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States – Ranked by Size & Population – ipl Stately Knowledge: Facts about the United States

States
Ranked by Size & Population

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See the Area Measurement section of the U.S. Census’s Census 2000 Geographic Definitions page for definitions of Size, Land Area, and Water Area.

Source for Population and Population Density: Resident Population Data – 2010 Census

Source for Size, Land Area, and Water Area: United States — States; and Puerto Rico – GCT-PH1. – Population, Housing Units, Area, and Density: 2000 – Data Set: Census 2000 Summary File 1 (SF 1) 100-Percent Data

Note that our rankings for population density do not match our source includes Puerto Rico.

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States Ranked by Population

States in the US are all very different from each other. So, it comes as no surprise that they have very different population estimates. Also, since the resident population of the United States continues to grow, state populations are in a constant state of flux. As of February 2021, the population of the United States is slightly over 330 million.

The United States Census Bureau’s population statistics encompass the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the five US territories, including Puerto Rico. The official Census takes into account the total number of people residing in the US, including citizens, permanent residents, and long-term visitors. Federal employees serving abroad, both civilian and military, as well as their dependents, are counted in their home state.

This population of the United States is unevenly distributed across all states and territories. Generally speaking, states located around the border – East Coast, West Coast and the South – are more populous than those that are more interior – the Midwest and the Great Plains. There are a few exceptions to this rule; the state of Illinois, for example, is located in the Midwest but is highly populated, mainly in the Chicago area.

The table below lists all US states ranked by population.

Rank by Populations
Rank State Population
All United States 308,745,538
1 California 37,253,956
2 Texas 25,145,561
3 New York 19,378,102
4 Florida 18,801,310
5 Illinois 12,830,632
6 Pennsylvania 12,702,379
7 Ohio 11,536,504
8 Michigan 9,883,640
9 Georgia 9,687,653
10 North Carolina 9,535,483
11 New Jersey 8,791,894
12 Virginia 8,001,024
13 Washington 6,724,540
14 Massachusetts 6,547,629
15 Indiana 6,483,802
16 Arizona 6,392,017
17 Tennessee 6,346,105
18 Missouri 5,988,927
19 Maryland 5,773,552
20 Wisconsin 5,686,986
21 Minnesota 5,303,925
22 Colorado 5,029,196
23 Alabama 4,779,736
24 South Carolina 4,625,364
25 Louisiana 4,533,372
26 Kentucky 4,339,367
27 Oregon 3,831,074
28 Oklahoma 3,751,351
29 Connecticut 3,574,097
30 Iowa 3,046,355
31 Mississippi 2,967,297
32 Arkansas 2,915,918
33 Kansas 2,853,118
34 Utah 2,763,885
35 Nevada 2,700,551
36 New Mexico 2,059,179
37 West Virginia 1,852,994
38 Nebraska 1,826,341
39 Idaho 1,567,582
40 Hawaii 1,360,301
41 Maine 1,328,361
42 New Hampshire 1,316,470
43 Rhode Island 1,052,567
44 Montana 989,415
45 Delaware 897,934
46 South Dakota 814,180
47 Alaska 710,231
48 North Dakota 672,591
49 Vermont 625,741
50 Washington, D. C. 601,723
51 Wyoming 563,626

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States Ranked by Size (Total Area)

The United States is the third largest country in the world by area and ranks just behind Russia and Canada. All 50 states in the US vary drastically in area. The largest state, Alaska (663267.26 square miles) is more than 400 times larger than Rhode Island (1,545.05), the smallest state. In the US, a large area does not mean a large population. Texas (268,580.82 square miles), for example, is bigger than California (163,695.57 square miles) but California is more populous with 39,776,830 residents than Texas, which has 28,704,330 residents.
When it comes to size comparison, Alaska is staggeringly big; bigger than the next three largest states (Texas, California and Montana) combined, and twice the size of the second largest state, Texas. The smallest state, Rhode Island (1,545.05 square miles), the smallest state, could fit into Alaska nearly 486 times. And if Washington DC (68.34 square miles) were a state, it would certainly be the smallest.
The 10 largest states by area – Alaska, Texas, California, Montana, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Oregon and Wyoming – are located west of the Mississippi River. The 7 smallest states – Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island – are among the 13 original colonies and are located in the northeast part of the country.
The table below lists all US states ranked by size.
Rank by Size (Total Area)
Rank State Size
(land & water)
(square miles)
All United States 3,794,083.06
1 Alaska 663,267.26
2 Texas 268,580.82
3 California 163,695.57
4 Montana 147,042.40
5 New Mexico 121,589.48
6 Arizona 113,998.30
7 Nevada 110,560.71
8 Colorado 104,093.57
9 Oregon 98,380.64
10 Wyoming 97,813.56
11 Michigan 96,716.11
12 Minnesota 86,938.87
13 Utah 84,898.83
14 Idaho 83,570.08
15 Kansas 82,276.84
16 Nebraska 77,353.73
17 South Dakota 77,116.49
18 Washington 71,299.64
19 North Dakota 70,699.79
20 Oklahoma 69,898.19
21 Missouri 69,704.31
22 Florida 65,754.59
23 Wisconsin 65,497.82
24 Georgia 59,424.77
25 Illinois 57,914.38
26 Iowa 56,271.55
27 New York 54,556.00
28 North Carolina 53,818.51
29 Arkansas 53,178.62
30 Alabama 52,419.02
31 Louisiana 51,839.70
32 Mississippi 48,430.19
33 Pennsylvania 46,055.24
34 Ohio 44,824.90
35 Virginia 42,774.20
36 Tennessee 42,143.27
37 Kentucky 40,409.02
38 Indiana 36,417.73
39 Maine 35,384.65
40 South Carolina 32,020.20
41 West Virginia 24,229.76
42 Maryland 12,406.68
43 Hawaii 10,930.98
44 Massachusetts 10,554.57
45 Vermont 9,614.26
46 New Hampshire 9,349.94
47 New Jersey 8,721.30
48 Connecticut 5,543.33
49 Delaware 2,489.27
50 Rhode Island 1,545.05
51 Washington, D. C. 68.34

