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History · Nuiqsut

Nuiqsut was first counted by the census in 1980

Most of Nuiqsut was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1955 on, and the census since 1980.

1980first census
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Nuiqsut’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Nuiqsut began

When was Nuiqsut founded?

1980

Nuiqsut first appears in the census in 1980.

First census: 208 in 19802020 census: 51246 years
Founding year: the first census.

What stands out about Nuiqsut’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Nuiqsut’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Nuiqsut’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewVillage of Nuiksut: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Nuiqsut, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Nuiqsut yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Nuiqsut (Inupiaq: Nuiqsat, IPA: [nuiχsɐt]) is a city in North Slope Borough, Alaska, United States. The population was 512 at the 2020 Census and 92.5% Alaska Native. It is located in the midst of a vast quantity of oil reserves and the closest community to ConocoPhillips oil drilling project named Willow Project in the Alpine, Alaska oil field of the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska. It owns the surface rights, but not the subsurface rights of the Alpine field, which are with the regional Arctic Slope Regional Corporation.

Its first post office opened in 1980. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 402 to 512 (+27%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

Nuiqsut, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1970s1 item
Village of Nuiksut1972Village of Nuiksut
1980s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today5 recent
Untitled photo2018Untitled photoNuiqsut, Alaska2013Nuiqsut, AlaskaNuiqsut Aerial View2010Nuiqsut Aerial ViewNuiqsut Fire Station2007Nuiqsut Fire StationAKMap-doton-Nuiqsut2004AKMap-doton-Nuiqsut
On the map

Nuiqsut on the map in 1955

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Nuiqsut.

Nuiqsut on the 1955 USGS map1955Harrison Bay A-2 sheet · 1:63,360

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Nuiqsut.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Village of Nuiksut
Retake this viewVillage of Nuiksut, 1972

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Nuiqsut’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Nuiqsut, census by census

0100200300400500198020002020512

Grew from 208 people in 1980 to 512 in 2020.

5 censuses, 1980–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Nuiqsut’s Wikipedia page.

Questions about Nuiqsut’s history

What year was Nuiqsut founded?

The Nuiqsut post office opened in 1980, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.