorage lacks significant economic metal minerals. The city grew from its choice as a site for construction of the railroad in 1914. The town was mapped out on the condition of a higher ground that was out of the direction of the US Army, and with the symmetry of the Army's Woodrow Wilson, President of the U.S. Army. In 1912, Anchorage became a tent city, where proponents of Prohibition were gaining traction, and became a part of an effort to stem the flow of alcohol at the time.

Geography

Anchorage is in Southcentral Alaska. At 61 degrees north, it lies slightly farther north than Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki and Saint Petersburg, but not as far north as Reykjavík or Murmansk. It is northeast of the Alaska Peninsula, Kodiak Island, and Cook Inlet, due north of the Kenai Peninsula, northwest of Prince William Sound and the Alaska Panhandle, and nearly due south of Denali. The city is on a strip of coastal lowland and extends up the lower alpine slopes of the Chugach Mountains. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the municipality has an area of 1,961.1 square miles (5,079.2 km²) of which is land and 263.9 square miles of it is water. The total area is 13.5% water, with 1,697.2 squaremile (4,395.8 km 2) of that land being land and 1,683.9 miles (683.4 km² of it water) of the municipality being water. A diverse wildlife population exists within urban Anchorage and the surrounding area. Approximately 250 black bears and 60 grizzly bears live in the area. Moose are also a common sight; in the Anchorage Bowl, there is a summer population of approximately 250 moose, increasing to as many as 1,000 during the winter. There are also beaver dams in local creeks and lakes, and sightings of foxes and kits in parking lots close to wooded areas in the spring are common.

Climate

Anchorage has a subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification: Dfc) but with strong maritime influences that lead to a relatively moderate climate. Average daytime summer temperatures range from approximately 55 to 78 °F (13 to 26 °C) with an average winter snowfall of 75.5 in (192 cm) The coldest temperature ever recorded at the original weather station at Merrill Field on the East end of 5th Avenue was 38.9 °C on February 3, 1947. The average annual precipitation at the airport is 16.63 in (422 mm) Anchorage's latitude causes summer days to be very long and winter daylight hours to beVery short. The city is often cloudy during the winter, which further decreases the amount of sunlight experienced by residents.Due to its proximity to active volcanoes, ash hazards are a significant, though infrequent, occurrence. The most active recent event was an August 1992 eruption of Mount Spurr, which is 78 mi (126 km) west of the city. The clean-up of ash resulted in excessive demands for water and caused major problems for the Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility. Anchorage has a frost-free growing season that averages slightly over 101 days. According to local folklore, when a native plant called fireweed goes to seed after a full bloom, the first snowfall is 6 weeks away. Average January low and high temperatures at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) are 11 to 23°F (12 to 5°C).

Demographics

Anchorage first appeared on the 1920 U.S. Census. In 1975, it consolidated with its borough. In 2010, there were 291,826 people, 107,332 households and 70,544 families residing in the municipality. The median household income was $84,928 and the per capita income from May 2019April 2020 was $41,415. The poverty rate was 9.5%. According to the 2010 American Community Survey, approximately 82.3% of residents over the age of five spoke only English at home. The largest national ancestry groups were as follows: 17.3%. German, 10.8% Irish, 9.1% English, 6.9% Scandinavian (3.6% Norwegian, 2.2% Swedish, 0.6%) and 5.6%. French/French Canadian ancestry. The average household size was 2.69 people per household. 95.9%. of households had a computer present with 90.0% having a broadband Internet connection. The. average household income for a family was $73,004, and the median. income for the municipality was $85,678. About 7.2%. of the population was male and 49.1%. were female. The population was 66.0%. White (57.1%) and Asian (10.0%) were the most common ancestries. The racial and ethnic composition of the municipality in 2010 was as following: 66.6. White (62.6%). Asian (9.0%). Asian and Pacific Islander (8.1%). American Indian and Alaska Native (7.9%) American Indian or Alaska Native. Hispanic or Latino (of any race): 7.6! (4.4% Mexican, 1.2. Puerto Rican).

Economy

Anchorage's economy traditionally has seen steady growth, though not quite as rapid as many places in the lower 48 states. Transportation, military, municipal, state and federal government, tourism, corporate headquarters and resource extraction are the city's largest economic sectors. The Port of Anchorage receives 95 percent of all goods destined for Alaska. The headquarters building of ConocoPhillips Alaska is in downtown Anchorage, and is also the tallest building in Alaska. In 2013, Forbes named Anchorage among its Best Places for Business in the U.S. for the first time in the history of the magazine's Best Places to Work and Work in the United States. The city is home to the Alaska Native Corporation, which charges a 12% sales tax, but does not levy a sales tax on its products. The state of Alaska purchased the Bank of America Center (which it renamed the Robert B. Atwood Building) to house most of its offices, after several decades of leasing space in the McKay Building (now the McKinley Tower) and later the Frontier Building. Alaska Airlines (at one point headquartered in Anchorage, but now headquartered in the Seattle area), has major offices and facilities at TSAIA, including the offices of the Alaska Airlines Foundation. Prior to their respective dissolutions, airlines MarkAir, Reeve Aleutian Airways and Wien Air Alaska were also headquartered Anchorage. The airport is the world's fourth busiest airport for cargo traffic, surpassed only by Memphis, Hong Kong, and Shanghai Pudong. It also has an abundant supply of jet fuel from in-state refineries in North Pole and Kenai.

