What is the state with the most population

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States Ranked by Water Area
States Ranked by Population Density
Population Trends in the USA

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States in the US are all very different from each other. So, it comes as no surprise that they have very different population estimates. With growth in the form of natural births and inward migration (both domestic and foreign), and declines from deaths and outward migration, state populations are in a constant state of flux. As of July 2021, the population of the United States is over 331 million.

The United States Census Bureau’s population statistics encompass the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the five US territories, including Puerto Rico. The official Census takes into account the total number of people residing in the US, including citizens, permanent residents, and long-term visitors. Federal employees serving abroad, both civilian and military, as well as their dependents, are counted in their home state.

This population of the United States is unevenly distributed across all states and territories. The most populated states are California, Texas and Florida, while the states with the least population are Vermont and Wyoming.

The table below lists all US states ranked by population, from largest to smallest.

Rank by Populations

Rank	State	Population in 2021	Population in 2020
	All United States	331,893,745	331,449,281
1	California	39,237,836	39,538,223
2	Texas	29,527,941	29,145,505
3	Florida	21,781,128	21,538,187
4	New York	19,835,913	20,201,249
5	Pennsylvania	12,964,056	12,812,508
6	Illinois	12,671,469	12,702,379
7	Ohio	11,780,017	11,799,448
8	Georgia	10,799,566	10,711,908
9	North Carolina	10,551,162	10,439,388
10	Michigan	10,050,811	10,077,331
11	New Jersey	9,267,130	9,288,994
12	Virginia	8,642,274	8,631,393
13	Washington	7,738,692	7,705,281
14	Arizona	7,276,316	7,151,502
15	Massachusetts	6,984,723	7,029,917
16	Tennessee	6,975,218	6,910,840
17	Indiana	6,805,985	6,785,528
18	Missouri	6,168,187	6,154,913
19	Maryland	6,165,129	6,177,224
20	Wisconsin	5,895,908	5,893,718
21	Colorado	5,812,069	5,773,714
22	Minnesota	5,707,390	5,706,494
23	South Carolina	5,190,705	5,118,425
24	Alabama	5,039,877	5,024,279
25	Louisiana	4,624,047	4,657,757
26	Kentucky	4,509,394	4,505,836
27	Oregon	4,246,155	4,237,256
28	Oklahoma	3,986,639	3,959,353
29	Connecticut	3,605,597	3,605,944
30	Utah	3,337,975	3,271,616
31	Iowa	3,193,079	3,190,369
32	Nevada	3,143,991	3,104,614
33	Arkansas	3,025,891	3,011,524
34	Mississippi	2,949,968	2,961,279
35	Kansas	2,934,582	2,937,880
36	New Mexico	2,115,877	2,117,522
37	Nebraska	1,963,692	1,961,504
38	Idaho	1,900,923	1,839,106
39	West Virginia	1,782,959	1,793,716
40	Hawaii	1,441,553	1,455,271
41	New Hampshire	1,388,992	1,377,529
42	Maine	1,372,247	1,362,359
43	Montana	1,104,271	1,084,225
44	Rhode Island	1,095,610	1,097,379
45	Delaware	1,003,384	989,948
46	South Dakota	895,376	886,667
47	North Dakota	774,948	779,094
48	Alaska	732,673	733,391
49	Washington, D.C.	670,050	689,545
50	Vermont	645,570	643,077
51	Wyoming	578,803	576,851

The United States is the third largest country in the world by area and ranks just behind Russia and Canada. All 50 states in the US vary drastically in area. The largest state is Alaska, which is more than 400 times larger than Rhode Island, the smallest state. In the US, a large area does not mean a large population. Texas, for example, is bigger than California, but the latter is more populous.

When it comes to size comparison, Alaska is staggeringly big; bigger than the next three largest states (Texas, California and Montana) combined, and twice the size of the second largest state, Texas. The smallest state – Rhode Island – could fit into Alaska nearly 486 times. And if Washington DC were a state, it would be the smallest.
The 10 largest states by area are Alaska, Texas, California, Montana, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Oregon and Wyoming. They are located west of the Mississippi River. The 7 smallest states – Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island – are among the 13 original colonies and are located in the northeast part of the country.

The table below lists all US states plus Washington, D.C. ranked by size, from biggest to smallest.

Rank by Size (Total Area)

Rank	State	Size (land & water) (square miles)
	All United States	3,796,742.23
1	Alaska	665,384.04
2	Texas	268,596.46
3	California	163,694.74
4	Montana	147,039.71
5	New Mexico	121,590.30
6	Arizona	113,990.30
7	Nevada	110,571.82
8	Colorado	104,093.67
9	Oregon	98,378.54
10	Wyoming	97,813.01
11	Michigan	96,713.51
12	Minnesota	86,935.83
13	Utah	84,896.88
14	Idaho	83,568.95
15	Kansas	82,278.36
16	Nebraska	77,347.81
17	South Dakota	77,115.68
18	Washington	71,297.95
19	North Dakota	70,698.32
20	Oklahoma	69,898.87
21	Missouri	69,706.99
22	Florida	65,757.70
23	Wisconsin	65,496.38
24	Georgia	59,425.15
25	Illinois	57,913.55
26	Iowa	56,272.81
27	New York	54,554.98
28	North Carolina	53,819.16
29	Arkansas	53,178.55
30	Alabama	52,420.07
31	Louisiana	52,378.13
32	Mississippi	48,431.78
33	Pennsylvania	46,054.34
34	Ohio	44,825.58
35	Virginia	42,774.93
36	Tennessee	42,144.25
37	Kentucky	40,407.80
38	Indiana	36,419.55
39	Maine	35,379.74
40	South Carolina	32,020.49
41	West Virginia	24,230.04
42	Maryland	12,405.93
43	Hawaii	10,931.72
44	Massachusetts	10,554.39
45	Vermont	9,616.36
46	New Hampshire	9,349.16
47	New Jersey	8,722.58
48	Connecticut	5,543.41
49	Delaware	2,488.72
50	Rhode Island	1,544.89
51	Washington, D. C.	68.34

