Kusilvak

Formed 1980

Kusilvak Census Area (8,372), Juneau (32,255), Hooper Bay (1,374)

Like all Census Areas, it is part of the Unorganized Borough created in 1961 and is governed at the state level therefore the State Capitol is shown.  A wooden building serves as the courthouse.  Emmonak and Hooper Bay also have courthouses.  The Kusilvak Mountains get credit for the Census Area name after it was changed from Wade Hampton.  Chevak is Native American for “connecting slough.”  It was created in 1980 when the unorganized territory was divided. 

Kusilvak Census Area government is conducted at the state level.  Four Superior Judges and Four District Judges serve the Fourth Judicial District which includes the Kusilvak Census Area (judicial.)  The census area is located in the western part of Alaska on the Bering Sea.  The center of the census area is 60 miles Northeast of Chevak at Mountain Village.  The Census Area is surrounded clockwise by Nome, Yukon-Koyukuk, and Bethel Census Areas, and the Bering Sea. 

The area of the census area is 17077 square miles.  It is 11 of 30 in size.  It ranks 12 out of 30 in population in the state.  It has a density of 0.48 persons per square mile making it 18 out of 30 in the state.  Kusilvak Census Area has 97.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Chevak is in the extreme west part of the area near the Bering Sea.  The largest city is in the extreme west on the Bering Sea.  Hooper Bay is the largest city in the census area.  It is 16.4% of the census area population.  The area is shape like a snow mitten.  There are no Interstates or United States Highways in the Census Area.  The seat is pronounced SHEE-VAK.