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Mexico vs Texas Size: How Much Bigger Is Mexico?

By Marko Visic · Updated Nov 11, 2026

Mexico has 750,561 sq mi of land and Texas 261,232 sq mi, so by land area Mexico is 2.87× Texas: two whole Texases fit inside it with 87% of a third to spare. Mexico has 4.12× as many people, Texas has the larger economy in US dollars, and the two share 1,241 miles of boundary along the Rio Grande.

Two whole copies of Texas and part of a third tiled inside Mexico. By land area Mexico is 2.87 times Texas.2.87 Texases fit inside Mexico by land areaMexico 750,561 sq mi · Texas 261,232 sq mi · land areaMexico120.87Each shape = 1 Texassimplemaplab.com/size-comparisons/mexico-vs-texas · CC-BY 4.0
Two whole Texas outlines and 87% of a third tiled inside Mexico. Each copy is scaled to the area ratio in the table (land area).
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Mexico vs Texas by the numbers

MetricMexicoTexasRatio
Land area (sq mi)750,561261,232Mexico 2.87×
Total area (sq mi)*758,449268,596Mexico 2.82×
Population (Mexico 2024 est.; Texas July 1, 2025)130,739,92731,709,821Mexico 4.12×
People per sq mi of land174121Mexico 1.44×
GDP, current US$ (2025)$1.84T$2.93TTexas 1.60×
GDP per person, current US$$14,036$92,474Texas 6.59×
Coastline (mi)5,797 (Factbook)367 (NOAA general coastline)
Standard time zones42 (UTC-6, UTC-7)
Shared boundary1,241 mi, 64% of the US–Mexico boundary

* The Census total for Texas includes inland, coastal and territorial water; the Factbook total for Mexico includes no sea. Ratios divide the larger figure by the smaller; the coastlines come from different sources and get no ratio.

Which is bigger: Mexico or Texas?

Mexico. By land area it is 2.87× Texas: 750,561 sq mi (1,943,945 km²) against 261,232 sq mi (676,587 km²). Two whole Texases fit inside Mexico with 87% of a third left over, and the difference, 489,329 sq mi, is 3.14 times California's land area. Total areas, which add Texas's coastal and territorial water, give 2.82; the CIA World Factbook describes Mexico as “slightly less than three times the size of Texas.”

Four US states border Mexico: Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. Together they have 651,903 sq mi of land, and Mexico has 1.15× as much.

Texas was part of Mexico until 1836

Texas declared its independence from Mexico on March 2, 1836, and the United States recognized the Republic of Texas on March 3, 1837. In August 1843 Mexico's foreign minister told the US envoy that annexing Texas would be grounds for war. Texas entered the United States as the 28th state on December 29, 1845, and Congress declared war on Mexico on May 13, 1846 (US Department of State, Office of the Historian).

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed on February 2, 1848, ended the war. The land Mexico ceded appears in the Census Bureau's Historical Statistics of the United States as the Mexican Cession, 529,017 sq mi of land and water; Mexico vs USA covers that transfer. The same table gives the Texas annexation of 1845 as 390,143 sq mi, 1.45 times the state's 268,596 sq mi today. In the Compromise of 1850 Texas accepted fixed northern and western boundaries and gave up its claims beyond them in return for $10 million in federal stock (National Archives).

Population: 4.12× as many people in Mexico

Mexico had 130,739,927 people in the CIA World Factbook's 2024 estimate and Texas 31,709,821 on July 1, 2025 (Census Bureau). Per square mile of land that is 174 people in Mexico and 121 in Texas. Texas's four metro areas with a million people or more, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Austin, held 21.8 million people on July 1, 2025, 69% of the state (Census Bureau).

The economy: Texas is 1.60× Mexico in dollars

Texas's GDP in 2025 was $2.93 trillion in the Bureau of Economic Analysis state accounts and Mexico's $1.84 trillion in the IMF World Economic Outlook (October 2026), both in current US dollars, so Texas's economy was 1.60× Mexico's. Per person that is about $92,474 in Texas and $14,036 in Mexico.

Border, coastline and time zones

Texas has 1,241 of the 1,933 miles of the US–Mexico boundary, 64%, on the US Geological Survey figures in CRS report RS21729; New Mexico, Arizona and California share the rest. From the Gulf to El Paso the boundary follows the centerline of the Rio Grande (International Boundary and Water Commission), a river the CIA World Factbook measures at 1,900 mi (3,057 km).

On the coast, the Factbook gives Mexico 5,797 mi (9,330 km). Texas has 367 miles of general coastline on the Gulf in NOAA's 1975 measure and 3,359 miles of tidal shoreline in its more detailed one. A coastline measures longer on a more detailed chart, so neither Texas figure lines up exactly with the Factbook's. Mexico has four time zones (Factbook) and Texas two: Central (UTC-6) and, in El Paso and Hudspeth counties, Mountain (UTC-7).

Drawn to scale: Mexico next to Texas

Both at the same area per pixel, side by side. A Mercator world map distorts the comparison. Computed from our map data with a Mercator projection, Mexico's outline is enlarged 1.21× and Texas's 1.38×, so Mexico looks about 2.52 times the size of Texas there instead of 2.87.

