The 10 largest US states by area
| Rank | State | Code | Capital |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alaska | AK | Juneau |
| 2 | Texas | TX | Austin |
| 3 | California | CA | Sacramento |
| 4 | Montana | MT | Helena |
| 5 | New Mexico | NM | Santa Fe |
| 6 | Arizona | AZ | Phoenix |
| 7 | Nevada | NV | Carson City |
| 8 | Colorado | CO | Denver |
| 9 | Oregon | OR | Salem |
| 10 | Wyoming | WY | Cheyenne |
The 10 smallest US states
| Rank | State | Code | Capital |
|---|---|---|---|
| 41 | West Virginia | WV | Charleston |
| 42 | Maryland | MD | Annapolis |
| 43 | Hawaii | HI | Honolulu |
| 44 | Massachusetts | MA | Boston |
| 45 | Vermont | VT | Montpelier |
| 46 | New Hampshire | NH | Concord |
| 47 | New Jersey | NJ | Trenton |
| 48 | Connecticut | CT | Hartford |
| 49 | Delaware | DE | Dover |
| 50 | Rhode Island | RI | Providence |
Some perspective
- Alaska is huge. 663,300 sq mi. Larger than Texas, California, and Montana combined. If Alaska were a country, it would be the 7th largest in the world (between Argentina and India).
- Texas is the biggest of the contiguous 48. 268,597 sq mi. Larger than every country in Europe except Russia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine. Bigger than France. Bigger than Spain + Portugal combined.
- The smallest five are all in the Northeast. RI, DE, CT, NJ, NH — all Original-13 colonies, all settled before there was much sense of "size" in colonial planning.
- Rhode Island fits inside the city of Houston. Houston covers 671 sq mi. Rhode Island is 1,545 sq mi. So no — but the comparison is closer than you'd think. Rhode Island fits comfortably inside Los Angeles County (4,751 sq mi).
Area vs population: different rankings
The largest states by area are not the most populous. Wyoming is the 9th largest state by area but has fewer people than Washington D.C. Alaska is the largest state and has about the same population as Phoenix, AZ.
Conversely, New Jersey is the 4th smallest state but the 11th most populous. Rhode Island is dead last by area but ahead of Wyoming, Vermont, North Dakota, Alaska, South Dakota, Delaware, and Montana in population.
"Largest 5" and "smallest 5" in Statedoku
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