States Ranked by Land Area

The following table ranks all 50 states by their absolute land area, using official figures from the US Census Bureau.

Rank	State	Land Area (sq mi)	Land Area (sq km)	Total Area Rank (for comparison)
1	Alaska	570,641	1,477,953	1
2	Texas	261,232	676,587	2
3	California	155,779	403,466	3
4	Montana	145,546	376,962	4
5	New Mexico	121,298	314,161	5
6	Arizona	113,594	294,207	6
7	Nevada	109,781	284,332	7
8	Colorado	103,642	268,431	8
9	Wyoming	97,093	251,470	10
10	Oregon	95,988	248,608	9
11	Idaho	82,643	214,045	14
12	Georgia	82,170	212,818	13
13	Kansas	81,759	211,754	15
14	Minnesota	79,627	206,232	12
15	Nebraska	76,824	198,974	16
16	South Dakota	75,811	196,350	17
17	North Dakota	69,001	178,711	19
18	Missouri	68,742	178,040	21
19	Oklahoma	68,595	177,660	20
20	Washington	66,455	172,119	18
21	Georgia	57,513	148,959	24
22	Michigan	56,539	146,435	11
23	Iowa	55,857	144,669	26
24	Illinois	55,519	143,793	25
25	Wisconsin	54,158	140,268	23
26	Florida	53,624	138,887	22
27	Arkansas	52,035	134,771	29
28	Alabama	50,645	131,171	30
29	North Carolina	48,617	125,920	28
30	New York	47,126	122,057	27
31	Mississippi	46,923	121,531	32
32	Pennsylvania	44,743	115,883	33
33	Louisiana	43,204	111,898	31
34	Tennessee	41,235	106,798	36
35	Ohio	40,861	105,829	34
36	Virginia	39,490	102,279	35
37	Kentucky	39,486	102,269	37
38	Indiana	35,826	92,789	38
39	Maine	30,843	79,883	39
40	South Carolina	30,061	77,857	40
41	West Virginia	24,038	62,259	41
42	Maryland	9,707	25,142	42
43	Vermont	9,217	23,871	45
44	New Hampshire	8,953	23,187	46
45	Massachusetts	7,800	20,202	44
46	New Jersey	7,354	19,047	47
47	Hawaii	6,423	16,635	43
48	Connecticut	4,842	12,542	48
49	Delaware	1,949	5,047	49
50	Rhode Island	1,034	2,678	50

When ranking US states by land area, the order looks slightly different than a total area ranking. This is because states with massive expanses of territorial water—like Michigan, Florida, and Hawaii—shift downwards when lakes, rivers, and coastal waters are excluded.

The Colossus of the North: Alaska is so massive that it is larger than the next three largest states—Texas, California, and Montana—combined. It accounts for roughly 17% of the total land mass of the entire United States.
The Texas Benchmark: As the largest state in the contiguous US, Texas occupies more land area than any country in the European Union. Driving across Texas from east to west (from Orange to El Paso) takes nearly 12 hours of continuous highway travel.
Delaware’s Tiny Footprint: Delaware holds the rank of second-smallest state, but it is still nearly twice the size of neighboring Rhode Island. Even combined, Rhode Island and Delaware are smaller than the land area of Connecticut.