Alaska Free Public Records Directory

Alaska, known as “The Last Frontier,” was admitted to the U.S. on January 3, 1959, as the 49th state. It currently has a population of 741,894 and is ranked as the 48th least populated state. Alaska was purchased by the United States from the Russian Empire for $7,200,000 on March 30, 1867. It is the largest U.S. state by area and is located in the extreme northwest section of North America. Alaska is bordered by Yukon and British Columbia, Canada to the east, the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Ocean to the south and southwest, the Bering Sea, Bering Strait, and Chukchi Sea to the west and the Arctic Ocean to the north. Alaska has a longer coastline than all of the other U.S. states combined. Alaska’s 663,268 sq. miles makes it over twice the size of Texas.

There are six widely accepted regions of Alaska. East region has its own type of topography, climate, population and resources. Anchorage and the south central area of Alaska experiences mild weather by Alaskan standards. Even though it gets less rain than southeast Alaska, it gets more snow. The southeast region of Alaska is both the wettest and warmest with mild temperatures in the winter. The city of Juneau, in the southeast region, averages over 50 inches of precipitation per year. The climate of Western Alaska is somewhat moderate considering how far north the area is. Some areas average less than 10 inches of precipitation and other areas average about 100 inches per year. The interior of Alaska is subarctic recording some of the highest and lowest temperatures ranging from the 90s⁰ F in the summer and below -60⁰ F in the winter. The extreme north region of Alaska experiences long, very cold winters and short cold summers.

Alaska was occupied by numerous indigenous people for thousands of years before the arrival of the Europeans. The first permanent European settlement was founded in 1784. Spain sent several expeditions to Alaska between 1774 and 1800. After purchasing Alaska from the Russians in 1867, the military initially governed the area. During the first decade under the U.S. flag, the town of Sitka was the only community inhabited by American settlers. The gold rushes, starting in the 1890’s brought thousands of miners and settlers to Alaska. It was officially incorporated as an organized territory in 1912 until becoming a state.

Alaska is comprised of boroughs rather than counties, which function similarly to counties. However, the boroughs do not cover the entire land area. The part of the state that is not included as an official borough is referred to as the “Unorganized Borough.” There are a total of 355 incorporated cities and census-designated places, with the largest city being Anchorage with a population of 297,483. At the time that Alaska became a state in 1959, the Census Bureau reported Alaska’s population as 77.2% White, and 18.8% American Indian and Alaska Natives.

Alaska’s economy is dominated by the oil and gas industry with more than 80% of the state’s revenue coming from petroleum extraction. Seafood, primarily salmon, cod, pollock and crab, are Alaska’s main export product. Federal subsidies are also an important part of the economy, and in recent years, tourism has contributed to the economy^[1]

When you are ready to begin your search of Alaska public records, you can review the below list of available records. The list includes property records, criminal records, licensing records, and records related to births, deaths and marriages.

Abbreviation	AK
Capital	Juneau
Population	741,894 (2016 est.)
Area size	663,268 sq. mi
Demonym	Alaskan
Primary languages spoken	English – 86.3%, Alaska Native – 5.2%
Governor	Bill Walker
Lieutenant Governor	Byron Mallott
U.S. Senators	Lisa Murkowski, Dan Sullivan
U.S. House Delegation	1 Republican
Time Zone	East of 169⁰30’ – Alaska: UTC -9/-8 West of 169⁰30’ – Aleutian: UTC -10/-9

*The map and data in the table are from Wikipedia.

Browse by Public Record Category

There are two types of public records; 1) personal public records that document major life milestones such as birth certificates, death certificates, divorce records, and marriage records, etc.; and 2) government records that are made public such as property tax records, recorded land records, voter records, crime data, jail inmate records, and court records. The Freedom of Information Act is a national law that releases government agency public records and makes it possible to view most public records.^[2]

Since there are a multitude of records available, it can be difficult to know how or where to access them. When you are ready to start your search, you’ll find our Public Records Directory website easy to use since all of the records can be searched by federal, state, county, city, town or type of record. The links provided will connect you to the best website for the record search, provide details about the record, or provide contact information for those records without search capabilities.