River
Kuskokwim River
1,130 km from source to mouth · United States.
United StatesFlows into Bering Sea
In numbers
Length
1,130km
Average flow
1,900m³/s
Basin
124,319km²
Drop
462m
from 351 m to -111 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
1,130 km of river and 8 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmEast Fork Kuskokwim Riverat 351 m
- 334 kmTakotna Rivertributary
- 358 kmWilson Lake2.2 km²
- 517 kmStony Rivertributary
- 548 kmHolitna Rivertributary
- 694 kmKolmakof Lake1.5 km²
- 735 kmAniak Rivertributary
- 920 kmKisaralik Rivertributary
- 926 kmKwethluk Rivertributary
- 1,130 kmBering Seaat -111 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Alaska
At the mouth it carries 1,897 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 1.3 seconds. It drops from 351 m to -111 m, 0.4 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 124,319 km², about the size of ER. 11,000 people live in it. Highest water, with the snowmelt: August; lowest: from January to April. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- BethelLargest city on its banks · 6,450 people
- Bethel Airport (BET)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 5 km from the cityCar hire at ANC airport (Anchorage)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water2 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to JulyThe best months to visit
Kuskokwim River, month by month
Highest water: August
Lowest water: from January to April. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from November to March. Melting snow makes up much of its water. Best months to visit: from June to July.
From about 780 m³/s in the lowest month to 2,900 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Kuskokwim River: the basin in numbers
123,077 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 11,000people live in the basin
- 0/km²people per km²
- 337maverage altitude of the basin
- 480mmof rain a year (basin average)
- -2.9°Caverage air temperature
- 30%protected areas
- 2.9%covered by lakes
- 1%glaciers
- 25%permafrost
What covers the basin
- 9% Forest
- 1% Ice
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Kuskokwim River: what you find on the way
- 1Boat ramps
- 1Marinas
- 1River beachesLomack Beach
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Kuskokwim River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
2lakes on its wayLakeyas
2mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (2)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Wilson Lakekm 3142.2km²
- Kolmakof Lakekm 6081.5km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (2)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Brush Peak14 km away
- Greens Head13 km away
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Kuskokwim River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (16)
Also: Aniak River, Eek River, Holitna River, Stony River, Takotna River, Swift River, Kwethluk River, Kisaralik River, Johnson River, East Fork Kuskokwim River, George River, Middle Fork Kuskokwim River, South Fork Kuskokwim River, Gweek River, Tuluksak River, Eenayarak River
Nearby
Rivers nearby
CanadaWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q60067) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Lakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit