How Big Are the States in America? (with pictures)

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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.

Interesting fact: some states give away free land.

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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