Alaska vs Lower 48 Size: How Much Bigger Is the Contiguous US?

By Marko Visic · Updated Nov 11, 2026

Alaska is the largest US state, with 570,641 sq mi (1,477,953 km²) of land, more than Texas and California combined. The lower 48 states and DC have 2,954,841 sq mi (7,653,005 km²), so by land area the lower 48 is 5.18× Alaska (Census 2010). Alaska holds 16.2% of US land and 0.22% of US residents (July 1, 2025).

The contiguous US (the lower 48 states and DC) with five Alaska copies and a dashed 0.18 partial inside it; each copy is scaled to the area ratio in the table. Hawaii is not drawn. Shapes from Census Bureau boundaries.

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At a glance: Alaska vs the Lower 48 by the numbers

Metric	Alaska	Lower 48	Ratio
Land area (sq mi)	570,641	2,954,841	Lower 48 5.18×
Total area incl. water (sq mi)	665,384	3,120,426	Lower 48 4.69×
Share of US land area	16.2%	83.7%
Population (July 1, 2025)	737,270	339,614,767	Lower 48 461×
People per sq mi of land	1.29	114.9	Lower 48 89×
GDP, current US$ (2025)	$73.6 billion	$30.66 trillion	Lower 48 416×
GDP per person (2025)	$99,875	$90,292	Alaska 1.11×
General coastline (mi, NOAA 1975)	6,640	4,993	Alaska 1.33×
Tidal shoreline (mi, NOAA)	33,904	59,166	Lower 48 1.75×
Highest point	Mount McKinley (Denali), 20,310 ft	Mount Whitney, 14,505 ft
States	1	48 + DC
Statehood	1959 (49th)	1787 (Delaware) to 1912 (Arizona)
Standard time zones	2	4

Ratios divide the larger figure by the smaller. The lower 48 is the United States (50 states and DC) minus Alaska and Hawaii in each source's figures; its tidal shoreline adds up NOAA's rows for those states. General coastline and tidal shoreline are two different NOAA measures.

How much bigger is the lower 48 than Alaska?

The lower 48 has 2,384,200 sq mi more land than Alaska. Five whole Alaskas fit inside it, with 101,636 sq mi left over, a little less than the land area of Colorado (103,642 sq mi). Counting inland, coastal and territorial water, the lower 48 covers 3,120,426 sq mi and Alaska 665,384, a ratio of 4.69. Water makes up 14% of Alaska's total area and 5% of the lower 48's.

Alaska has more land than Texas and California combined (417,011 sq mi) and more than the 22 smallest states put together: their 569,733 sq mi, Hawaii included, fall 908 sq mi short of Alaska's.

Of the 3,531,905 sq mi of land in the United States, Alaska holds 16.2%, the lower 48 83.7% and Hawaii, with 6,423 sq mi, 0.18%. Without Alaska the country's total area would be 3,131,358 sq mi, less than China's and Brazil's, and the United States would rank 5th in the CIA World Factbook's area figures instead of 3rd.

Drawn to scale: Alaska next to the Lower 48

The two side by side, drawn to scale in equal-area projections. Hawaii is not drawn.

The lower 48 in a US Albers projection (parallels 29.5°N and 45.5°N) and Alaska in an Alaska Albers projection (parallels 55°N and 65°N), both equal-area, at one scale.

The Alaska Purchase: 586,412 square miles for $7.2 million

On March 30, 1867 the United States and Russia agreed on the Treaty of Cession, negotiated for the United States by Secretary of State William H. Seward. Russia ceded its territory on the North American continent and the adjacent islands, and the United States undertook to pay $7.2 million in gold (National Archives). Historical Statistics of the United States puts the purchase at 586,412 sq mi, about 1.9 cents an acre.

Among the additions in that table, only the Louisiana Purchase (827,192 sq mi, 1803) was larger. The Mexican Cession of 1848 added 529,017 sq mi, and the annexation of Texas (1845) added 390,143 sq mi.

Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959. The lower 48 had been complete since Arizona joined as the 48th state on February 14, 1912; the first, Delaware, ratified the Constitution on December 7, 1787 (US Senate).

