Percentage of U.S. state population living in state capital metropolitan area and its Most Populous City

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In some cases, a U.S. state’s most populous city is not its capital. For instance, California’s most populous city is Los Angeles, not the capital Sacramento. Furthermore, Florida’s most populous city is Jacksonville, not Tallahassee. It is interesting to know more about each U.S. state’s population distribution; what percentage of its inhabitants live in the capital city?

According to Wikipedia, Phoenix in Arizona has the highest percentage of the state population residing there. Approximately 1.7 million people live in Phoenix, or about 23 percent of the total Arizona population. By difference, Sacramento in California, Tallahassee in Florida, and Albany in New York have less than 2 percent of the state population.

Percentage of U.S. state population living in the state capital

In most U.S. states, less than 20 percent of the population lives in the largest city. In South Carolina and West Virginia, even less than 3% of the population lives in the largest city. The highest percentage of the state’s population lives in New York City (New York) – 41.30% and Anchorage (Alaska) – 39.52%.

Percentage of Each U.S. State’s Population Living in its Most Populous City

State	Population	Largest City	Percentage
Alabama	4,858,979	212237	4.37%
Alaska	738.432	291826	39.52%
Arizona	6,828,065	1445632	21.17%
Arkansas	2,978,204	193524	6.50%
California	39,144,818	4792621	12.24%
Colorado	5,456,574	600158	11.00%
Connecticut	3,590,886	144229	4.02%
Delaware	945.934	70851	7.49%
Florida	20,271,272	880619	4.34%
Georgia	10,214,860	420003	4.11%
Hawaii	1,431,603	337256	23.56%
Idaho	1,654,930	205671	12.43%
Illinois	12,859,995	2695598	20.96%
Indiana	6,619,680	820445	12.39%
Iowa	3,123,899	215472	6.90%
Kansas	2,911,641	382368	13.13%
Kentucky	4,425,092	597337	13.50%
Louisiana	4,670,724	343829	7.36%
Maine	1,329,328	66194	4.98%
Maryland	6,006,401	620961	10.34%
Massachusetts	6,794,422	617594	9.09%
Michigan	9,922,576	713777	7.19%
Minnesota	5,489,594	382578	6.97%
Mississippi	2,992,333	173514	5.80%
Missouri	6,083,672	459787	7.56%
Montana	1,032,949	104170	10.08%
Nebraska	1,896,190	408958	21.57%
Nevada	2,890,845	583756	20.19%
New Hampshire	1,330,608	109565	8.23%
New Jersey	8,958,013	277140	3.09%
New Mexico	2,085,109	545852	26.18%
New York	19,795,791	8175133	41.30%
North Carolina	10,042,802	731424	7.28%
North Dakota	756.927	105549	13.94%
Ohio	11,613,423	879170	7.57%
Oklahoma	3,911,338	579999	14.83%
Oregon	4,028,977	583776	14.49%
Pennsylvania	12,802,503	1526006	11.92%
Rhode Island	1,056,298	178042	16.86%
South Carolina	4,896,146	129272	2.64%
South Dakota	858.469	153888	17.93%
Tennessee	6,600,299	660388	10.01%
Texas	27,469,114	2099451	7.64%
Utah	2,995,919	186440	6.22%
Vermont	626.042	42417	6.78%
Virginia	8,382,993	437994	5.22%
Washington	7,170,351	608660	8.49%
West Virginia	1,844,128	51400	2.79%
Wisconsin	5,771,337	594833	10.31%
Wyoming	586.107	59466	10.15%

Which U.S. states are actually city states?

If you take metro areas into account, in 18 U.S. states, over half of the state’s population is located in one metro area. These states in the United States are actually city-states.

Related post:
– Percentage of inhabitants of European countries living in the capital