Most of Big Lake was built recently: 0.3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1979 on, and the census since 1960.
Founding year: the first Big Lake post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Big Lake’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Big Lake is among the newest of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Big Lake’s overall grade.
Alaska towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Alaska town has 3.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Big Lake’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (25% of Alaska towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to D. The pre-1940 share (±0.4 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Big Lake’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost half of its people between 1960 and 1970, then grew more than tenfold.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Big Lake’s Wikipedia page.
The story so far
Big Lake, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Big Lake yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Big Lake (Dena'ina: K'enaka Bena)is a census-designated place (CDP) in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, United States. It is part of the Anchorage, Alaska Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 3,833 at the 2020 census, up from 3,350 in 2010.
Its first post office opened in 1950. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 3,350 to 3,833 (+14%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Big Lake, 1950 to 2020
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Big Lake post office opened in 1950, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Big Lake rank for history?
Big Lake is among the newest of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Big Lake?
0.3% of Big Lake’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 0.3% for an Alaska town; the median home was built in 1993.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (6), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2011
2011
2011
2004
