Population Density of Contiguous US by Census Block

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“Densities vary across countries and within them. Divided evenly, every person in the world could have about 2 hectares of land. The U.S. has an above-average endowment of raw land, by world standards: about 3.1 hectares per person (or about 0.3 people per hectare). Some other countries, however, have even larger
areas relative to their population: Canada has about 30 hectares of raw land per person, Australia has 40 per person, and Russia has 12 per person. At the other extreme of the density scale, examples of higher densities include China, which has only 0.75 hectares per person (or about 1.35 people per hectare); India and Japan have about 3.5 people per hectare; Korea and the Netherlands have about 4.75 people per hectare; Bangladesh has about 10 people per hectare; the city-states Singapore and Hong Kong have about 65 people per hectare.

Densities vary even more within countries than across countries. Within the U.S. most of the population lives within a few hundred miles of the major coasts (including the Great Lakes); with a few exceptions, such as Denver and Salt Lake City, most of the country is fairly empty between Minneapolis and the area 100 miles or so from the Pacific Ocean. This pattern is not atypical; many countries have some fairly dense areas and some (often large) “empty quarters.” For example, almost 90 percent of Canada’s population lives within 200 miles of the U.S. border, most of China’s population lives within 100 miles of the coast, and very few Australians live very far from the coast.

The average densities of U.S. states range from about 4 people per hectare in New Jersey (denser than India or Japan), 3 people per hectare in Rhode Island (denser than Germany), and more than 2 people per hectare in Connecticut and Massachusetts to less than 0.05 people per hectare in Nevada and New Mexico and less than 0.02 people per hectare in Alaska. To give some idea of the state density differences, if the entire United States, excluding Alaska, were settled at New Jersey’s density, the country would contain more than 3 billion people.”

Stephen Malpezzi Population Density: Some Facts and Some Predictions

Related post:
– U.S. Population Density (1990 – 2017)