Alaska has no counties — its equivalent units are "boroughs." Only about 19 of roughly 30 county-equivalent areas are organized boroughs with an actual elected government (an assembly, often plus a mayor or manager); the rest of the state is the "Unorganized Borough," which has no borough-level government at all. In an organized borough, contact the borough assembly or clerk for meetings and records, much like a county elsewhere. In the Unorganized Borough there is no local government to contact for county-type matters — residents rely on state agencies, or an incorporated city government where one exists.

Most states place local governance in a county government, often a small elected commission; Alaska instead uses boroughs, and large parts of the state have no local government layer at all, because low population density made traditional county-style government impractical outside its more populated areas.