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River

Yukon River

3,190 km from source to mouth · Canada and United States.

CanadaUnited StatesCanada and United StatesFlows into Bering Sea1st longest in Canada

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouth
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

3,190km

Average flow

6,400m³/s

Basin

832,000km²

Drop

816m

from 648 m to -168 m

Countries

2

The journey

From source to mouth

3,190 km of river and 68 stops on the way: 21 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

648 m-168 m
Juneau Icefieldat 648 m0 km
Coal Mine Lake0.4 km²306 km
Sixty Mile Rivertributary630 km
Ford Lake0.7 km²885 km
Big Lake0.8 km²1,412 km
White Fox Lake0.6 km²1,415 km
Nowitna Rivertributary1,867 km
Melozitna Rivertributary1,936 km
Anvik Rivertributary2,407 km
Bonasila Rivertributary2,423 km
Mountain Village621 people2,807 km
Bering Seaat -168 m3,190 km
01,0002,0003,190 km
  1. 0 kmJuneau Icefieldat 648 m
  2. 3 kmMarsh Lake95 km²
  3. 45 kmWhitehorse28,201 people
  4. 63 kmTakhini Rivertributary
  5. 129 kmLake Laberge198 km²
  6. 169 kmTeslin Rivertributary
  7. 214 kmBig Salmon Rivertributary
  8. 306 kmCoal Mine Lake0.4 km²
  9. 417 kmPelly Rivertributary
  10. 580 kmWhite Rivertributary
  11. 593 kmStewart Rivertributary
  12. 630 kmSixty Mile Rivertributary
  13. 661 kmIndian Rivertributary
  14. 700 kmKlondike Rivertributary
  15. 701 kmDawson City1,577 people
  16. 865 kmEagle Village53 people
  17. 869 kmEagle83 people
  18. 885 kmFord Lake0.7 km²
  19. 911 kmTatonduk Rivertributary
  20. 946 kmNation Rivertributary
  21. 998 kmKandik Rivertributary
  22. 1,022 kmCharley Rivertributary
  23. 1,036 kmSlaven's Cabin
  24. 1,127 kmCircle91 people
  25. 1,168 kmBirch Creektributary
  26. 1,249 kmFort Yukon428 people
  27. 1,256 kmPorcupine Rivertributary
  28. 1,273 kmChristian Rivertributary
  29. 1,293 kmTeedriinjik Rivertributary
  30. 1,347 kmHadweenzic Rivertributary
  31. 1,372 kmBeaver48 people
  32. 1,390 kmBeaver Creektributary
  33. 1,396 kmHodzana Rivertributary
  34. 1,412 kmBig Lake0.8 km²
  35. 1,415 kmWhite Fox Lake0.6 km²
  36. 1,481 kmStevens Village37 people
  37. 1,483 kmTwin Lakes0.5 km²
  38. 1,497 kmDall Rivertributary
  39. 1,537 kmRay Rivertributary
  40. 1,576 kmHess Creektributary
  41. 1,610 kmLush Lake0.8 km²
  42. 1,613 kmMinook Creektributary
  43. 1,614 kmRampart57 people
  44. 1,718 kmTwelvemile Lake0.4 km²
  45. 1,734 kmTanana246 people
  46. 1,744 kmTanana Rivertributary
  47. 1,754 kmTozitna Rivertributary
  48. 1,867 kmNowitna Rivertributary
  49. 1,936 kmMelozitna Rivertributary
  50. 1,937 kmRuby139 people
  51. 1,975 kmYuki Rivertributary
  52. 2,020 kmGalena472 people
  53. 2,080 kmKoyukuk Rivertributary
  54. 2,115 kmNulato239 people
  55. 2,125 kmNulato Rivertributary
  56. 2,174 kmVillage of Kaltag158 people
  57. 2,377 kmGrayling210 people
  58. 2,407 kmAnvik Rivertributary
  59. 2,410 kmAnvik70 people
  60. 2,423 kmBonasila Rivertributary
  61. 2,473 kmHoly Cross176 people
  62. 2,479 kmInnoko Rivertributary
  63. 2,594 kmRussian Mission421 people
  64. 2,682 kmMarshall655 people
  65. 2,738 kmReindeer Rivertributary
  66. 2,742 kmAtchuelinguk Rivertributary
  67. 2,744 kmPilot Station615 people
  68. 2,783 kmAndreafsky Rivertributary
  69. 2,807 kmMountain Village621 people
  70. 3,190 kmBering Seaat -168 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in the Yukon Territory, Canada and Alaska, United States of America