Rank by Land Area

Rank	State	Land Area (square miles)
	All United States	3,531,905.43
1	Alaska	570,640.95
2	Texas	261,231.71
3	California	155,779.22
4	Montana	145,545.80
5	New Mexico	121,298.15
6	Arizona	113,594.08
7	Nevada	109,781.18
8	Colorado	103,641.89
9	Wyoming	97,093.14
10	Oregon	95,988.01
11	Idaho	82,643.12
12	Utah	82,169.62
13	Kansas	81,758.72
14	Minnesota	79,626.74
15	Nebraska	76,824.17
16	South Dakota	75,811.00
17	North Dakota	69,000.80
18	Missouri	68,741.52
19	Oklahoma	68,594.92
20	Washington	66,455.52
21	Georgia	57,513.49
22	Michigan	56,538.90
23	Iowa	55,869.36
24	Illinois	55,518.93
25	Wisconsin	54,157.80
26	Florida	53,924.76
27	Arkansas	52,035.48
28	Alabama	50,645.33
29	North Carolina	48,617.91
30	New York	47,126.40
31	Mississippi	46,923.27
32	Pennsylvania	44,742.70
33	Louisiana	43,203.90
34	Tennessee	41,234.90
35	Ohio	40,860.69
36	Virginia	39,490.09
37	Kentucky	39,486.34
38	Indiana	35,826.11
39	Maine	30,842.92
40	South Carolina	30,060.70
41	West Virginia	24,038.21
42	Maryland	9,707.24
43	Vermont	9,216.66
44	New Hampshire	8,952.65
45	Massachusetts	7,800.06
46	New Jersey	7,354.22
47	Hawaii	6,422.63
48	Connecticut	4,842.36
49	Delaware	1,948.54
50	Rhode Island	1,033.81
51	Washington, D. C.	61.05

States Ranked by Water Area

Rank by Water Area

Rank	State	Water Area (square miles)
	All United States	264,836.79
1	Alaska	94,743.10
2	Michigan	40,174.61
3	Florida	12,132.94
4	Wisconsin	11,338.57
5	Louisiana	9,174.23
6	California	7,915.52
7	New York	7,428.58
8	Texas	7,364.75
9	Minnesota	7,309.09
10	North Carolina	5,201.25
11	Washington	4,842.43
12	Maine	4,536.82
13	Hawaii	4,509.09
14	Ohio	3,964.89
15	Virginia	3,284.84
16	Massachusetts	2,754.33
17	Utah	2,727.26
18	Maryland	2,698.69
19	Illinois	2,394.62
20	Oregon	2,390.53
21	South Carolina	1,959.79
22	Georgia	1,911.66
23	Alabama	1,774.74
24	North Dakota	1,697.52
25	Mississippi	1,508.51
26	Montana	1,493.91
27	New Jersey	1,368.36
28	Pennsylvania	1,311.64
29	South Dakota	1,304.68
30	Oklahoma	1,303.95
31	Arkansas	1,143.07
32	Missouri	965.47
33	Idaho	925.83
34	Kentucky	921.46
35	Tennessee	909.36
36	Nevada	790.65
37	Wyoming	719.87
38	Connecticut	701.06
39	Indiana	593.44
40	Delaware	540.18
41	Nebraska	523.64
42	Kansas	519.64
43	Rhode Island	511.07
44	Colorado	451.78
45	Iowa	415.68
46	Vermont	399.71
47	New Hampshire	396.51
48	Arizona	396.22
49	New Mexico	292.15
50	West Virginia	191.83
51	Washington, D. C.	7.29

States Ranked by Population Density

The population density of an area is the average measure of the number of people that occupy one square unit of that area. It is calculated for each state by dividing the population of that state by its land area.

As stated before, the size of a state is not necessarily an indicator of the size of its population. Alaska, which is the largest state, has among the lowest state populations in the country. This makes it the least densely populated in the country. New Jersey, on the other hand, is the 46th smallest state by land size, but it also ranks 11th by population. Thus, the small size and large population makes New Jersey the most densely populated state. (Though it has been included in the table below, the capital city Washington D.C. is not a state. If it was a state, it would replace New Jersey as the most densely populated.)

The table ranks states in order of their population density in 2021, from highest to lowest.

Population Trends in the USA

In recent years, the US has witnessed slower rates of population growth. Factors contributing to this are decreased fertility and international migration. The July 2021 population estimates released by the US Census Bureau, however, display a growth of 0.1% from 2020 to 2021, which is the lowest ever recorded in the country. The drastic drop is widely attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic which broke out in 2020 and led to increased deaths, and lockdowns which further stemmed international migration.
Other than mortality rates, one of the most significant factors affecting individual state populations is domestic migration. In the past year (2020-21) while the population in states such as California and New York notably declined, domestic migration pushed up numbers in Southern and Mid-Western states such as Texas, Arizona and Florida.