The Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) program is wrapping up its 2025 payouts with the kind of smooth efficiency you’d expect after more than four decades in action. These yearly checks have become a real lifeline for folks across the state, baked right into the local economy.
It all comes from oil royalties funneled into a big investment fund, and every resident who qualifies gets a straight cut of the profits. Living up here isn’t cheap—groceries, fuel, everything costs more thanks to the remote locations and brutal winters—so that cash drop makes a difference.
This year, each eligible person is getting $1,000. That’s down from $1,702 in 2024, sure, but it still helps cover spiking heating bills right when the cold starts biting.
Three batches of stimulus checks have already gone out
Every year, the PFD payments go out in different batches, according to how soon or how late the Alaskan taxpayers filled their taxes and applied for the stimulus checks:
- October 9: First wave, mostly direct deposits for anyone with verified bank info.
- October 16: Second round, mopping up stragglers and reaching families in hard-to-get-to villages.
- October 23: The big one—over 300,000 people paid, pushing the running total close to half a million, just as the first snowstorms rolled in.
One final round left to send. The Revenue Department says November 20 will be the absolute last payout for 2025. Same $1,000 per person, going to roughly 160,000 applicants still listed as “Eligible-Not Paid” after the final review cutoff on November 12.
Most of these are appeals, extra paperwork, or folks in remote spots where mail gets held up by weather or terrain.
Quick eligibility recap: who can claim a PFD stimulus check
These might be too simple, but this program is intended to convince people to live permanently in Alaska, so, those who are not seriously committed to live in “The Las Frontier” of America, are not eligible:
- Full-year Alaska resident in 2024, plus a stated intent to stay for good.
- No residency claimed anywhere else since 2023.
- At least 72 hours physically in-state during each of the prior two years.
- No felonies or jail convictions.
Stick to those rules and the program will hit over 660,000 Alaskans total this cycle—keeping the original idea alive: reward the people who actually call this place home.
November 20 closes the book on 2025. After that, the department flips the page and opens applications for the 2026 round early next year, carrying on a tradition that still ties the whole state together around its shared resource windfall.
How to check your PFD check status
Just hop online to the state’s PFD site (myPFD.alaska.gov) and log in with your last name, Social Security number (or the alternate ID you used on the app), and your birthdate. It’ll show you right away if you’re “Paid,” “Eligible-Not Paid,” or stuck in review.
You can also call the PFD officials at 907-465-2326 (or 1-866-465-2326 toll-free from outside Anchorage) and punch through the automated menu to get your status read back to you.