Unorganized Borough, Alaska

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Alaska with the Unorganized Borough highlighted in red

The Unorganized Borough is that part of the U.S. state of Alaska not contained in any of its 16 organized boroughs. It encompasses over half of Alaska's area, 970,500 km² (374,712 square miles), an area larger than any other US state. It is larger than France and Germany combined. As of the 2000 census, it had a population of 81,803, 13% of the population of the state.

Unique among the United States, Alaska is not entirely subdivided into organized county equivalents. To facilitate census taking in the vast unorganized area, the United States Census Bureau, in cooperation with the state, divided the unorganized borough into 11 census areas beginning with the 1970 census:

This vast area has no local government other than that of school districts and municipalities within its limits. Except within incorporated cities, all government services in the unorganized borough, including law enforcement, are provided by the state.

Alaska adopted the borough structure in 1961, and envisioned boroughs to serve as an "all-purpose" form of local government to avoid the perceived problems of county government in the Lower 48 States. According to Article X of the Alaska Constitution, areas of the state unable to support borough government were to be served by several unorganized boroughs, which were to be mechanisms for the state to regionalize services; however, separate unorganized boroughs were never created. The entire state was defined as one vast unorganized borough with the Borough Act of 1961, and over the ensuing years Alaska's organized boroughs were carved out of it.

The unorganized status of this vast area is not without controversy. Many Alaskans residing in organized boroughs feel that they unfairly subsidize residents of the unorganized borough, especially for education. In 2003, the Alaska Division of Community Advocacy identified eight areas within the unorganized borough meeting standards for incorporation[1]. Bills have been introduced in the Alaska Legislature to compel these areas to incorporate, though as of 2008 none has been signed into law.