Sister cities of Ketchikan, Alaska

Ketchikan (/ˈkɛtʃɨkæn/, KETCH-ih-kan) is a city in Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska, United States, the southeasternmost city in Alaska. With a population at the 2010 census of 8,050 within the city limits, it is the fifth-most populous city in the state.

Ketchikan's economy is based upon tourism and fishing, and the city is known as the "Salmon Capital of the World." The Misty Fiords National Monument is one of the area's major attractions. For most of the latter half of the 20th century, a large portion of Ketchikan's economy and life centered around the Ketchikan Pulp Company pulp mill in nearby Ward Cove. The mill closed in 1997 in the wake of the passage of the Tongass Timber Reform Act of 1990, which reduced timber harvest targets on the Tongass National Forest.

Ketchikan is named after Ketchikan Creek, which flows through the town. "Ketchikan" comes from the Tlingit name for the creek, Kitschk-hin, the meaning of which is unclear. It may mean "the river belonging to Kitschk"; other accounts claim it means "Thundering Wings of an Eagle". In modern Tlingit this name is rendered as Kichx̱áan.

Ketchikan uses two ZIP codes, 99901, and 99950, which is the largest number used as a ZIP code. Ketchikan has the world's largest collection of standing totem poles, found throughout the city and at four major locations: Saxman Totem Park, Totem Bight State Park, Potlatch Park, and the Totem Heritage Center. Most of the totems at the two parks are recarvings of older poles, a practice that began during the Roosevelt Administration through the Civilian Conservation Corps, while the Heritage Center displays preserved 19th-century poles.