At the mouth it carries 6,428 m³/s on average: 2.6 Olympic pools every second. It drops from 648 m to -168 m, 0.3 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 832,000 km², about the size of NA. 147,000 people live in it. Highest water, with the snowmelt: from July to August; lowest: from January to April. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • WhitehorseLargest city on its banks · 28,201 people
  • Whitehorse / Erik Nielsen International Airport (YXY)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 1 km from the cityCar hire in WhitehorseDiscover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water17 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • Kayak and canoe4 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
  • From June to JulyThe best months to visit

Yukon River, month by month

Highest water: from July to August

Lowest water: from January to April. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from October to March. Melting snow makes up much of its water. Best months to visit: from June to July.

2,600
-24°16 mmJan
2,600
-20°14 mmFeb
2,600
-13°12 mmMar
2,600
-4°11 mmApr
10,300
6°18 mmMay
11,100
12°36 mmJun
11,500
14°51 mmJul
12,300
12°56 mmAug
8,100
6°37 mmSep
7,000
-4°23 mmOct
5,400
-15°19 mmNov
3,700
-22°18 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 2,600 m³/s in the lowest month to 12,300 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

Car hire in WhitehorseDiscover CarsSee 

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

Yukon River: the basin in numbers

830,182 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.1% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 147,000people live in the basin
  • 0/km²people per km²
  • 695maverage altitude of the basin
  • 320mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • -6.3°Caverage air temperature
  • 31%protected areas
  • 1.4%covered by lakes
  • 60%permafrost
  • 0.3km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 24% Forest

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

Yukon River: what you find on the way

  • 2DamsThe Whitehorse Dam
  • 2Weirs
  • 4RapidsFive Finger Rapids, Rink Rapids and 2 more
  • 14Boat ramps
  • 2Ferry piers
  • 1Boat rentalsKanoe People

From OpenStreetMap, within 3.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Yukon 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.

  • 9lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 1mountain at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (9)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Marsh Lakekm 295km²
  2. Lake Labergekm 115198km²
  3. Ford Lakekm 7900.7km²
  4. Big Lakekm 1,2600.8km²
  5. White Fox Lakekm 1,2620.6km²
  6. Twin Lakeskm 1,3220.5km²
  7. Lush Lakekm 1,4360.8km²
  8. Twelvemile Lakekm 1,5320.4km²

1 more on LakeyasLakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (1)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Mount Lorne13 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Yukon River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Yukon River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth124 km across

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

Yukon River in pictures

2015-08-20 Canoeing the Yukon River - Whitehorse to Carmarcks 1442
Please attribute as: "Wikipedia / Tobias Klenze" (user page link optional). Remember that · CC BY-SA 4.0
Río Yukón, Carmacks, Yukón, Canadá, 2017-08-27, DD 01-04 PAN
Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0
Yukon River, Whitehorse (16209595096)
Anthony DeLorenzo from Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0
The Yukon River
Iforgotmylegs · CC BY-SA 3.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (47)

Tanana RiverUnited StatesUnited States940 km1.2 m³/sjoins at km 1,556Porcupine RiverCanadaCanada916 km650 m³/sjoins at km 1,120Koyukuk RiverUnited StatesUnited States805 km400 m³/sjoins at km 1,856Teslin RiverCanadaCanada632 km300 m³/sjoins at km 151Pelly RiverCanadaCanada608 km410 m³/sjoins at km 372Klondike RiverCanadaCanada168 km62 m³/sjoins at km 625

Also: Stewart River, Nowitna River, Innoko River, Fortymile River, White River, Teedriinjik River, Takhini River, Beaver Creek, Indian River, Anvik River, Big Salmon River, Andreafsky River, Birch Creek, Bonasila River, Charley River, Kandik River, Hodzana River, Atchuelinguk River, Christian River, Melozitna River, Sixty Mile River, Dall River, Nation River, Ray River

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Kuskokwim RiverUnited StatesUnited States1,130 km1,900 m³/s301 km awayKoyukuk RiverUnited StatesUnited States805 km400 m³/s404 km awayKobuk RiverUnited StatesUnited States451 km280 m³/s459 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q104437) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesLakeyas, 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?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit