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Greenland vs USA Size: How Much Bigger Is the USA?

By Marko Visic · Updated Nov 11, 2026

The USA covers 3,796,742 sq mi and Greenland 836,330 sq mi, so by total area the USA is 4.54× Greenland, and even the contiguous 48 states hold 3.73 Greenlands. Greenland looks bigger than that on many world maps because the Mercator projection draws it at 16.4× its true area, against 2.29× for the USA.

Greenland tiled 3.73 times inside the contiguous United States. With Alaska and Hawaii the USA is 4.54 times Greenland.3.7 Greenlands fit inside the contiguous USContiguous US 3,120,426 sq mi · Greenland 836,330 sq mi · Alaska and Hawaii not drawnContiguous US1230.73Each shape = 1 Greenlandsimplemaplab.com/size-comparisons/greenland-vs-usa · CC-BY 4.0
Greenland drawn 3.73 times inside the contiguous 48 states: three full copies and a dashed partial one. Each copy is scaled to the area ratio in the table. Alaska and Hawaii, 18% of US area, are not drawn; with them the USA is 4.54× Greenland.
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Greenland vs USA by the numbers

MetricUSAGreenlandRatio
Total area (sq mi)3,796,742836,330USA 4.54×
Ice-covered land (sq mi)about 660,000 (79%)
Population (USA July 1, 2025; Greenland 2024 est.)341,784,85757,751USA 5,918×
Coastline (mi)12,38027,394Greenland 2.21×
Highest pointMount McKinley (Denali), 20,310 ftGunnbjorn Fjeld, 12,119 ftUSA 1.68×
Mean elevation (ft)2,4935,879Greenland 2.36×
Drawn area on a Mercator map ÷ true area2.2916.39Greenland 7.16×
Standard time zones6 (50 states)3
First-level divisions50 states + DC5 municipalities

Ratios divide the larger figure by the smaller. The CIA World Factbook counts all of Greenland's area as land, ice included.

How much bigger is the USA than Greenland?

By total area the USA is 4.54× Greenland: 3,796,742 sq mi against 836,330 sq mi, a difference of 2,960,412 sq mi. Four whole Greenlands fit inside the USA, with room for 0.54 of a fifth. The contiguous 48 states and DC, 3,120,426 sq mi, hold 3.73 Greenlands, as the map above shows.

Greenland is still large. Its 836,330 sq mi, all counted as land by the CIA World Factbook, is 1.47× the land area of Alaska and 3.20× that of Texas, and the Factbook ranks it first on its world list of islands, 2.76× New Guinea. Saudi Arabia and Mexico are about its size: Greenland is 1.01× the first and 1.10× the second.

Why Greenland looks so big on maps

The Mercator projection, which Gerardus Mercator presented in 1569 on a world map made for navigators, draws routes of constant compass bearing as straight lines and stretches area more and more toward the poles; the US Geological Survey's manual on map projections notes its large distortion of area in polar regions. Google Maps draws its map in the same projection. The stretch at a given latitude is 1/cos² of that latitude, about 10.5× at 72°N, the latitude of the Factbook's reference point for Greenland.

Computed from our map data with a Mercator projection, Greenland's outline is drawn at 16.4× its true area and the USA's, Alaska included, at 2.29×. On a Mercator world map Greenland therefore looks 1.58× the size of the USA, when the USA is in fact 4.54× Greenland. The same map draws Greenland 1.04× the size of Africa, which is 14.1× Greenland's area (USA vs Africa).

Four-fifths of Greenland is ice

The CIA World Factbook counts about 660,000 sq mi (1.71 million km²) of Greenland as ice-covered, 79% of the island and more than Alaska's 570,641 sq mi of land. The ice-free land, about 176,000 sq mi, is 1.13× the land area of California. Because the ice cap covers all but a narrow coast, Greenland's mean elevation is 5,879 ft (1,792 m), against 2,493 ft (760 m) for the USA.

By the National Snow and Ice Data Center's estimate the sheet contains about 696,000 cubic miles (2.9 million km³) of ice and reaches over 1.9 miles (3 km) in thickness; melted, it would lift sea level about 24 ft (7.4 m). Satellite gravity measurements from NASA's GRACE missions show Greenland shedding about 264 billion metric tons of ice a year from 2002 to 2025, which raised global sea level by about 0.03 in (0.8 mm) a year.

People and government

Greenland had 57,751 people in 2024 on the CIA World Factbook's estimate, 87.9% of them in urban areas (2023). The USA had 341,784,857 on July 1, 2025, 5,918 times as many; Wyoming, the least populous state, had 588,753. Greenland has one person for every 14.5 sq mi; the USA has 97 people per square mile of land. Statistics Greenland counted 19,872 people in the capital, Nuuk, on January 1, 2024, 35% of the 56,699 it counted in all of Greenland.

The Factbook describes Greenland as part of the Kingdom of Denmark and a self-governing overseas administrative division. Denmark's parliament granted home rule in 1979, and the Act on Greenland Self-Government of 2009 gave Greenland more responsibility for internal affairs, while Denmark still handles foreign affairs, security and financial policy in consultation with Greenland's government. The US Space Force maintains a base on the northwest coast, about 750 miles from the North Pole. Greenland's GDP was $3.327 billion in 2023 at the official exchange rate, and the Factbook calls its economy dependent on Danish financial support, with exports led by fishing.

Drawn to scale: Greenland next to the USA

Both at the same area per pixel, side by side. The US drawing is the contiguous 48 states.

