The community of Angoon is the only permanent settlement on Admiralty Island, a large island located about 55 miles from Alaska’s capital, Juneau, and about 700 miles southeast of Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city and home to many state agency offices. Angoon is an incorporated city with a democratically elected city government. It has no land-based airport, nor any roads to any other communities. Residents and travelers can reach Angoon only by floatplane, boat, or the Alaska State Marine Highway ferry system. The 2010 Census count for Angoon was 459, and most residents are Alaska Natives. The community is small and has few commercial services. The economy is based on commercial fishing and hunting and local government employment, and many residents live a primarily subsistence lifestyle. The Angoon Community Association is the federally recognized tribal government in Angoon.
The community is located on a peninsula surrounded on the north and west by Chatham Strait and on the east by Favorite Bay. Beyond Favorite Bay, and to the south of the peninsula, Angoon is surrounded by the nearly one-million-acre Admiralty Island National Monument and Kootznoowoo Wilderness Area. This means that private, state, or municipal lands on which to build an airport are extremely limited. The environment is characterized as temperate rainforest.
