Rankin Inlet, which fronts to Hudson Bay, is an Inuit hamlet on the Kudlulik Peninsula in Nunavut, Canada.

Archaeological sites suggest the area was inhabited around 1200 CE by Thule people who were bowhead whale hunters.

[4] Rankin Inlet is not only notable for its artists and artisans; it is recognized as housing the only Inuit fine-arts ceramics production facility in the world.

[36] Community artists work in a variety of media including ceramics, prints, bronze castings, carvings, watercolour and drawing.

[38] Canadian North also serves the community, with service to Edmonton, Yellowknife, Iqaluit, and Montreal, on a milk-run that flies very infrequently.

Qiniq is a fixed wireless service to homes and businesses, connecting to the outside world via a satellite backbone.

Rankin Inlet is notable for the chilling wind, severe winter storms, and water resources.

Paniqtoq Peninsula, on the inlet's far western shore, provides a barrier shelter for the smaller Kivalliq Region.

The Iqalugaarjuup Nunanga Territorial Park, 10 km (6.2 mi) northwest of Rankin Inlet, is notable for hiking, fishing, bird watching and Thule archaeological sites.

Although the climate is subarctic, temperatures rise and fall too rapidly and do not stay above 10 °C (50 °F) for long enough (30 days) for trees to grow.

Under the alternate formula for determining the boundary between Arctic and subarctic climates posited by Otto Nordenskjöld, however, Rankin Inlet, along with Arviat and Baker Lake, qualify as Arctic based on the relationship between the temperatures of the coldest and warmest months; in the case of Rankin Inlet, with a coldest-month (January) mean of −30.1 °C (−22.2 °F), said boundary for the warmest month would be 12.0 °C (53.6 °F) using the Nordenskjöld formula and Rankin Inlet's warmest month (July) averages only 10.9 °C (51.6 °F).