The U.S. state of Alaska is not divided into counties, like the other 48 states (Louisiana has parishes), but instead is divided into boroughs. Many of the more densely populated parts of the state are in Alaska's 19 organized boroughs, which are somewhat similar to counties in other states. Unlike in the other states, the organized boroughs do not completely cover all of the land in the state. The areas that are not part of any organized borough are called the unorganized borough.
For the 1970 census, the US and state divided the unorganized borough into 11 census areas. Each is roughly the same as an election district. However, these areas are solely for statistical analysis and presentation, and have no government of their own. Boroughs and census areas are both treated as county-level equivalents by the Census Bureau.
Some areas in the unorganized borough receive limited public services directly from the Alaska state government, usually law enforcement from the Alaska State Troopers and educational funding.
Six consolidated city-county governments exist — the City and Borough of Juneau, City and Borough of Skagway, Sitka City and Borough, Yakutat City and Borough, Wrangell City and Borough, and the state's largest city, Anchorage. Though its legal name is the Municipality of Anchorage, it is considered a consolidated city-borough under state law.
The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 55-2,3,4 codes, used by the United States Census Bureau to uniquely identify states and counties, is provided with each entry. Alaska's code is 02, which when combined with any county code would be written as 02XXX. The FIPS code for each county links to census data for that county.
List of boroughs
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Census areas in the Unorganized Borough
The Unorganized Borough is part of the U.S. state of Alaska not in any of its 19 organized boroughs. It is over half of Alaska's area, 970,500 km² (374,712 mi²), an area larger than any other US state.
Unique among the United States, Alaska is not entirely subdivided into organized county equivalents. In 1970, the United States Census Bureau divided the unorganized borough into 12 census areas to facilitate census taking in the large unorganized area. With later changes due to the creation of new boroughs, there are now 11 such areas.
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References
Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development - maps and profiles of boroughs and census areas, including those that have changed since the 2000 census.
General References
Division of Community and Regional Affairs, Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development Local Government On-Line, Division of Community and Regional Affairs, Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development