Mexico and Texas side by side at the same equal-area scale.Mexico is 2.87× Texas by land areaMexico750,561 sq miTexas261,232 sq mi
Mexico in a conic equal-area projection (parallels 18°N and 30°N), Texas in a US Albers projection (parallels 29.5°N and 45.5°N), at one scale.

Methodology and sources

Area
Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California: US Census Bureau, State Area Measurements and Internal Point Coordinates (2010) (land area; the Texas total adds inland, coastal and territorial water). Mexico: CIA World Factbook, final edition: Mexico.
Population
Texas: US Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 population estimates (July 1, 2025); metro areas: US Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 metropolitan area population estimates. Mexico: CIA World Factbook, 2024 estimate.
GDP
Texas: US Bureau of Economic Analysis, GDP by state (2025, current dollars). Mexico: IMF World Economic Outlook (October 2026), GDP in current US dollars (2025). GDP per person divides each by the population above.
Border
Congressional Research Service report RS21729, U.S. International Borders: Brief Facts (US–Canada lengths from the International Boundary Commission, US–Mexico lengths from the US Geological Survey), Table 2 (US Geological Survey figures: Texas 1,241.0 of 1,933.4 miles). Rio Grande boundary line: International Boundary and Water Commission, About Us (retrieved November 11, 2026). Rio Grande length: CIA World Factbook, Mexico, major rivers.
Coastline and time zones
Texas: NOAA, The Coastline of the United States (1975): general coastline by state, as reprinted in Congressional Research Service report RS21729, NOAA Office for Coastal Management, Shoreline Mileage of the United States (tidal shoreline) and Code of Federal Regulations, 49 CFR Part 71, Standard Time Zone Boundaries. Mexico: CIA World Factbook, final edition: Mexico; miles are converted from the Factbook's kilometers.
History
Dates: US Department of State, Office of the Historian, Guide to Country Recognition and Relations: Texas and Milestones: The Annexation of Texas, the Mexican-American War, and the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, 1845–1848 (a retired series the Office no longer updates; both retrieved November 11, 2026). Areas: 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). Compromise of 1850: National Archives, Milestone Documents, transcription of the five statutes.
Drawings
Shapes from us-atlas (US Census Bureau cartographic boundaries) and world-atlas (Natural Earth 1:50m) for the drawings, scaled to land area. Mercator factors are computed from the same map data with a Mercator projection.

Frequently asked questions

Yes. By land area Mexico is 2.87× Texas: 750,561 sq mi against 261,232 sq mi. Two whole copies of Texas fit inside Mexico, with 87% of a third left over. By total area the ratio is 2.82, and the CIA World Factbook describes Mexico as "slightly less than three times the size of Texas."
Mexico has 489,329 sq mi more land than Texas, 3.14 times the land area of California (155,779 sq mi).
Texas has 1,241 miles of the 1,933-mile US–Mexico boundary, 64% of it, on the US Geological Survey figures in Congressional Research Service report RS21729. From the Gulf to El Paso the boundary follows the centerline of the Rio Grande (International Boundary and Water Commission).
Yes. Texas declared its independence from Mexico on March 2, 1836. The United States recognized the Republic of Texas on March 3, 1837, admitted it as the 28th state on December 29, 1845, and declared war on Mexico on May 13, 1846 (US Department of State, Office of the Historian).
The Texas annexation of 1845 covered 390,143 sq mi in the Census Bureau's Historical Statistics of the United States (gross area, land and water), 1.45 times the state's total area of 268,596 sq mi today. In the Compromise of 1850 Texas accepted fixed northern and western boundaries and gave up its claims beyond them in return for $10 million in federal stock (National Archives).
Mexico had 130,739,927 people in the CIA World Factbook's 2024 estimate and Texas 31,709,821 on July 1, 2025 (Census Bureau), so Mexico has 4.12× as many. Per square mile of land that is 174 people in Mexico and 121 in Texas.
Texas, by 1.60×. Its GDP in 2025 was $2.93 trillion (Bureau of Economic Analysis) and Mexico's $1.84 trillion in the IMF World Economic Outlook (October 2026), both in current US dollars. Per person that is about $92,474 in Texas and $14,036 in Mexico.
Mexico has 5,797 mi (9,330 km) of coastline in the CIA World Factbook. For Texas, NOAA gives 367 miles of general coastline (1975) and 3,359 miles of tidal shoreline, a more detailed measure that takes in bays and tidal rivers. The agencies measure at different chart scales, so the Mexico and Texas figures are not a like-for-like pair.
Mexico has four, according to the CIA World Factbook. Texas has two under 49 CFR Part 71: Central Time (UTC-6) for most of the state and Mountain Time (UTC-7) in El Paso and Hudspeth counties.
Mexico has 1.15× the combined land area of the four US states on its border, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California (651,903 sq mi, Census 2010). By total area the USA is 5.01× Mexico.
Not a Mercator map. Computed from our map data with a Mercator projection, Mexico's outline is enlarged 1.21× and Texas's 1.38×, because Texas is farther from the equator. On such a map Mexico looks about 2.52 times the size of Texas instead of 2.87.

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Suggested citation: SimpleMapLab (2026). Mexico vs Texas Size. Retrieved from https://www.simplemaplab.com/size-comparisons/mexico-vs-texas. CC-BY 4.0.