Capital: Juneau
Estimated 2004 population: 655,435
Change from 2000: +28,503
2004 housing units: 271,533
Housing units change from 2000-2004: +10,144

Top Alaska Cities
Anchorage | Barrow | Bethel | Fairbanks | Homer | Juneau | Kodiak | Nome | Petersburg | Sitka

Alaska Economy

Alaska leads the nation in the value of its commercial fishing catch—chiefly salmon, crab, shrimp, halibut, herring, and cod. Anchorage and Dutch Harbor are major fishing ports, and the freezing and canning of fish dominates the food-processing industry, the state's largest manufacturing enterprise.

Lumbering and related industries are of great importance, although disputes over logging in the state's great national forests are ongoing. Mining, principally of petroleum and natural gas, is the state's most valuable industry.

In 1968 vast reserves of oil and natural gas were discovered on the Alaska North Slope near Prudhoe Bay. The petroleum reservoir was determined to be twice the size of any other field in North America.

The 800-mi (1,287-km) Trans-Alaska pipeline from the North Slope to the ice-free port of Valdez opened in 1977, after bitter opposition from environmentalists, and oil began to dominate the state economy. The Alaska Permanent Fund, created in 1977, receives 25% of Alaska's oil royalty income. The fund is designed to provide the state with income after the oil reserves are depleted and has paid dividends to all residents.

Government—federal, state, and local—is Alaska's major source of employment. The state's strategic location has generated considerable defense activity since World War II, including the establishment of highways, airfields, and permanent military bases.

Alaska's tourism increased dramatically with the help of improvements in transportation; it now follows only oil among the state's industries.

Top Alaska Attractions
Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau
Alyeska Ski Area, Girdwood
Mount McKinley, Denali National Park and Preserve
Chugach State Park, Girdwood
Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Anchorage
Alaska Native Heritage Center, Anchorage
Kachemak Bay State Park, Homer
Misty Fjords National Monument, Ketchikan
University of Alaska Museum, Fairbanks
Alaska State Museum, Juneau