All 50 US States Ranked by Population

The United States is home to approximately 335.2M people spread unevenly across 50 states and DC. California leads with over 39 million residents, while Wyoming has fewer than 600,000 — a 68:1 ratio between the largest and smallest states.

Complete ranking: all 50 states + DC

Key takeaways

• The top 10 states by population account for more than half the US total.
• California alone has more people than the bottom 21 states combined.
• Population density varies from 1,271/sq mi (New Jersey) to 1/sq mi (Alaska).
• The fastest-growing states by percentage are concentrated in the Sun Belt and Mountain West.

Population vs. area: the mismatch

The largest states by area are not the most populated. Alaska (663,300 sq mi) has fewer people than any major city. Meanwhile, New Jersey (8,723 sq mi) packs nearly 9.3 million residents into an area smaller than many western counties.

To explore this visually, switch between "population" and "density" on our interactive county choropleth map. The difference is striking — the population map lights up metro areas while the density map reveals how much of the US is rural.

How population affects representation

The US House of Representatives allocates 435 seats proportionally by state population after each decennial census. California has 52 House seats, while 7 states (Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Delaware, Montana) have just 1 each. The Senate gives every state 2 senators regardless of population.

The fastest-growing and fastest-shrinking states

Between 2020 and the latest Census Bureau Population Estimates Program vintage, the five fastest-growing states by percentage are Idaho (+6.2%), Florida (+5.1%), Texas (+5.0%), South Carolina (+4.8%), and Montana (+4.5%). The common drivers are mild winters, lower state taxes, cheaper housing relative to the coastal metros people are leaving, and remote-work flexibility that finally decoupled job location from residence. Florida and Texas also benefit from large retiree inflows from the Northeast and Midwest.

On the other end, the five states losing population in absolute numbers are West Virginia (-3.2%), Mississippi (-1.6%), Illinois (-2.1%), Louisiana (-2.0%), and New York (-1.8%). The drivers there are almost the inverse: aging populations with low birth rates, declining extractive or manufacturing industries, post-hurricane outmigration from the Gulf, and high cost-of-living combined with property taxes that push working-age families to Sun Belt states. Pure-percentage rankings can flatter small states, which is why analysts usually pair them with the absolute-numbers leaders — Texas and Florida each added more than 1 million residents over the same window.

Population density vs. total population

Total population tells you which states need the most schools, hospitals, and House seats; density tells you how those people are arranged on the land. New Jersey is the densest state at roughly 1,260 people per square mile — denser than India. Alaska is the emptiest at under 1.3 people per square mile, which means a single Alaska Native village can be the only settlement in an area larger than Connecticut. Density drives the practical realities of governance: dense states run subways and county-wide school systems, while low-density states rely on volunteer fire departments, bush planes for medical evacuation, and federal land managers for most of what counties do elsewhere. You can see these patterns at the county level on the interactive choropleth map.

Where the data comes from

Three Census Bureau products account for almost every population figure you'll see cited. The Decennial Censusis the constitutionally mandated complete count taken every ten years (most recently April 2020); it's the legal basis for House apportionment and redistricting. The American Community Survey (ACS) samples about 3.5 million households a year and publishes rolling 1-year and 5-year estimates with income, age, race, and commuting data the decennial census no longer collects. The Population Estimates Program (PEP) produces annual state and county population estimates between censuses, updated each December. State-level figures on this page draw on ACS and PEP via the SimpleMaps aggregate dataset; minor differences between sources almost always reflect different vintages or different survey methodologies.

Related tools

• Population Within Radius — calculate the total population within any distance of a point
• US County Map — choropleth showing population, income, age, and more for every county
• Find Cities in Radius — list all cities within a distance, sorted by population
• Blank Map of the United States — free printable map with state and county boundaries

Data source

Population data from the US Census Bureau American Community Survey via SimpleMaps. Area data from the Census Bureau's Gazetteer files.

Frequently asked questions