From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anchorage (officially called the Municipality of Anchorage) is a consolidated city-borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. With 282,813 municipal residents,[1] (359,180 residents within the Metropolitan Statistical Area),[2] it is Alaska's largest city and constitutes more than two-fifths of the state's total population. Anchorage has been named All-America City four times, in 1956, 1965, 1984/85, and 2002, by the National Civic League.[3]
Geography and climate
Geography
Anchorage is located in Southcentral Alaska. It lies slightly farther north than Oslo, Helsinki and St. Petersburg. It is northeast of the Alaska Peninsula, Kodiak Island, and Cook Inlet, due north of the Kenai Peninsula, northwest of Prince William Sound and Alaska Panhandle, and nearly due south of Mount McKinley/Denali.
The city is on a strip of coastal lowland and extends up the lower alpine slopes of the Chugach Mountains. To the south is Turnagain Arm, a fjord that has some of the world's highest tides. Knik Arm, another tidal inlet, lies to the west and north. The Chugach Mountains
on the east form a boundary to development, but not to the city limits,
which encompass part of the wild alpine territory of Chugach State Park.
The city's seacoast consists mostly of treacherous mudflats. Newcomers and tourists are warned not to walk in this area because of extreme tidal changes and sticky mud.
To the north is Matanuska-Susitna Borough (Mat-Su Valley, or just "the valley"), which is included with the MOA as a metropolitan area
by the US Census Bureau. Although the Mat-Su is a "bedroom community"
for Anchorage, the towns, exurbs, farms,and homesteads there have
varied local cultures quite distinct from that of Anchorage proper.
Between metropolitan Anchorage and the valley the communities of Eagle River and Chugiak, although part of the MOA, also have distinct identities.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the municipality has a total area of 1,961.1 square miles (5,079.2 km²),
of which 1,697.2 square miles (4,395.8 km²) is land and 263.9 square
miles (683.4 km²) is water. The total area is 13.46% water. The area of
Anchorage is thus larger than that of Rhode Island.[4]
Adjacent boroughs and census areas
Climate
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Classical
from 
