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50 free Anchorage trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Anchorage holds nearly 40 percent of Alaska's people and sits almost exactly the same distance from New York, Tokyo and Murmansk, which is why a FedEx hub and the world's third-busiest cargo airport ended up in a city that started as a railroad tent camp on Ship Creek in 1915. It was levelled by a magnitude 9.2 earthquake in 1964, then rebuilt on oil money after the 1968 Prudhoe Bay strike. These 50 questions range across the city's geography on Cook Inlet, Captain Cook's bad-tempered naming of Turnagain Arm, the Good Friday quake, the Iditarod's ceremonial start on Fourth Avenue, Fur Rendezvous, the thousand moose that winter in town, and the airport, port and military bases that run its economy. Easy questions cover the inlet, the railroad and the Iditarod; the hard end asks about sister cities, record snowfalls and a 1970s basketball team that played 5,000 miles from its nearest rival. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation attached. Play it on your phone or print it for an Alaska-themed quiz night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Roughly what share of Alaska's population lives in Anchorage?
Nearly 40 percent
The metro area, which adds the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, holds more than half the state.
Q 02What was Anchorage's population at the 2020 census?
291,247
That is slightly below the 2010 count of 291,826.
Q 03Anchorage sits at the head of which body of water?
Cook Inlet
The city occupies a peninsula between the inlet's two arms.
Q 04Which arm of water lies to the north of Anchorage?
Knik Arm
Turnagain Arm, to the south, has some of the highest tides in the world.
Q 05Anchorage began in 1915 as a tent city beside which waterway?
Ship Creek
Salmon fishing at the creek, steps from downtown, is still a summer ritual.
Q 06Construction of what triggered the founding of Anchorage?
The Alaska Railroad
Unlike other Alaskan towns, it was never a fishing or mining camp.
Q 07In which year was Anchorage incorporated as a city?
1920
The exact date was November 23, five years after the tent city went up.
Q 08In 1975 the city merged with what to form the Municipality of Anchorage?
Greater Anchorage Area Borough
The merger pulled in Eagle River, Girdwood and Glen Alps.
Q 09Anchorage is almost equidistant from New York, Tokyo and which Russian city?
Murmansk
The route to Murmansk runs straight over the North Pole.
Q 10Which courier company runs a major hub at Anchorage's airport?
FedEx
The company calls it a critical part of its global network.
Q 11How many times has Anchorage won the All-America City Award?
Four
The wins came in 1956, 1965, 1984-85 and 2002.
Q 12Which explorer anchored HMS Resolution near the site in 1778?
James Cook
He spent ten days exploring the inlet while hunting for the Northwest Passage.
Q 13Who scouted the Knik Arm for Captain Cook in 1778?
William Bligh
Bligh later became notorious as captain of HMS Bounty.
Q 14Why did Cook give the southern arm a name about turning back again?
Q 21In 1976 Alaska voters approved building a new capital near which town?
Willow
Opponents later killed a nearly $1 billion bond to pay for it.
Q 22Which newspaper owner championed moving the state capital to Anchorage?
Robert Atwood
The state later named its main Anchorage office tower after him.
Q 23At what latitude does Anchorage lie?
61 degrees north
That is slightly farther north than Oslo and Helsinki, but south of Reykjavik.
Q 24Which range forms Anchorage's eastern boundary?
He found no Northwest Passage there
He was in a foul mood after running his ship aground on a sandbar.
Q 15Which Alaska Native people displaced the Chugach Alutiiq around 500 AD?
Dena'ina Athabaskans
The Dena'ina name for the city is Dgheyay Kaq'.
Q 16In 1915 residents voted to rename the town what, before the territory refused?
Alaska City
Governor Strong had asked for a name with more local significance.
Q 17What was the magnitude of the Good Friday earthquake that hit Anchorage in 1964?
9.2
It remains the second-largest earthquake ever recorded.
Q 18Which broadcaster stayed on air nearly 24 hours after the 1964 quake?
Genie Chance
The police chief effectively made her the city's public safety officer.
Q 19Which Anchorage neighbourhood saw homes sink to sea level in the 1964 quake?
Turnagain
The ground was glacial silt, which liquefied during nearly five minutes of shaking.
Q 20Oil discovered where in 1968 shifted Anchorage's economy?
Prudhoe Bay
ARCO made the find on the North Slope.
Chugach Mountains
The city limits reach into a 495,000-acre state park in those mountains.
Q 25Why are tourists warned off Anchorage's mudflats?
Fine glacial silt traps walkers
Two people became stuck in the silt, in 1961 and 1988.
Q 26Roughly how many moose live in the Anchorage Bowl in winter?
Up to 1,000
The summer count is nearer 250; over 100 are killed by cars each year.
Q 27Which marine mammals are often seen from the Seward Highway south of Anchorage?
Beluga whales
Dall sheep are the other roadside attraction, at Windy Point.
Q 28What does local folklore say about fireweed going to seed?
First snow is six weeks away
The plant's full bloom to seed marks the end of a roughly 101-day growing season.
Q 29What is Anchorage's record high temperature, set on July 4, 2019?
90 °F
Average July highs are only around 66 °F.
Q 30How much snow fell in Anchorage's record 2011-12 winter?
134.5 inches
It edged the 1954-55 winter by under two inches.