Population: 0.22% of US residents on 16% of US land

On July 1, 2025 the Census Bureau estimated 737,270 people in Alaska and 339,614,767 in the lower 48 states and DC, 461 times as many; Hawaii had 1,432,820. As shares of the US total that is 0.22% for Alaska, 0.42% for Hawaii and 99.4% for the lower 48. Alaska and Hawaii together hold 0.63% of the population on 16.3% of the land.

Per square mile of land the lower 48 has 114.9 people and Alaska 1.29, so the lower 48 is 89 times as densely populated. Alaska is the least densely populated state; Wyoming, next, has 6.06 people per square mile, 4.7 times Alaska's figure. The largest metro area, New York-Newark-Jersey City, had 20,112,448 people, 27.3 times Alaska's population.

In 2025 the lower 48 produced $30.66 trillion of GDP and Alaska $73.6 billion in current dollars (Bureau of Economic Analysis), a ratio of 416 to 1, below the population ratio of 461 to 1. Per person, Alaska's GDP was $99,875 and the lower 48's $90,292.

What else is about the size of the lower 48?

By land area (CIA World Factbook for the countries, Census 2010 for the lower 48):

Australia has 2,966,153 sq mi, 0.4% more than the lower 48.
Brazil has 1.09× the lower 48's land area and China 1.22×.
The lower 48 has 2.57× India's land area and 3.94× Mexico's (Mexico vs USA).
It has 13.9× the land area of metropolitan France, France without its overseas regions.

Methodology and sources

Area: US Census Bureau, State Area Measurements and Internal Point Coordinates (2010). Land area is the pair's basis; total area adds perennial inland water, coastal water and the territorial sea. The lower 48 is the US figure less Alaska and Hawaii: 3,531,905 − 570,641 − 6,423 = 2,954,841 sq mi of land.
Population and metro areas: States and the US: US Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 population estimates (July 1, 2025). Metro areas: US Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 metropolitan area population estimates. The lower 48 is the US total less Alaska and Hawaii; density divides by Census 2010 land area.
GDP: US Bureau of Economic Analysis, GDP by state (2025, current dollars). The lower 48 is the US total less Alaska and Hawaii; GDP per person divides by the July 1, 2025 populations.
Coastline: General coastline: NOAA, The Coastline of the United States (1975): general coastline by state, as reprinted in Congressional Research Service report RS21729; the lower 48 is the 12,383-mile total for the 50 states less Alaska (6,640) and Hawaii (750). Tidal shoreline: NOAA Office for Coastal Management, Shoreline Mileage of the United States (tidal shoreline); the lower 48 adds up the rows for its states, Great Lakes shores included, because NOAA's US total of 95,439 miles also counts 1,317 miles in the territories. Each comparison uses one of the two measures, never both.
Highest points: CIA World Factbook, final edition: United States (Mount McKinley, 6,190 m, highest point in North America, given as 20,310 feet in its elevation note); National Park Service, Seeing and Climbing Mt. Whitney (summit 14,505 feet, 4,421 meters, NAVD88), checked November 11, 2026. The name: Executive Order 14172, Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness (January 20, 2025): Mount McKinley.
Purchase and statehood: National Archives, Check for the Purchase of Alaska (1868), which reproduces the Treaty of Cession of March 30, 1867. Areas of the purchase and the earlier additions: US Census Bureau, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, Series J 1-2 (territorial expansion; areas determined in 1912 and adjusted to the 1960 remeasurements); in that table only the Louisiana Purchase is a larger accession than Alaska. Statehood: US Senate, Alaska, Arizona and Delaware pages. All checked November 11, 2026.
Time zones: Code of Federal Regulations, 49 CFR Part 71, Standard Time Zone Boundaries, sections 71.4 to 71.12 (Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, Alaska and Hawaii-Aleutian zones).
Countries: Land areas from the CIA World Factbook, final edition: Australia, Brazil, China, India, Mexico and France (its metropolitan France figure). The US rank compares total areas across all Factbook entries except the World and Antarctica.
Drawings: Shapes from us-atlas (US Census Bureau cartographic boundaries) and world-atlas (Natural Earth 1:50m) for the drawings. The lower 48 is drawn as the largest polygon of the us-atlas nation outline and scaled with its land area (2,954,841 sq mi); Hawaii is not drawn. In the tiled map each Alaska copy is scaled to the land-area ratio in the table; the side-by-side drawing uses equal-area projections at one scale.

