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Wasilla is a city in Alaska that has grown to become one of the state's largest population centers. It matters primarily because of its size and role in Alaska's economy and development, and gained wider national attention when it was the hometown of Sarah Palin, who became John McCain's vice-presidential running mate in 2008.
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Article
Wasilla (Dena'ina: Benteh) is a city in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, United States, and the fourth-largest city in Alaska. It is located on the northern point of Cook Inlet in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley of the southcentral part of the state. The city's population was 9,054 at the 2020 census, up from 7,831 in 2010. Wasilla is the largest city in the borough and a part of the Anchorage metropolitan area, which had an estimated population of 398,328 in 2020.
Established at the intersection of the Alaska Railroad and Old Carle Wagon Road, the city prospered at the expense of the nearby mining town of Knik . Historically entrepreneurial, the economic base shifted in the 1970s from small-scale agriculture and recreation to support for workers employed in Anchorage or on Alaska's North Slope oilfields and related infrastructure. The George Parks Highway turned the town into a commuter suburb of Anchorage. The headquarters of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, a popular and significant sporting event in Alaska, is located in Wasilla.