Wales Alaska Map

About Wales, Alaska

Wales is a locality in Nome, Alaska, United States. It is a small community with a population of 168. The population density is 28.2 people per km². Wales is located at 65.6092°N, 168.0875°W. It observes the Alaska Time (America/Nome) timezone. Wales is an incorporated locality. ZIP code: 99783.

Wales occupies a stark, expansive interior plateau where the subarctic light stretches long shadows across the tundra, illuminating the subtle gradients of moss and lichen that carpet the earth. It lies 586.9 miles west-northwest of College, AK (from College, AK: bearing 284°T), and is situated 109.4 miles northwest of Nome. Village Creek carves a thin, silver thread through the low-lying basin, its bed marked by smooth stones and the quiet persistence of glacial runoff. Nineteen miles away, the jagged silhouettes of the York Mountains rise against the horizon like obsidian teeth, providing a vertical contrast to the vast, horizontal sweep of the plains. Eleven miles from the center of Wales, the protected lands of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge extend their reach, preserving the raw, untamed character of this interior wilderness where the silence is broken only by the sudden, sharp call of a raven.

Human presence in Wales is defined by a deep, generational endurance, shaped by the rhythms of a landscape that demands both respect and pragmatism. The economy here remains tethered to the traditional harvest and the seasonal migrations of wildlife, fostering a culture where local knowledge is the primary currency of survival. Life in Wales moves in sync with the shifting seasons, an existence marked by the arrival of bush planes that serve as the vital link to the outside world and the careful stewardship of the land passed down through ancestral lines. In the quiet hours of dusk, the air grows thin and crystalline, settling over the modest structures with a weight that reminds every inhabitant of the immense, indifferent scale of the surrounding wilderness.

About This Wales Map Page

This page provides an embedded street and satellite map of Wales, Alaska. Coordinates: 65.609167, -168.0875. Live weather conditions are sourced directly from the National Weather Service. Real-time local and world news feeds keep the page current.

Detailed location data for Wales includes the ZIP code (99783), telephone area code (907), county seat of Nome, and school district assignment (Bering Strait School District).

Location data is drawn from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and cross-verified against 2020 US Census records by coordinate proximity. Population figures are sourced from the 2020 US Census.