The contiguous United States and Greenland side by side at the same equal-area scale.The contiguous US is 3.73× Greenland; the whole USA is 4.54× GreenlandContiguous US3,120,426 sq miGreenland836,330 sq mi
Both drawn to scale in equal-area projections, the contiguous US in US Albers (parallels 29.5°N and 45.5°N) and Greenland in a conic equal-area projection (parallels 65°N and 80°N). Alaska and Hawaii are not drawn.

What else is about the size of Greenland?

By total area (CIA World Factbook), with states compared by land area:

Methodology and sources

Area
USA: US Census Bureau, State Area Measurements and Internal Point Coordinates (2010) (the total includes inland, coastal, Great Lakes and territorial water); the contiguous US is that total less Alaska and Hawaii; state land areas from the same table. Greenland: CIA World Factbook, final edition: Greenland (total area, all of it land, and ice-covered area). Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Antarctica: the Factbook entries for Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Antarctica; Africa is the sum of the Factbook total areas of its 54 states and Western Sahara. Islands: CIA World Factbook, World entry (largest islands).
Population
USA and states: US Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 population estimates (July 1, 2025). Greenland: CIA World Factbook, 2024 estimate, and the urban share (2023) from the same entry. Nuuk: Statistics Greenland, Population in Localities January 1st (table BEESTD), January 1, 2024 (accessed November 11, 2026).
Ice
Ice-covered area: the Factbook's Greenland entry. Ice volume, thickness and sea-level equivalent: National Snow and Ice Data Center, Ice Sheet Quick Facts (accessed November 11, 2026). Ice loss, 2002 to 2025: NASA Earth Indicators, Ice Sheets (GRACE and GRACE-FO) (accessed November 11, 2026).
Government, economy, coastline, elevation, time zones, divisions
CIA World Factbook, final edition: Greenland (GDP is the Factbook's 2023 estimate at the official exchange rate) and CIA World Factbook, final edition: United States; US zones also in Code of Federal Regulations, 49 CFR Part 71, Standard Time Zone Boundaries. Miles are converted from the Factbook's kilometers.
Mercator distortion
Factors computed from our map data (world-atlas, Natural Earth 1:50m) with a Mercator projection: drawn area divided by true area for each outline. The projection's history and area distortion: USGS Professional Paper 1395, Map Projections: A Working Manual (1987), chapter 7. Google Maps' use of it: Google Maps Platform documentation, Map and tile coordinates (accessed November 11, 2026).
Drawings
Shapes from us-atlas (US Census Bureau cartographic boundaries) and world-atlas (Natural Earth 1:50m) for the drawings. The US is drawn as the contiguous 48 states and scaled with their area (3,120,426 sq mi, Census 2010 total less Alaska and Hawaii); each copy of Greenland in the tiled map is scaled to the area ratio in the table.

Frequently asked questions

No. The USA covers 3,796,742 sq mi and Greenland 836,330 sq mi, so the USA is 4.54× Greenland by total area. Even the contiguous 48 states, without Alaska and Hawaii, are 3.73× Greenland. Greenland only looks larger on Mercator maps, which stretch it far more than the USA.
Many world maps, Google Maps among them, use the Mercator projection, which stretches area by 1/cos² of the latitude: about 10.5× at 72°N. Computed from our map data, a Mercator map draws Greenland at 16.4× its true area and the USA, with Alaska, at 2.29×, so Greenland appears 1.58× the size of the USA.
4.54× by total area, 2,960,412 sq mi larger. Greenland is about the size of Mexico (Greenland is 1.10× Mexico) and Saudi Arabia (1.01×) on the CIA World Factbook's areas.
4.54 by total area: four whole Greenlands and 0.54 of a fifth. The contiguous 48 states and DC, 3,120,426 sq mi, hold 3.73 Greenlands, which is what the map at the top of this page shows.
Yes. Comparing land with land, Greenland's 836,330 sq mi (all of it counted as land by the CIA World Factbook) is 1.47× Alaska's 570,641 sq mi and 3.20× the land area of Texas.
Yes. The CIA World Factbook calls Greenland the world's largest island, and its world list of islands puts Greenland's 836,330 sq mi (2,166,086 km²) first, 2.76× New Guinea, the second largest at 303,381 sq mi.
57,751 (CIA World Factbook, 2024 estimate). The USA had 341,784,857 people on July 1, 2025, 5,918 times as many, and even Wyoming, the least populous state, had 10.2× Greenland's population. Statistics Greenland counted 19,872 people in the capital, Nuuk, on January 1, 2024, 35% of the 56,699 it counted in all of Greenland.
About 79%: the CIA World Factbook counts about 660,000 sq mi (1.71 million km²) of ice-covered land. The ice sheet holds about 696,000 cubic miles (2.9 million km³) of ice, and if it all melted, sea level would rise about 24 ft (7.4 m), according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
Yes. The CIA World Factbook describes Greenland as part of the Kingdom of Denmark and a self-governing overseas administrative division. Denmark granted home rule in 1979, and the Act on Greenland Self-Government of 2009 widened it; Denmark still handles foreign affairs, security and financial policy in consultation with Greenland's government.
Greenland: 27,394 miles against 12,380 miles for the USA on the CIA World Factbook's figures (44,087 km and 19,924 km), 2.21× as long on less than a quarter of the area.

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Suggested citation: SimpleMapLab (2026). Greenland vs USA Size. Retrieved from https://www.simplemaplab.com/size-comparisons/greenland-vs-usa. CC-BY 4.0.