How Big Are the States in America?
- Written By: L. S. Wynn
- Edited By: L. S. Wynn
- Last Modified Date: 13 May 2013
-
Copyright Protected:
2003-2013 Conjecture Corporation
The 50 US states have drastically different sizes. Alaska — the largest state by physical size — is about 425 times bigger than the smallest, Rhode Island. The three largest states — Alaska, Texas, and California — make up about 30% of the entire country.
Due to sea erosion, the states along the coasts are slowly shrinking in size with the exception of Hawaii. Due to volcanic activity, Hawaii is actually increasing in size. Kilauea Volcano has been erupting since 1983, and had added almost one square mile (about 640 acres, 2.6 sq/km, or 260 hectares) of new land to the state by 2002.
The chart below shows the relative sizes of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. To help put some of the sizes in perspective, the sizes of some countries, such as France, Poland, the United Kingdom, and Greece, are also included. Please note that figures are in square miles and include the area of bodies of water.
| rank | state (country) | size in square miles | |
| 1 | Alaska | 656,425 |  |
| 2 | Texas | 268,601 | |
| - | (France) | 211,207 |  |
| 3 | California | 163,707 | |
| 4 | Montana | 147,046 | |
| 5 | New Mexico | 121,593 | |
| - | (Poland) | 120,725 | |
| 6 | Arizona | 114,006 | |
| 7 | Nevada | 110,567 | |
| 8 | Colorado | 104,100 | |
| 9 | Oregon | 98,386 | |
| 10 | Wyoming | 97,818 | |
| 11 | Michigan | 96,810 | |
| - | (United Kingdom) | 93,026 | |
| 12 | Minnesota | 86,943 | |
| 13 | Utah | 84,904 | |
| 14 | Idaho | 83,574 | |
| 15 | Kansas | 82,282 | |
| 16 | Nebraska | 77,358 | |
| 17 | South Dakota | 77,121 | |
| 18 | Washington | 71,303 | |
| 19 | North Dakota | 70,704 | |
| 20 | Oklahoma | 69,903 | |
| 21 | Missouri | 69,709 | |
| 22 | Florida | 65,758 | |
| 23 | Wisconsin | 65,503 | |
| 24 | Georgia | 59,441 | |
| 25 | Illinois | 57,918 | |
| 26 | Iowa | 56,276 | |
| 27 | New York | 54,475 | |
| 28 | North Carolina | 53,821 | |
| 29 | Arkansas | 53,182 | |
| 30 | Alabama | 52,423 | |
| 31 | Louisiana | 51,843 | |
| - | (Greece) | 50,944 | |
| 32 | Mississippi | 48,434 | |
| 33 | Pennsylvania | 46,058 | |
| 34 | Ohio | 44,828 | |
| - | (Bulgaria) | 42,823 | |
| 35 | Virginia | 42,769 | |
| 36 | Tennessee | 42,146 | |
| 37 | Kentucky | 40,411 | |
| - | (Iceland) | 39,768 | |
| 38 | Indiana | 36,420 | |
| 39 | Maine | 35,387 | |
| - | (Austria) | 32,374 | |
| 40 | South Carolina | 32,007 | |
| 41 | West Virginia | 24,231 | |
| - | (Denmark) | 16,629 | |
| 42 | Maryland | 12,407 | |
| 43 | Hawaii | 10,932 | |
| 44 | Massachusetts | 10,555 | |
| 45 | Vermont | 9,615 | |
| 46 | New Hampshire | 9,351 | |
| 47 | New Jersey | 8,722 | |
| 48 | Connecticut | 5,544 | |
| 49 | Delaware | 2,489 | |
| 50 | Rhode Island | 1,545 | |
| 51 | District of Columbia | 68 | |
| rank | state (country) | size in square miles | |
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Discuss this Article
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anon334567
Post 48 |
It is interesting to compare land area, total population and GDP. As of 2010, California was no. 1 in GDP, followed by Texas and New York. Alaska is near the bottom at no. 46. In some cases, small areas produce a bigger GDP than larger, as in the case of New Jersey: no. 7 by GDP, but no. 47 by population. However, to keep it in perspective, GDP is not just the individual but companies situated within the geographic area. |
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anon169745
Post 43 |
It's a little curious to me that the King Ranch in south Texas has holdings of approximately 1.15 million acres or about 1,800 square miles - larger than the state of Rhode Island. |
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anon139805
Post 38 |
Wow. California? Wow. |
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anon122132
Post 37 |
I thought California was the biggest state. |
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anon79754
Post 25 |
Alaska's not only the biggest, it's the best state too. |
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anon77557
Post 21 |
It is funny that NJ is very small but still has a large population. |
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anon60986
Post 16 |
Texas has much larger population than Alaska and it is currently the fastest growing state by population. |
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anon57910
Post 15 |
if you add Texas, California and Montana together, Alaska is bigger than all three combined. Cool. |
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anon41230
Post 13 |
which two states have a difference of 910 square miles? |
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anon29697
Post 10 |
Of course it is a good job for Texan pride that you didn't include Canada in your comparisons. Even Alaska is dwarfed by Nunavut Territory at 808,199 sq. miles, then after Alaska there are Quebec, the North West Territories, Ontario and British Columbia which are all bigger than Texas. |
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anon23764
Post 9 |
It is also interesting to note that if each person on Earth (est. 9 billion) is allowed 16 Sq. Ft. of space (e.g. 4 Ft. by 4 Ft.) they will all fit inside Connecticut with room to spare! |
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anon21373
Post 8 |
The joke goes that Alaskans had been considering dividing their state into two halves, but Texas protested too much. If that were to happen, Texas would then become the THIRD largest state! |
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anon16516
Post 7 |
well, Texas is the biggest of the contiguous 48 states. |
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anon13702
Post 5 |
I find it absolutely hilarious that we have 2 states in the U.S. that are larger than all of France. |
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anon13154
Post 4 |
If you're interested in the rankings just by land mass alone, you can Google "quickfacts census" and you should find a site provided by the census bureau with this information. The data in this article was provided by the CIA World Factbook (see the link in the bottom lefthand corner of this page) which includes bodies of water in its area calculations. |
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anon6633
Post 3 |
What is the state ranking after subtracting the area of bodies of water within each state? |
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malena
Post 2 |
Wow! I didn't know that Alaska was the biggest, although now that I think about it, it makes sense. It seems like you always hear Texas when talking about the biggest (size) US state. |