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States Ranked by Land Area

Rank by Land Area
Rank State Land Area
(square miles)
All United States 3,537,438.44
1 Alaska 571,951.26
2 Texas 261,797.12
3 California 155,959.34
4 Montana 145,552.43
5 New Mexico 121,355.53
6 Arizona 113,634.57
7 Nevada 109,825.99
8 Colorado 103,717.53
9 Wyoming 97,100.40
10 Oregon 95,996.79
11 Idaho 82,747.21
12 Utah 82,143.65
13 Kansas 81,814.88
14 Minnesota 79,610.08
15 Nebraska 76,872.41
16 South Dakota 75,884.64
17 North Dakota 68,975.93
18 Missouri 68,885.93
19 Oklahoma 68,667.06
20 Washington 66,544.06
21 Georgia 57,906.14
22 Michigan 56,803.82
23 Iowa 55,869.36
24 Illinois 55,583.58
25 Wisconsin 54,310.10
26 Florida 53,926.82
27 Arkansas 52,068.17
28 Alabama 50,744.00
29 North Carolina 48,710.88
30 New York 47,213.79
31 Mississippi 46,906.96
32 Pennsylvania 44,816.61
33 Louisiana 43,561.85
34 Tennessee 41,217.12
35 Ohio 40,948.38
36 Kentucky 39,728.18
37 Virginia 39,594.07
38 Indiana 35,866.90
39 Maine 30,861.55
40 South Carolina 30,109.47
41 West Virginia 24,077.73
42 Maryland 9,773.82
43 Vermont 9,249.56
44 New Hampshire 8,968.10
45 Massachusetts 7,840.02
46 New Jersey 7,417.34
47 Hawaii 6,422.62
48 Connecticut 4,844.80
49 Delaware 1,953.56
50 Rhode Island 1,044.93
51 Washington, D. C. 61.4

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States Ranked by Water Area

Rank by Water Area
Rank State Water Area
(square miles)
All United States 256,644.62
1 Alaska 91,316.00
2 Michigan 39,912.28
3 Florida 11,827.77
4 Wisconsin 11,187.72
5 Louisiana 8,277.85
6 California 7,736.23
7 New York 7,342.22
8 Minnesota 7,328.79
9 Texas 6,783.70
10 North Carolina 5,107.63
11 Washington 4,755.58
12 Maine 4,523.10
13 Hawaii 4,508.36
14 Ohio 3,876.53
15 Virginia 3,180.13
16 Utah 2,755.18
17 Massachusetts 2,714.55
18 Maryland 2,632.86
19 Oregon 2,383.85
20 Illinois 2,330.79
21 South Carolina 1,910.73
22 North Dakota 1,723.86
23 Alabama 1,675.01
24 Mississippi 1,523.24
25 Georgia 1,518.63
26 Montana 1,489.96
27 New Jersey 1,303.96
28 Pennsylvania 1,238.63
29 South Dakota 1,231.85
30 Oklahoma 1,231.13
31 Arkansas 1,110.45
32 Tennessee 926.15
33 Idaho 822.87
34 Missouri 818.39
35 Nevada 734.71
36 Wyoming 713.16
37 Connecticut 698.53
38 Kentucky 680.85
39 Indiana 550.83
40 Delaware 535.71
41 Rhode Island 500.12
42 Nebraska 481.31
43 Kansas 461.96
44 Iowa 402.2
45 New Hampshire 381.84
46 Colorado 376.04
47 Vermont 364.7
48 Arizona 363.73
49 New Mexico 233.96
50 West Virginia 152.03
51 Washington, D. C. 6.94

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States Ranked by Population Density

Rank by Population Density
(number of people
per square mile of land area)
Rank State Population Density
All United States 79.6
1 Washington, D. C. 9,856.50
2 New Jersey 1,195.50
3 Rhode Island 1,018.10
4 Massachusetts 839.4
5 Connecticut 738.1
6 Maryland 594.8
8 Delaware 460.8
7 New York 411.2
9 Florida 350.6
11 Pennsylvania 283.9
10 Ohio 282.3
13 California 239.1
12 Illinois 231.1
14 Hawaii 211.8
15 Virginia 202.6
18 North Carolina 196.1
17 Indiana 181
16 Michigan 174.8
19 Georgia 168.4
20 Tennessee 153.9
22 South Carolina 153.9
21 New Hampshire 147
24 Kentucky 109.9
25 Wisconsin 105
23 Louisiana 104.9
26 Washington 101.2
29 Texas 96.3
27 Alabama 94.4
28 Missouri 87.1
30 West Virginia 77.1
31 Vermont 67.9
32 Minnesota 66.6
33 Mississippi 63.2
37 Arizona 56.3
35 Arkansas 56
36 Oklahoma 54.7
34 Iowa 54.5
38 Colorado 48.5
39 Maine 43.1
40 Oregon 39.9
41 Kansas 34.9
42 Utah 33.6
44 Nevada 24.6
43 Nebraska 23.8
45 Idaho 19
46 New Mexico 17
47 South Dakota 10.7
48 North Dakota 9.7
49 Montana 6.8
50 Wyoming 5.8
51 Alaska 1.2

 

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