Anchorage, a consolidated city-borough, is located in South Central Alaska. It lies slightly farther north than Oslo, Helsinki and St. Petersburg. It is northeast of the Alaska Peninsula, Kodiak Island, and Cook Inlet, due north of the Kenai Peninsula, northwest of Prince William Sound and Alaska Panhandle, and nearly due south of Mount McKinley/Denali.

Anchorage is on a strip of coastal lowland and extends up the lower alpine slopes of the Chugach Mountains. To the south is Turnagain Arm, a fiord that has some of the world's highest tides. Knik Arm, another tidal inlet, lies to the west and north. The Chugach Mountains on the east form a boundary to development, but not to the city limits, which encompass part of the wild alpine territory of Chugach State Park.

Anchorage has a subarctic climate (the Köppen climate classification is Dfc) due to its short, cool summers. Average daytime summer temperatures range from approximately 55 to 78 degrees Fahrenheit (13 to 26 degrees Celsius); average daytime winter temperatures are about 5 to 30 degrees (-15 to -1 degrees Celsius). Anchorage has a frost-free growing season that averages slightly over 100 days.

Average January low and high temperatures at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (PANC) are 9 °F/22 °F (-13 °C/-5 °C) with an average winter snowfall of 70.60 inches (179.3 cm).

The weather on any given day and indeed for entire seasons can be very unpredictable. Some winters feature several feet of snow and cold temperatures, while others, just a foot or two of snow and frequent thaws, which put dangerous ice on the streets.