How Big is California?

How Big Is California Compared to The Other Large US States?

There are a number of large states inside the United States. California is certainly one of them and it is actually the third-largest state in the US. Only the states of Texas and Alaska are bigger than the state of California. In terms of size, California is quite a large state and it measures 163,695 square miles in total.

What If California Was Its Own Country?

In the event that the state of California was its own country, it would be quite a large country even then based on its area. If California were its own country, it would rank as the 59th largest country in the world by area. The state of California is actually larger than the South American country of Paraguay.

Is California Larger Than Any European Countries?

The answer to this is yes. The state of California is actually larger than the entire United Kingdom. California is the size of 1.74 United Kingdoms, to be more specific. Additionally, it is also worth mentioning that the state of California is larger than the entire European country of Spain and nearly as large as the European country of Sweden.

What About California's Population?

There are many ways that you can measure size. Of course, one is the land area, but you can also measure size based on population, as well. California is one of the most populous states in the entire United States and it has a population of 39,538,223 people. This is according to the most recent US Census, which took place in 2020. The population of the state of California increased by 6.1% from 2010 to 2020, but this growth is actually less than the 10% growth in population that happened in the previous decade.

What If You Compare California to The Smallest US States?

Rhode Island is the smallest state in the United States. It only has a total area of 1,214 square miles and this includes 1,045 square miles of land area and 169 square miles of water area. As a result, when you compare California's total area to Rhode Island's total area, you can see that California is more than 100 times as large in terms of area as Rhode Island. In terms of population, Rhode Island has a population of 1,098,163 people according to the US Census. This is roughly 39 times smaller than the population of California, which is a bit more than 39.5 million people.

State Name
California
Area (mi²)
163,694.73
Area (km²)
423,967
Acres
104,766,485.37
Area Ranking
3
% of US Size
4.52%

Similar-Sized Countries

Compared to Largest State

California has approximately 24.6% the land area of Alaska. In other words, Alaska is approximately 4.06 times larger than California.

Compared to Smallest State

Rhode Island has approximately 0.94% the land area of California. In other words, California is approximately 105.95 times larger than Rhode Island.

What is the area of California?

The area of California is 163,695 square miles.

Is California a big or small state?

California is the 3rd largest state in the US.

Which states are similar size to California?

The next smallest state is Montana and the next largest state is Texas.

Frequently Asked Questions