Why does Anchorage cover a whopping 1700 sq mi of land? (Cantwell: property taxes, law)

[1greatcity]

I read online that the city of Anchorage contains 1697 square miles of land. That's a huge area! Compared with most other US cities, even NYC seems small. And with only about 300,000 residents in Anchorage, that translates to a very low population density. So it got me wondering why so much land is included in Anchorage's borders. What exactly is the developed portion of the city's land area? And what does the rest of the land consist of-- mountains?

[JavaPhil]

Yes. Mountains. Technically, Eagle River, Girdwood, Indian, and several other communities belong to the city and Girdwood is 30 miles away.

[Wynternight]

The Anchorage Metropolitan District is big, the city itself...not so much.

[Frostnip]

That's the whole borough I think, not just the city people think of when you say Anchorage.


The city and the borough of Anchorage are consolidated. That purple area is the whole municipality.

[JavaPhil]

MatSu is a separate borough and is MUCH larger than the municipality of Anchorage. According to Wiki it is over 25,000 square miles.

[Jan Alaska]

It always amazes me how far north MatSu borough covers, the sign for the change-over into Denali borough is up by Cantwell i believe.

And Anchorage is also huge, Anchorage PD covers as far out as the Bridge over the knik on the Glen.

[highlife2]

I think it mainly a tax extraction scam by local govt. people outside the city and bourough don't pay the outragious property taxes. So they make sure the boarders are so far out that few can get out of the taxes do to proximity to jobs and stores

[JavaPhil]

But they also have to provide the basic services that the rest of the people in the municipality receive: Law enforcement, education, fire protection, street services, etc.

[cjg5]

Juneau is bigger.

[JavaPhil]

I think that, area-wise, Juneau is one of the largest cities in the US.