Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) from a matched related donor (MRD) benefits many adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in first complete remission (CR1). The majority of patients does not have such a donor and will require an alternative donor if HCT is to be undertaken. We retrospectively analyzed 226 adult AML CR1 patients undergoing myeloablative unrelated donor (URD)(10/10 match, n= 62; 9/10, n= 29) or MRD (n= 135) HCT from 1996 to 2007. The 5-year estimates of overall survival, relapse and nonrelapse mortality (NRM) were 57.9, 29.7 and 16.0%, respectively. Failure for each of these outcomes was slightly higher for 10/10 URD than MRD HCT, although statistical significance was not reached for any end point. The adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) were 1.43 (0.89–2.30, P= 0.14) for overall mortality, 1.17 (0.66–2.08, P= 0.60) for relapse and 1.79 (0.86–3.74, P= 0.12) for NRM, respectively, and the adjusted odds ratio for grades 2–4 acute graft-versus-host disease was 1.50 (0.70–3.24, P= 0.30). Overall mortality among 9/10 and 10/10 URD recipients was similar (adjusted HR 1.16 (0.52–2.61), P= 0.71). These data indicate that URD HCT can provide long-term survival for CR1 AML; outcomes for 10/10 URD HCT, and possibly 9/10 URD HCT, suggest that this modality should be considered in the absence of a suitable MRD.