Arts

The city of Anchorage provides three municipal facilities large enough to hold major events such as concerts, trade shows and conventions. Downtown facilities include the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, William A. Egan Civic & Convention Center and the recently completed Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center. The Sullivan Arena hosts sporting events as well as concerts and annual trade shows. The Sitka Summer Music Festival presents an "Autumn Classics" festival of chamber music for two weeks each September on the campus of Alaska Pacific University. The Anchorage Folk Festival takes place at the University of Alaska Anchorage, featuring concerts, dances, and workshops with featured guest artists and over 130 performances by volunteer singers, dancers, musicians, and storytellers. The Alaska Museum of Natural History hosts an annual Alaska Native Heritage Center and Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum at Rasmuson Center. It also hosts the International Ice Carving Competition as part of the Fur Rendezvous festival in February. It is home to eight resident performing arts companies and has featured mega-musicals performed by visiting companies, including Disney's The Lion King, Les Misérables, Mamma Mia!, The Phantom of The Opera, West Side Story, and others. The city also has a number of museums, including the Oscar Anderson House Museum, Wells Fargo Alaska Heritage Library & Museum, and the Alaska Native Museum of Native Art and Science. It has a large museum collection of Native American and Alaska Native artifacts, including a 19th-century Native American burial site.

Sports

Anchorage has no professional sports teams. The city was the U.S. candidate for hosting the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics, but lost to Albertville, France and Lillehammer, Norway respectively. Anchorage is a premier cross-country skiing city, in terms of density of groomed trails within the urban core. There are 105 mi (169 km) of maintained ski trails in the city, some of which reach downtown. The University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves are a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The Anchorage Northern Knights gained national attention when they joined the eight-team Eastern Basketball Association in 1977. The Knights captured the 197980 league championship, and featured several players who would play in the NBA, most notably Brad Davis, a future player and broadcaster for the Dallas Mavericks. The Tour of Anchorage is an annual 50-kilometer ski race within the city. and is the Host for the 2009 and 2010 US Senior National Cross Country Ski Championship. An expansion team, named the Anchorage Wolverines, began competing in the Midwest Division for the 202122 season. In 2021, the NAHL approved the addition of an expansion team in Anchorage. The Rage City Rollergirls are Alaska's first WFTDA flat track women's roller derby league. The 1989 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships was played in Anchorage and the city is home to the Alaska Baseball League's Anchorage Bucs and Anchorage Glacier Pilots, which both play at Mulcahy Stadium, and the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks based at Lee Jordan Field.

Parks and recreation

Many of Anchorage's parklands are interconnected with green belts that follow the lakes and streams that form the natural watershed. This creates water/parkland (blue/green) interfaces in the pluvial flood zones, which helps minimize the risk of floods damaging homes and businesses. The Alaska Botanical Garden has over 900 species of hardy perennials and 150 native plant species. Anchorage is home to the Alaska Zoo and the Alaska Native Heritage Center. It is also the home of Moose's Tooth Pub & Pizzeria, a pub and pizzeria ranked 3rd best in the U.S. for its quality of food. It also hosts the Alaska Museum and Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. The city is also home to Arctic Valley Ski Area, Alyeska Resort, Hilltop Ski Area and Westchester Lagoon/Margaret Eagan Sullivan Park. It has a number of parks, gardens, and wildlife refuges, including Kincaid Park, Delaney Park Strip, Point Woronzof Park, Westchester lagoon, and the Alaskan Botanical Gardens. The town also has a large number of historic buildings, many of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including the Alaska State Museum. It's home to Alaska's oldest public library, which was established in 1881. It was also the site of Alaska's first public school, which opened in 1883. The Alaska Zoo has a collection of over 1,000 species of mammals and birds, as well as over 150 native plants.

Government and politics

Anchorage-Eagle River sends 16 representatives (as of 2018, nine Republicans and seven Democrats) to the 40-member Alaska House of Representatives. More than half the Alaska state legislature comes from the Anchorage metropolitan area. In 2010, Anchorage reported 837.7 violent crimes per 100,000 population and 3,518.0 property crimes. Anchorage's crime rate, both for violent and property crimes, is higher than for Alaska as a whole. Anchorage, and Alaska in general, have very high rates of sexual assault in comparison with the rest of the country. In the 2017 municipal election, Christopher Constant and Felix Rivera became the first openly gay candidates elected to Anchorage public office. In 2020, Joe Biden will become the first Democrat to win Anchorage since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Anchorage has a cultural exchange program with Montenegro. Along with seven sister cities in the SCI program, Anchorage is one of the few U.S. cities to participate in the UNESCO World Heritage Program. The city's mayor is Dave Bronson. In 2018, Anchorage began conducting municipal elections by mail (as directed by the assembly in 2015) and had the highest voter turnout in the city's history. The Anchorage Police Department is the largest police department in the state, serving an area of 159 square miles with a population of 300,950. The Fire & EMS Operations Division of the Anchorage Fire Department (AFD) includes thirteen fire stations with over 300 personnel covering three rotating 24-hour shifts. There are volunteer fire departments in Girdwood and Chugiak and fire departments on Elmendorf Air Force Base and Fort Richardson, as well as Airport Police and Fire Department.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Anchorage, Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska = 73.6. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 49. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 39. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Anchorage = 1.4 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 1,100 individuals with a median age of 33.8 age the population grows by 10.27% in Anchorage, Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 170.6 residents per square mile of area (65.88/km²). There are average 2.67 people per household in the 103,855 households with an average household income of $69,252 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 6.90% of the available work force and has dropped -4.12% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 24.86%. The number of physicians in Anchorage per 100,000 population = 315.4.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Anchorage = 17.2 inches and the annual snowfall = 76.3 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 122. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 126. 68 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 8.8 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 84, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Anchorage, Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska which are owned by the occupant = 56.80%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 29 years with median home cost = $242,550 and home appreciation of -0.23%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $15.70 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $10,441 per student. There are 20.4 students for each teacher in the school, 508 students for each Librarian and 464 students for each Counselor. 7.99% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 18.66% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 10.20% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).