Relocating to Alaska?

Enjoy your adventure as you visit the best Alaska relocation resource available today.

Before you start your journey, take a minute and review what makes Alaska a great place to work and play.

What makes Alaska real estate worthwhile?

Alaska, twice the size of Texas, dwarfs every other state in the Union. The Alaskan cities of Sitka, Juneau, and Anchorage are the three largest U.S. cities in terms of area. And Alaska has other geographic extremes. Mount McKinley, which reaches 6,194 meters (20,320 feet), is the highest point in North America. Alaska has a longer coastline—10,686 kilometers (6,640 miles)—than all other United States coastlines combined. Additionally, Point Barrow, 2,090 kilometers (1,300 miles) south of the North Pole on the Arctic Ocean, is the northernmost point in North America. Cape Wrangell, located on the Aleutian Islands, is North America’s westernmost point.

The name Alaska comes from the state’s earliest inhabitants. The Aleut alaska and Inuit alakshak translate into “mainland.” Today Aleuts, Inuit, and Native Americans comprise about 15 percent of the state's population. Experts believe these earliest inhabitants migrated between 15,000 and 40,000 years ago, from what is now Asia, across the Bering Strait, to this region. Today much of this land bridge is submerged under the Bering Sea. What remains is named the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve and occupies much of the Seward Peninsula.

Discoveries of gold around Nome, Rampart, and Hot Springs in the late 19th century spurred the region’s population growth. More than 50 years later, vast oil reserves found on the Kenai Peninsula and under Prudhoe Bay transformed the state’s economy. Most of this oil is moved across Alaska to the southern, ice-free port of Valdez through the 1,262-kilometer- (789-mile-) long oil pipeline that was built in the 1970s. Although oil production is declining today, Alaska still provides about one-fourth of total U.S. petroleum production. In 1989 the Exxon Valdez ran aground and spilled 38 million liters (10 million gallons) of oil into Prince William Sound, creating the worst oil spill in North American history.

The commercial value of mineral resources found in Alaska allowed the state to abolish its state income tax in 1980. At least 25 percent of the revenues from Alaska mineral developments and sales are secured and invested by the state to pay each citizen a yearly dividend of $1,000. Also in 1980 the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act was created to protect 42 million hectares (104 million acres) of land. The act gives rural, and especially Aleut, Inuit, and Native American Alaska residents, priority to hunt and fish for food.

Want to know more about Alaska real estate?

Anchorage Hotels - A short 45 minute drive from Anchorage Airport, private cabins in a pristine, quiet and semi-remote setting with breathtaking views of mountains and glaciers. And right on the way to Denali.

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