List of Former United States Counties - Alaska

Alaska

Alaska has never created counties. Under Section 9 of the 1912 organic act creating the Territory of Alaska, Alaska was prohibited from establishing counties without explicit approval from the U.S. Congress. The framers of the Constitution of Alaska chose to forgo consideration of a county system in favor of a system of boroughs, both organized and unorganized. In 1961, the Alaska Legislature formalized the borough structure to encompass multiple, separate organized boroughs and a single unorganized borough. Alaska currently has 18 organized boroughs. The United States Census Bureau, beginning with the 1970 United States Census, divided the Unorganized Borough into census areas. The boundaries of these census areas were largely based upon the early election districts of the state, which in turn were largely based upon the recording districts of the territory. Following is a list of former boroughs in Alaska:

• Chugiak-Eagle River Borough (1974-1975, incorporation invalidated by the Alaska Supreme Court)
• Greater Anchorage Area Borough (1964-1975, succeeded by Municipality of Anchorage)
• Greater Juneau Borough (1963–1970, succeeded by City and Borough of Juneau)
• Greater Sitka Borough (1963–1971, succeeded by City and Borough of Sitka)
• The Haines Borough was incorporated in 1968 as a third-class borough. Through consolidation, this municipality was dissolved, along with the City of Haines, in 2002. A home rule borough, also called the Haines Borough, was incorporated in the place of these two municipalities.