California, the most populous U.S. state, spreads nearly40 million residents across 163,696 square miles (423,970 km²)—a territory so vast it could fit most countries. Yet all those people would barely fill the Greater Tokyo metropolitan area, which packs around38 million residents into just 13,500 square kilometers (5,213 square miles). That’s more than 30 times denser than California. Meanwhile, Wyoming’s population would barely fill Manchester, UK.
U.S. States compared to cities with similar populations
Alabama – Chengdu (China)
Alaska – Leeds (United Kingdom)
Arizona – Hyderabad (India)
Arkansas – Wenzhou (China)
California – Tokyo [metro] (Japan)
Colorado – Singapore
Connecticut – Berlin (Germany)
Delaware – Austin (United States)
Florida – Guangzhou (China[urban])
Georgia – Shenzhen (China)
Hawaii – San Antonio (United States)
Idaho – Barcelona (Spain)
Illinois – Moscow (Russia)
Indiana – Chennai (India)
Iowa – Madrid (Spain)
Kansas – Rome (Italy)
Kentucky – Ankara (Turkey)
Louisiana – Alexandria (Egypt)
Maine – Belgrade (Serbia)
Maryland – Zunyi (China)
Massachusetts – Tianjin (China)
Michigan – Wuhan (China)
Minnesota – Jinan [metro] (China)
Mississippi – Wenzhou (China)
Missouri – Foshan (China)
Montana – Köln (Germany)
Nebraska – Bucharest (Romania)
Nevada – Salvador (Brazil)
New Hampshire – Prague (Czech Republic)
New Jersey – London (New Kingdom)
New Mexico – Konya (Turkey)
New York – Osaka [metro] (Japan)
North Carolina – Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire)
North Dakota – Lviv (Ukraine)
Ohio – Barcelona (Spain)
Oklahoma – Los Angeles (United States)
Oregon – Jeddah (Saudi Arabia)
Pennsylvania – Tianjin [urban] (China)
Rhode Island – Cologne (Germany)
South Carolina – Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire)
South Dakota – Columbus (Ohio)
Tennessee – Riyadh (Saudi Arabia)
Texas – Chongqing (China)
Utah – Incheon (South Korea)
Vermont – Helsinki (Finland)
Virginia – New York City (United States)
Washington – Santiago (Chile)
Washington D.C. – Palermo (Italy)
West Virginia – Vienna (Austria)
Wisconsin – Jinan [metro] (China)
Wyoming – Manchester (United Kingdom)
California tops the list with 39.4–39.7 million people – nearly matching Greater Tokyo’s 38 million. Texas comes second at 31.8 million, followed by Florida (~23.8M), New York (~20M), and Pennsylvania (~13.1M). At the other extreme, Wyoming has just 600,000 residents, putting it alongside Vermont, Alaska, and both Dakotas at the bottom of the list.
These population totals aren’t fixed, though. The country’s population is shifting toward warmer climates and growing cities. Texas and Florida are gaining the most new residents overall, but states like Utah, South Carolina, and Nevada are growing faster as a percentage. Meanwhile, Vermont, West Virginia, and Mississippi have been losing people.
