Ranking U.S. States by Total Area

Last updated on December 19th, 2023 at 10:23 am

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.

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.