Prudhoe Bay

Situated on the Beaufort Sea, which leads into the Arctic Ocean, Prudhoe Bay sits on the northern coast of Alaska at the northern end of the Dalton Highway. Oil is the focus of the local culture - the Trans-Alaskan pipeline, which transports oil from the North Slope oilfields, runs from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez on Prince William Sound to the south.

Prudhoe Bay is primarily a workers community with only one permanent residence documented by the April 2000 U.S. census. The Prudhoe Bay and nearby oil fields provide about 20 percent of the nation's domestic oil supply.