AK · GEOID 02185

North Slope Borough area

North Slope Borough, Alaska covers 94,827.9 square miles: 88,797.6 square miles of land and 6,030.4 square miles of water.

Official Census measurements2026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area88,797.6 mi²
Water area6,030.4 mi²
Total area94,827.9 mi²
National land rank#2

County outline

Generalized outline of North Slope Borough, Alaska
2025 Census cartographic boundary, fitted to this frame. County maps are not at a common scale. The 2026 area measurements below come from the separate Gazetteer release. Map source and limitations.

Where North Slope Borough is located

North Slope Borough highlighted on a map of all U.S. county equivalents. Alaska is shown at 35% of the common scale. About the maps

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 93.6% of North Slope Borough’s measured area and water for 6.4%. Its combined area converts to 245,603.2 square kilometers or approximately 60,689,871 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land88,797.565229,984.63856,830,441.6
Water6,030.35915,618.5583,859,429.8
Total94,827.924245,603.19660,689,871.4

How North Slope Borough compares

By original Census land area, North Slope Borough ranks #2 of 30 in Alaska and #2 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 11.861 times the Alaska county-equivalent median of 7,486.4 square miles. It accounts for 15.5% of the combined county land area in the state.

See the complete Alaska ranking · What counts as a county equivalent?

What stands out about North Slope Borough?

North Slope Borough has more land than 3,220 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
North Slope Borough88,797.6 mi²
Alaska median7,486.4 mi²
National median604.5 mi²

A median is the middle county-equivalent measurement, not the average of the largest and smallest. All three bars use the same linear scale. Very small areas may appear as a thin sliver; the labels retain their values.

Does including water change its rank?

Using land plus water places North Slope Borough at #2 nationally by total area, the same position as its land rank. Changing the area definition does not change its position in this release.

Its water share is 6.4%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 5.2 percentage points higher. This describes the statistical geography’s land/water mix, not flood exposure or developable land.

Closest positions in the national land ranking

These entries sit immediately beside North Slope Borough in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#1Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska145,767.5Compare
#2North Slope Borough, Alaska88,797.6This county
#3Bethel Census Area, Alaska40,654.9Compare

Calculated from the same Census release as the area table. Total-area order uses original ALAND + AWATER; water shares and chart labels use published square miles. Calculation details.

Representative coordinates

The Census internal point is 69.449343, -153.472830. It represents a location inside the geography; it is not necessarily the centroid or the address of a courthouse.

Source and precision

U.S. Census Bureau, 2026 Gazetteer Files, Counties. Original ALAND: 229,984,627,391 m²; AWATER: 15,618,557,607 m². Rankings use ALAND; exact ties use ascending GEOID. Tables preserve Census-published square miles to three decimals, with conversions based on those values.

Download the official county source ZIP ↗ · Methodology

Common questions

How many acres of land are in North Slope Borough?

The land measurement converts to approximately 56,830,442 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 60,689,871 acres. One square mile equals 640 acres.

Why might another source show a different area?

Check whether it reports land or total area, its Census vintage, and its rounding. Our guide explains how to reconcile county area figures.

Can this establish a property boundary?

No. Statistical measurements and generalized maps do not establish property lines. Consult the relevant local surveying or land-records authority.

Cite this county

Download the complete CSV or JSON dataset