Nome, Alaska

Nome Sitŋasuaq (Inupiaq)
City
City of Nome
Steadman Street in Nome, looking north from King Place, in May 2002
Seal
Location of Nome, Alaska
Nome Show map of Alaska Nome Show map of North America
Coordinates: 64°30′14″N 165°23′58″W / 64.50389°N 165.39944°W / 64.50389; -165.39944
Country	United States
State	Alaska
Census Area	Nome
Incorporated	April 12, 1901[1]
Founded by	Jafet Lindeberg, Erik Lindblom, and John Brynteson
Government
• Type	Council-Manager
• Mayor	John Handeland[2]
• State senator	Donald Olson (D)
• State rep.	Neal Foster (D)
Area [3]
• Total	21.49 sq mi (55.7 km2)
• Land	12.80 sq mi (33.2 km2)
• Water	8.69 sq mi (22.5 km2)
Elevation	20 ft (6 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	3,699
• Density	289.01/sq mi (111.59/km2)
• Demonym	Nomeite Noman
• Census Area	9,492
Time zone	UTC−9 (Alaska (AKST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−8 (AKDT)
ZIP Code	99762
Area code	907
FIPS code	02-54920
GNIS IDs	1407125, 2419435
Website	www.nomealaska.org

Nome (/ˈnoʊm/; (Inupiaq: Sitŋasuaq, pronounced [sitŋɐsuɑq], also Sitŋazuaq, Siqnazuaq)) is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of the US state of Alaska. The city is located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. It had a population of 3,699 recorded in the 2020 census, up from 3,598 in 2010.^[4] Nome was incorporated on April 9, 1901. It was once the most-populous city in Alaska. Nome lies within the region of the Bering Straits Native Corporation, which is headquartered in Nome.

In prehistory, Nome was home to Iñupiat natives. The area came to Western attention in 1898, when three Nordic-Americans discovered gold on the ocean shores of Nome, prompting the Nome Gold Rush. Within a year the city went from non-existent to a population of some 10,000. Gold mining continued to attract settlers into the early 1900s, but the city's population had fallen considerably by 1910. A series of fires and violent storms destroyed most of Nome's Gold Rush era buildings between 1905 and 1974. In the winter of 1925, a diphtheria epidemic raged among Alaska Natives in the Nome area. Fierce territory-wide blizzard conditions prevented the delivery of a life-saving diphtheria antitoxin serum by airplane from Anchorage. A relay of dog sled teams was organized to deliver the serum, which was successfully led by Balto and Togo. Today, the Iditarod Dog Sled Race follows the same route they took and ends in Nome.

In the 21st century, Nome's economy remains based around gold mining, which is now mostly carried out offshore. The city of Nome also claims to be home to the world's largest gold pan, although this claim has been disputed by the Canadian city of Quesnel, British Columbia.^[5]