What was the purchase price per acre paid by the United States in the Alaska Purchase?

The United States paid about two cents per acre in the Alaska Purchase from Russia.

The United States agreed to buy Alaska for $7.2 million in 1867. The territory covered roughly 586,000 square miles at the time, making the price approximately two cents per acre. Secretary of State William H. Seward negotiated the agreement with Russian minister Eduard de Stoeckl.

The treaty was signed on March 30, 1867, and the formal transfer took place in Sitka on October 18 of that year. Critics mocked the purchase as “Seward’s Folly” or “Seward’s Icebox,” believing the remote territory had little value.

That judgment changed after the discovery of gold and later oil and mineral resources. Alaska became a U.S. territory in 1912 and was admitted as the 49th state on January 3, 1959. The purchase also had lasting consequences for Native peoples whose lands and sovereignty were affected by U.S. rule.