Sure, a Saturday morning right after a foot of fluffy snow is the best thing ever. But that same amount of snow on Tuesday in Alaska can make a commute last forever. Imagine it’s the dead of winter and the time of year when the ground is frozen, the air is bone-chilling, and there are piles of dirty, nasty, ice-encrusted snow all over the place.
This is about the time of year when you’re just about ready for spring — especially in Anchorage, the snowiest place in Alaska.
So, put on your parkas, snow boots, and gloves, and let’s go outside to see which Alaska cities get dumped on the most every year. After analyzing all the cities in Alaska with Saturday Night Science, we came up with this list as the 10 snowiest cities in Last Frontier.
93.3 inches of snow per year
Located in
Anchorage Municipality, Alaska
Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the U.S. state of Alaska. With an estimated 298,192 residents in 2016, it is Alaska’s most populous city and contains more than 40 percent of the state’s total population; among the 50 states, only New York has a higher percentage of residents who live in its most populous city. All together, the Anchorage metropolitan area, which combines Anchorage with the neighboring Matanuska-Susitna Borough, had a population of 401,635 in 2016, which accounts for more than half of the state’s population.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
90.0 inches of snow per year
90.0 inches of snow per year
90.0 inches of snow per year
90.0 inches of snow per year
Located in
Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska
Wasilla is a city in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, United States and the sixth-largest city in Alaska. It is located on the northern point of Cook Inlet in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley of the southcentral part of the state. The city’s population was 7,831 at the 2010 census. Estimates in 2013 put the population at roughly 8,621. Wasilla is the largest city in the borough and a part of the Anchorage metropolitan area, which had an estimated population of 396,142 in 2013.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
90.0 inches of snow per year
90.0 inches of snow per year
Located in
Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska
Palmer is a city in and the borough seat of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is part of the Anchorage Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city is 5,937.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
90.0 inches of snow per year
90.0 inches of snow per year
80.7 inches of snow per year
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Alaska’s statewide median.
On the map
Where Alaska’s snowiest cities are
Saturday Night Science
How We Determined The Cities In Alaska With The Most Snow
In order to rank the snowiest cities in Alaska, we used Saturday Night Science and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) database, to see which cities in the Last Frontier get the most annual snowfall.
We updated this article for 2026. This is our second time ranking the snowiest cities in Alaska.
Before we get too far, here are the annual snowfall rates for major cities: Anchorage (93.3 inches), Juneau (78.2 inches), and Fairbanks (59.2 inches).
The snowiest cities in Alaska are Anchorage, Knik-Fairview, Tanaina, Lakes, Wasilla, Meadow Lakes, Palmer, Gateway, Fishhook, and Kalifornsky.
There’s a complete chart at the bottom.
The full plate
Detailed List Of The Snowiest Places In Alaska
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Snow (Inches) | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anchorage | 93.3 | 299,107 |
| 2 | Knik-Fairview | 90.0 | 16,017 |
| 3 | Tanaina | 90.0 | 9,640 |
| 4 | Lakes | 90.0 | 9,028 |
| 5 | Wasilla | 90.0 | 8,676 |
| 6 | Meadow Lakes | 90.0 | 7,424 |
| 7 | Palmer | 90.0 | 6,449 |
| 8 | Gateway | 90.0 | 5,610 |
| 9 | Fishhook | 90.0 | 5,323 |
| 10 | Kalifornsky | 80.7 | 7,965 |
| 11 | Kenai | 80.7 | 7,463 |
| 12 | Sterling | 80.7 | 6,054 |
| 13 | Homer | 80.7 | 5,324 |
| 14 | Juneau | 78.2 | 32,531 |
| 15 | Bethel | 70.5 | 6,370 |
| 16 | Kodiak | 62.4 | 6,293 |
| 17 | Fairbanks | 59.2 | 32,193 |
| 18 | Badger | 59.2 | 21,197 |
| 19 | College | 59.2 | 14,675 |
| 20 | Steele Creek | 59.2 | 6,272 |
| 21 | Chena Ridge | 59.2 | 5,473 |
| 22 | Sitka | 45.2 | 8,943 |
| 23 | Ketchikan | 30.7 | 8,197 |
Source: NOAA snowfall data via Saturday Night Science. 23 Alaska cities ranked.
Summary
Summary: The Snowiest Cities In Alaska For 2026
If you’re looking for the Alaska cities that get buried in snow each winter, this is an accurate list.
The snowiest cities in Alaska are Anchorage, Knik-Fairview, Tanaina, Lakes, Wasilla, Meadow Lakes, Palmer, Gateway, Fishhook, and Kalifornsky.
