This data release contains one table which includes the concentration of cortisol from polar bear (Ursus maritimus) hair and morphometric data from some of the captured bears. We assayed concentration of cortisol in hair (HCC) from polar bears captured in the Alaska Beaufort, Bering and Chukchi seas during 1983–1989 and 2004–2016. Fields include the individual polar bear identifier (bearID), the date (sampleDate) and time (sampleTime) of sample collection, location that the sample was collected (latitude and longitude), agency that collected the sample (agency), sex of the polar bear (sex), the age of the polar bear at the time of sample collection (bearAge), categorical indicator of the age of the bear from which the sample was collected (ageCode), categorical indicator of the age of accompanying dependent young (cubAgeClass), the age and reproductive status of the bear at year-1 (reproClass), straight-line body length (SLBL), corrected straight-line body length (correctedSLBL), heart girth (girth), body mass (mass), and concentration of cortisol ( cortisolAssay_pg_mg), and morphometric data for some of the bears captured.