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

How Big Are the States in America?

By L. S. Wynn

Updated May 17, 2024

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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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Discussion Comments

By anon334567 — On May 13, 2013

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.

By anon169745 — On Apr 22, 2011

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.

By anon139805 — On Jan 05, 2011

Wow. California? Wow.

By anon122132 — On Oct 26, 2010

I thought California was the biggest state.

By anon79754 — On Apr 24, 2010

Alaska's not only the biggest, it's the best state too.

By anon77557 — On Apr 14, 2010

It is funny that NJ is very small but still has a large population.

By anon60986 — On Jan 17, 2010

Texas has much larger population than Alaska and it is currently the fastest growing state by population.

By anon57910 — On Dec 28, 2009

if you add Texas, California and Montana together, Alaska is bigger than all three combined. Cool.

By anon41230 — On Aug 13, 2009

which two states have a difference of 910 square miles?

By anon29697 — On Apr 07, 2009

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.

By anon23764 — On Jan 01, 2009

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!

By anon21373 — On Nov 15, 2008

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!

By anon16516 — On Aug 08, 2008

well, Texas is the biggest of the contiguous 48 states.

By anon13702 — On Jun 03, 2008

I find it absolutely hilarious that we have 2 states in the U.S. that are larger than all of France.

By anon13154 — On May 20, 2008

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.

By anon6633 — On Jan 04, 2008

What is the state ranking after subtracting the area of bodies of water within each state?

By malena — On Dec 04, 2007

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.

How Big Are the States in America?

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