Ranking U.S. States by Total Area

By area, the United States is the fourth largest country in the world, behind China, Canada, and Russia (the world’s largest country by land area).

The area of the U.S. is more than 10 times larger than Nigeria’s. While the U.S. is 3,796,742 sq mi, Nigeria has a 356,669 sq mi area. Though, the African country is the biggest in terms of population on the continent.

Ranking the 50 U.S. states by total area, some states in the U.S. have an area bigger than some countries around the world. For instance, the total area of the State of Alaska is bigger than Nigeria’s. Alaska has a 665,384 sq mi total area.

What is the largest U.S. State by area?

Alaska is the biggest U.S. state by area. It also has the highest water area among the U.S. states. Alaska, which is one of the U.S. states that pays its residents to live has a total area of 1,723,337 square kilometer (sq.km) or 665,384 square miles (sq mi).

The second largest which also has the highest number of Counties is Texas sitting on 268,596 sq mi or 695,662 sq.km. It is followed by the Golden State of California which has 163,695 sq mi or 423,967 sq.km.

Montana and New Mexico occupy the fourth and fifth position with 380,831 sq.km (or 147,040 sq mi) and 121,590 sq mi or 314,917 sq.km respectively.

The smallest state:

Rhode Island is the smallest state in the United States in total area with just 1,545 sq mi or 4,001 sq.km and 511sq mi of its area is covered by water.

Delaware is the second smallest with 2,489 sq mi. Connecticut sits on a 5,543 sq mi area, making it the third on the table among the 50 U.S. states followed by New Jersey which has 8,723 sq mi area and New Hampshire has 9,349 sq mi area.

Area of a country

The area of a country is the total sum of its land area and water area either by square kilometer or square mile.

It is what a country prefers to call its territory: land and waters and air. Any uninvited entry into these spaces could trigger aggression against the invader.

So, how big are the 50 U.S. states by area?

The table below provides land, water and total area of the U.S. and how the 50 states including the District of Columbia, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam share 3,796,742 sq mi.

RankStateTotal Area
1Alaska665,384 sq mi
1,723,337 sq.km
2Texas268,596 sq mi
695,662 sq.km
3California163,695 sq mi
423,967 sq.km
4Montana147,040 sq mi
380,831 sq.km
5New Mexico121,590 sq mi
314,917 sq.km
6Arizona113,990 sq mi
295,234 sq.km
7Nevada110,572 sq mi
286,380 sq.km
8Colorado104,094 sq mi
269,601 sq.km
9Oregon98,379 sq mi
254,799 sq.km
10Wyoming97,813 sq mi
253,335 sq.km
11Michigan96,714 sq mi
250,487 sq.km
12Minnesota86,936 sq mi
225,163 sq.km
13Utah84,897 sq mi
219,882 sq.km
14Idaho83,569 sq mi
216,443 sq.km
15Kansas82,278 sq mi
213,100 sq.km
16Nebraska77,348 sq mi
200,330 sq.km
17South Dakota77,116 sq mi
199,729 sq.km
18Washington71,298 sq mi
184,661 sq.km
19North Dakota70,698 sq mi
183,108 sq.km
20Oklahoma69,899 sq mi
181,037 sq.km
21Missouri69,707 sq mi
180,540 sq.km
22Florida65,758 sq mi
170,312 sq.km
23Wisconsin65,496 sq mi
169,635 sq.km
24Georgia59,425 sq mi
153,910 sq.km
25Illinois57,914 sq mi
149,995 sq.km
26Iowa56,273 sq mi
145,746 sq.km
27New York54,555 sq mi
141,297 sq.km
28North Carolina53,819 sq mi
139,391 sq.km
29Arkansas53,179 sq mi
137,732 sq.km
30Alabama52,420 sq mi
135,767 sq.km
31Louisiana52,378 sq mi
135,659 sq.km
32Mississippi48,432 sq mi
125,438 sq.km
33Pennsylvania46,054 sq mi
119,280 sq.km
34Ohio44,826 sq mi
116,098 sq.km
35Virginia42,775 sq mi
110,787 sq.km
36Tennessee42,144 sq mi
109,153 sq.km
37Kentucky40,408 sq mi
104,656 sq.km
38Indiana36,420 sq mi
94,326 sq.km
39Maine35,380 sq mi
91,633 sq.km
40South Carolina32,020 sq mi
82,933 sq.km
41West Virginia24,230 sq mi
62,756 sq.km
42Maryland12,406 sq mi
32,131 sq.km
43Hawaii10,932 sq mi
28,313 sq.km
44Massachusetts10,554 sq mi
27,336 sq.km
45Vermont9,616 sq mi
24,906 sq.km
46New Hampshire9,349 sq mi
24,214 sq.km
47New Jersey8,723 sq mi
22,591 sq.km
48Connecticut5,543 sq mi
14,357 sq.km
49Delaware2,489 sq mi
6,446 sq.km
50Rhode Island1,545 sq mi
4,001 sq.km
Territories
Puerto Rico5,325 sq mi
13,791 sq.km
Island Areas3,860 sq mi
9,998 sq.km
Northern Mariana Islands1,976 sq mi
5,117 sq.km
U.S. Virgin Islands733 sq mi
1,898 sq.km
American Samoa581 sq mi
1,505 sq.km
Guam571 sq mi
1,487 sq.km
District of Columbia68 sq mi
177 sq.km
TOTAL3,796,742 sq mi
9,833,517 sq.km
Source: census.gov

Summary:

The total area of the State of Alaska is more than 430 the area of Rhode Island

But the small state of Rhode Island isn’t doing badly in terms of wealth creation. It is the 17th-wealthiest state in the U.S. with a per capita income of $21,688 as of 2000 and a personal per capita income of $31,916 as of 2003. It is still 12 behind Alaska in this regard.

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