Bettles (Kk’odlel T’odegheelenh Denh in Koyukon; Atchiiniq in Iñupiaq[4]) is a city in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, United States.

The original village was founded a mile southwest of the junction of the John & Koyukuk Rivers in the late 1890s during the Alaska Gold Rush and was named for Gordon C. Bettles, a newspaper man, Montana Silver prospector, and trader who established the trading post and community in 1898.

[7] Residents began relocating 5 miles (8.0 km) east to Evansville, where the airstrip that serves the community today was built in World War II and is now used for commercial air service.

[7] With the construction of the airfield at Evansville 5 miles east, residents began relocating away by the 1940s and the post office closed in 1956.

[8] Although the area began to be settled around World War II with the construction of the airfield, it was not entirely clear if the population figures for 1950 and 1960 were for the "New" Bettles or the old village, which still was occupied until 1997.

[14] In 1985, a section of unincorporated Evansville was carved out and incorporated as the city of Bettles, and it has appeared on the U.S. Census again beginning in 1990.

[20] Bettles is 35 miles (56 km) north of the Arctic Circle, just south of the Brooks Range.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.6 square miles (4.1 km2), all of it land.

As is typical of the Alaska Interior, Bettles experiences a subarctic climate (Köppen Dfc) with very long, frigid winters and short, warm summers, and is located in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 1,[21] indicating the coldest temperature of the year is typically at or below −50 °F (−46 °C).

Temperatures usually remain consistently below freezing from late October to late March, and the bulk of the year's snow occurs from October to April, with generally light accumulations in May and September; the average annual snowfall stands at 91 inches (2.31 m).

[26] The Vor Lake Waterlane seaplane base is located 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south of the city.