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. 665,384 sq mi. Larger than Texas, California, and Montana combined. If Alaska were a country, it would be about the 17th largest in the world (between Libya and Iran).
- Texas is the biggest of the contiguous 48. 268,596 sq mi. Larger than every country in Europe except Russia, and the transcontinental Kazakhstan and Turkey. Bigger than France. Bigger than Spain + Portugal combined.
- The smallest five are all on the East Coast. RI, DE, CT, NJ and NH were all among the original 13 colonies, all settled before there was much sense of "size" in colonial planning.
- Does Rhode Island fit 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 10th largest state by area but has fewer people than Washington D.C. Alaska is the largest state and has about the same population as the city of Seattle.
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, and Delaware in population.
"Largest 5" and "smallest 5" in Statedoku
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