Located at the mouth of the Koyuk River, at the northeastern end of Norton Bay on the Seward Peninsula. It is 132 miles east of Nome and 75 miles north of Unalakleet. Scheduled air service is available to Nome. Koyuk's population is 213. The zip code for the village is 99753.
Winter is cold and relatively dry, with an average winter sonwfall of 40 inches. Summers are cool, with most rainfall occurring in July, August and September. Average annual precipitation is 18.9 inches. Average winter temperatures range between -8° and 8 °F. Average summer temperatures range between 46° and 62 °F.
A gravel airstrip is adjacent and to the northeast. It is 2,000 feet in length and is unattended. No scheduled service is available.
There are no arts or crafts available. There are no moorage facilities at Koyuk.
The village known as Kuynkhak-muit was first recorded by Lt. L. A. Zagoskin of the Imperial Russian Navy in the 1840s. Prior to 1900, the village was nomadic, gradually settling around the present site where supplies could easily be lightered to shore. With coal being mined nearby to supply steamships and for export to Nome, and the Norton Bay Station trading center established in 1915, 40 miles upriver, Koyuk became a natural transfer point for goods and supplies.
Located in the south on Cape Denbigh is the archaeological site of Iyatayet, With traces of early man 6,000 to 8,000 years old.
The village was incorporated in 1970 as a second-class city. The economy is based on subsistence supplemented by part-time wage earnings. Some income is derived from reindeer herding, with hides and antlers being sold on the commercial market. Salmon, herring, grayling, beluga, seal, caribou, wildfowl, moose and berries are harvested.
Communications include phones, mail plane, radio and TV. The community has a Covenant church and a school with grades preschool to 12. There is a community electricity system, but no sewer system. Water is from a community well. Freight arrives in the community by air transport and barge.