Frequently asked questions

No. The lower 48 states and DC have 2,954,841 sq mi of land and Alaska 570,641 sq mi, so the lower 48 is 5.18 times Alaska (Census 2010). Alaska is larger than any other single state, larger than Texas and California combined, and larger than the 22 smallest states put together.

The lower 48 has 2,384,200 sq mi more land, 5.18 times Alaska's. Counting inland, coastal and territorial water, the totals are 3,120,426 and 665,384 sq mi, a ratio of 4.69. Of all US land, Alaska holds 16.2%, the lower 48 83.7% and Hawaii 0.18%.

Five whole Alaskas fit inside the lower 48's land area, with 101,636 sq mi left over, a little less than the land area of Colorado (103,642 sq mi). As a ratio, the lower 48 equals 5.18 Alaskas.

Yes. Alaska has 570,641 sq mi of land, 2.18 times Texas (261,232 sq mi), the second largest, and 3.66 times California (155,779 sq mi), the third. It holds 16.2% of US land area.

The United States bought it from Russia. Under the Treaty of Cession, agreed on March 30, 1867 and negotiated by Secretary of State William H. Seward, the United States undertook to pay $7.2 million (National Archives). Historical Statistics of the United States puts the purchase at 586,412 sq mi, about 1.9 cents an acre, the largest addition to the country after the Louisiana Purchase. Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959 (US Senate).

On July 1, 2025 the Census Bureau estimated 737,270 people in Alaska, 0.22% of the US population, and 339,614,767 in the lower 48 states and DC, 99.4%. Per square mile of land that is 1.29 people in Alaska and 114.9 in the lower 48, 89 times as many.

Yes. Both mean the United States without Alaska and Hawaii: 48 states and the District of Columbia. On Census 2010 figures, US land (3,531,905 sq mi) minus Alaska (570,641) and Hawaii (6,423) leaves 2,954,841 sq mi.

Australia. In the CIA World Factbook, Australia has 2,966,153 sq mi of land, 0.4% more than the lower 48's 2,954,841 sq mi. Brazil has 1.09 times the lower 48's land area and China 1.22 times.

It depends on the measure. NOAA's general coastline gives Alaska 6,640 miles and the lower 48 4,993, so Alaska has 1.33 times as much. NOAA's tidal shoreline, which follows bays, rivers and islands in more detail and includes the Great Lakes shores, gives the lower 48 states 59,166 miles and Alaska 33,904.

Alaska has two standard time zones: Alaska time (UTC-9) for most of the state and Hawaii-Aleutian time (UTC-10) for the Aleutian Islands west of 169°30′W. The lower 48 has four, Eastern (UTC-5), Central (UTC-6), Mountain (UTC-7) and Pacific (UTC-8), three hours apart from Eastern to Pacific (49 CFR Part 71).

Mount McKinley (Denali) in Alaska, 20,310 ft (6,190 m), is the highest point in North America (CIA World Factbook). The highest point in the lower 48 is Mount Whitney in California, 14,505 ft (4,421 m) (National Park Service), 71% of Mount McKinley's height.

Related size comparisons

Open Alaska and the US in the interactive tool
Alaska vs California: Alaska is 3.66× California (land area).
Texas vs Alaska: Alaska is 2.18× Texas (land area).
Texas vs California: Texas is 1.68× California (land area).
California vs Florida: California is 2.90× Florida (land area).
Delaware vs Rhode Island: Delaware is 1.88× Rhode Island (land area).
Mexico vs USA: The USA is 5.01× Mexico (total area).
USA vs Canada: Canada is 1.02× the USA (total area).
USA vs Russia: Russia is 1.74× the USA (total area).
Russia vs Canada: Russia is 1.71× Canada (total area).
UK vs USA: The USA is 40.37× the UK (total area).
Alaska boroughs and census areas
Most remote places in Alaska
All size comparisons

Suggested citation: SimpleMapLab (2026). Alaska vs Lower 48 Size: How Much Bigger Is the Contiguous US? Retrieved from https://www.simplemaplab.com/size-comparisons/alaska-vs-lower-48. CC-BY 4.0.