In 1778, Captain James Cook sailed into what is now the Cook Inlet. Captain Cook continued to sail up the western coast of Alaska, through the Bering Strait, and entered into the Arctic Ocean but was forced to turn back due to ice blocking the way.

The city's sea coast consists mostly of treacherous mudflats. Newcomers and tourists are warned not to walk in this area because of extreme tidal changes and the very fine glacial silt. Unwary victims have walked onto the solid seeming silt revealed when the tide is out and have become stuck in the mud.

There are no lizards, freshwater turtles, or snakes in Anchorage, or anywhere else in Alaska for that matter. The only reptiles in Alaska are rare sightings of sea turtles.

The city of Anchorage stretches almost 2,000 square miles, larger than the entire state of Rhode Island.

On the shortest day of the year (December 21, winter solstice), Anchorage gets only 5 hours and 28 minutes of daylight. But the city shifts to the opposite over the summer, with about 19 hours of daylight per day in July.

The 2011-2012 winter had 134.5 inches or 3.42 metres, making it the snowiest winter on record, while the least snowiest winter of record was 2014-2015, with just 25.1 inches or 0.64 metres of snow.

Anchorage is now the number 1 city in America for per capita espresso shops, with 2.8 shops per every 10,000 residents.

The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Matanuska-Susitna Borough, had a population of 396,317 in 2019, accounting for more than half the state's population.

Due to its proximity to active volcanoes, ash hazards are a significant, though infrequent, occurrence. The most recent notable volcanic activity centered on the multiple eruptions of Mount Redoubt during March-April 2009, resulting in a 25,000-foot (7,600 m) high ash cloud that deposited about 3 mm (0.1 in) of volcanic ash on the city.

Although the screenwriter envisioned the penal colony Rura Penthe in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country on a desert world, director Nicholas Meyer suggested that it be turned into an ice world instead. The exterior shots of Captain Kirk, Doctor McCoy, and the shapeshifter Martia traveling across the frozen wastes were filmed on top of a glacier in Alaska, forty minutes east of Anchorage. The location was accessible only by helicopter, and was scouted months before filming began.