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List of states and territories of the United States by population density facts for kids

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U.S. states and territories by population density
Map of states shaded by population density (2020)

Have you ever wondered how crowded a place is? That's what population density tells us! It's a way to measure how many people live in a certain amount of land. You figure it out by dividing the total number of people by the total land area.

This article looks at the population density of the 50 states, the 5 territories, and the District of Columbia. We'll see which places are super crowded and which have lots of open space.

The United States has a lower population density than many other countries. This is because the U.S. is a very large country! There are huge areas with very few people. Think about the big open spaces from Seattle to Minneapolis, or from northern Montana down to southern New Mexico.

For example, the U.S. is much less crowded than countries like South Korea, India, or the Netherlands. But it's much more crowded than its neighbors, Canada and Australia, which have even larger land areas with fewer people.

U.S. States and Territories by Population Density

Population density helps us understand how spread out people are. We calculate it by taking the total number of people and dividing it by the land area. The numbers below come from the US Census. The population figures are from 2023, and the land area figures are from 2010.


States and territories by density, population and area
Location Density Population Land area
mi2 km2 mi2 km2
 District of Columbia 11,131 4,297 678,972 61 158
 New Jersey 1,263 488 9,290,841 7,354 19,047
 Rhode Island 1,060 409 1,095,962 1,034 2,678
 Puerto Rico 936 361 3,205,691 3,424 8,868
 Massachusetts 898 347 7,001,399 7,800 20,202
 Guam 824 319 172,952 210 543
 Connecticut 747 288 3,617,176 4,842 12,542
 U.S. Virgin Islands 737 284 98,750 134 348
 Maryland 637 246 6,180,253 9,707 25,142
 American Samoa 578 222 43,915 76 198
 Delaware 529 204 1,031,890 1,949 5,047
 Florida 422 163 22,610,726 53,625 138,887
 New York 415 160 19,571,216 47,126 122,057
 Pennsylvania 290 112 12,961,683 44,743 115,883
 Ohio 288 111 11,785,935 40,861 105,829
 Northern Mariana Islands 274 106 49,796 182 472
 California 250 97 38,965,193 155,779 403,466
 Illinois 226 87 12,549,689 55,519 143,793
 Hawaii 223 86 1,435,138 6,423 16,635
 North Carolina 223 86 10,835,491 48,618 125,920
 Virginia 221 85 8,715,698 39,490 102,279
 Georgia 192 74 11,029,227 57,513 148,959
 Indiana 192 74 6,862,199 35,826 92,789
 South Carolina 179 69 5,373,555 30,061 77,857
 Michigan 178 69 10,037,261 56,539 146,435
 Tennessee 173 67 7,126,489 41,235 106,798
 New Hampshire 157 60 1,402,054 8,953 23,187
 Washington 118 45 7,812,880 66,456 172,119
 Texas 117 45 30,503,301 261,232 676,587
 Kentucky 115 44 4,526,154 39,486 102,269
 Wisconsin 109 42 5,910,955 54,158 140,268
 Louisiana 106 41 4,573,749 43,204 111,898
 Alabama 101 39 5,108,468 50,645 131,171
 Missouri 90 35 6,196,156 68,742 178,040
 West Virginia 74 28 1,770,071 24,038 62,259
 Minnesota 72 28 5,737,915 79,627 206,232
 Vermont 70 27 647,464 9,217 23,871
 Arizona 65 25 7,431,344 113,594 294,207
 Mississippi 63 24 2,939,690 46,923 121,531
 Oklahoma 59 23 4,053,824 68,595 177,660
 Arkansas 59 23 3,067,732 52,035 134,771
 Iowa 57 22 3,207,004 55,857 144,669
 Colorado 57 22 5,877,610 103,642 268,431
 Maine 45 17 1,395,722 30,843 79,883
 Oregon 44 17 4,233,358 95,988 248,608
 Utah 42 16 3,417,734 82,170 212,818
 Kansas 36 14 2,940,546 81,759 211,754
 Nevada 29 11 3,194,176 109,781 284,332
 Nebraska 26 10 1,978,379 76,824 198,974
 Idaho 24 9.2 1,964,726 82,643 214,045
 New Mexico 17 6.7 2,114,371 121,298 314,161
 South Dakota 12 4.7 919,318 75,811 196,350
 North Dakota 11 4.4 783,926 69,001 178,711
 Montana 7.8 3.0 1,132,812 145,546 376,962
 Wyoming 6.0 2.3 584,057 97,093 251,470
 Alaska 1.3 0.50 733,406 570,641 1,477,953
 Contiguous US 113 43 332,746,351 2,954,843 7,653,006
 50 States 95 37 334,235,923 3,531,846 9,147,436
 50 States and DC 95 37 334,914,895 3,531,907 9,147,594
 United States 96 37 338,485,999 3,531,905 9,147,593

Gallery

Gallery of U.S. States
  • Newark-broad-street

    New Jersey is the most densely populated state.

  • View of Empire State Building from Rockefeller Center New York City dllu (cropped)

    New York is home to the most populous city in the country, and ranks 8th among the states in density.

  • Montpelier with state capitol in distance

    Despite a small population, Vermont has fairly average population density because of its small area.

  • Boise Idaho

    Idaho's population has increased rapidly in recent decades, but its population density is lower than other states.

  • Anchorage1

    About half of the population of Alaska lives in the Anchorage metropolitan area.

  • Old San Juan Street, Puerto Rico 2007

    Puerto Rico is the fourth most densely populated of states and possessions of the U.S.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Anexo:Estados y territorios de los Estados Unidos por densidad para niños

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