Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality located within the south central area of the State of Alaska. Officially, it is known as the Municipality of Anchorage and it is the northernmost major city within the USA. In the year 2010, there were 291,826 residents. When combining Anchorage with its neighboring community of Matanuska-Susitna Borough, there were 374,553 people within this Metropolitan Statistical Area. More than 40% of the total population of the state of Alaska lives in Anchorage City, making it the biggest city within the state of Alaska. Only New York City has a higher percentage of residents who reside in the state's largest city amongst the 50 states in America.
There was a huge Russian presence within south central Alaska during the 19th century. The US brokered a deal to purchase the land of Alaska from the debt-ridden Imperial Russia. The price of $7.2 million, that worked out to roughly 2 cents an acre, was secured by William H. Seward, the U.S. Secretary of State. Political rivals lampooned the idea and nicknamed it "Seward's Folly", "Walrussia" and Seward's Icebox". Gold was discovered along the Turnagain Arm in 1888.
The city of Anchorage grew immensely during 1914, with the construction of a railroad port, for the Alaska Engineering Commission. The Alaska Railroad as it was known continued to be constructed until it was completed during 1923. A tent city emerged at the region near the mouth of Ship Creek where the railroad headquarters were located.
In the city of Anchorage, the largest economic sectors consist of transportation, tourism, federal, state and municipal government, military, resource extraction, some corporate headquarters and several regional head offices for multinational companies. Anchorage's geographical site and surrounding natural resources account for a huge portion of the local economy.
The city of Anchorage has traditionally enjoyed steady growth, even though not as much as the cities situated within the lower 48 states. The city does not experience as much disaster during economic downturns, with the exception of a real estate related crash during the mid to late 1980s.
The Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport or likewise known as TSAIA is the third busiest cargo airport, surpassed by the airports within Hong Kong and Memphis. This abundance in traffic is connected to the city's location along the "great circle," referring to routes between Asia and between the lower 48 states. Moreover, the airport has a big source of jet fuel from the Alaskan refineries located in the North Pole and Kenai. There is pipeline and rail service to transport the jet fuel to the Port of Anchorage.
The most visible industry in Anchorage is the resource sector, mainly petroleum. There are several high rise buildings in the city that bear the logos of big multi-national companies like ConocoPhillips and BP. Most offices and administration are situated in Anchorage City. Field operations are centered on the South Slope of Anchorage around the Cook Inlet and around the Alaska North Slope.
The tallest building in the state of Alaska is the headquarters building of ConocoPhillips Alaska, a subsidiary of ConocoPhillips. It is located in the downtown core of the city of Anchorage. Other businesses such as CH2M HILL and Arctic Slope Regional Corporation provide oilfield support services and also have headquarters outside of Anchorage but maintain a substantial presence in the city.