How Big is Rhode Island?

The Size of Rhode Island

It makes sense to start off by discussing the fact that the state of Rhode Island is the smallest state in the United States if you go by area. In total, the state of Rhode Island has an area of 1,214 square miles or 3,144 square kilometers. The vast majority of this area is its land area and this land area measures 1,045 square miles in total. The rest of the state's area is in its water and the water area of Rhode Island is 169 square miles or 438 square kilometers. This means that Rhode Island's water area makes up 13.9% of its total area.

Comparing Rhode Island to the Entire US

As you are probably aware, the state of Rhode Island is in fact the smallest state in the entire United States. If you only look at its land area, Rhode Island is even smaller still. When comparing Rhode Island to the entire US, the land area of the entire US is 3,531,844.39 square miles. In other words, the land area of Rhode Island accounts for only three percent of the total land area of the United States. This makes sense given how small Rhode Island is.

Comparing Rhode Island to California

California is one of the largest states in the United States. As a result, it is far bigger than the state of Rhode Island, as you would expect. Rhode Island is approximately 0.67% as big as California when you compare the total area of the two states.

California only has a far greater population than Rhode Island. The population of California, according to the 2020 US Census, is 39,538,223 people and the population of Rhode Island is 1,097,379 people, according to the 2020 US Census. This means that California has nearly 38 million more people living in it than Rhode Island.

Comparing Rhode Island to Alaska

When you compare the state of Rhode Island to the state of Rhode Island, the difference in size is even greater. The total area of the state of Alaska is 663,268 square miles and the total area of the state of Rhode Island is 1,214 square miles. This means that Rhode Island is only 0.18% as large as Alaska. The population is also a part of answering the question of how big is Rhode Island. However, Rhode Island actually has a greater population with a population of 1,098,163 people compared to Alaska's population of 736,081 people.

Comparing Rhode Island to Europe

The state of Rhode Island is also smaller than the vast majority of European countries, too. The United Kingdom, for example, is approximately 90 times larger than Rhode Island. The country of France is roughly 204 times larger than the state of Rhode Island, just to give one more example.

State Name
Rhode Island
Area (mi²)
1,544.89
Area (km²)
4,001
Acres
988,687.11
Area Ranking
50
% of US Size
0.04%

Similar-Sized Countries

Compared to Largest State

Rhode Island has approximately 0.23% the land area of Alaska. In other words, Alaska is approximately 430.7 times larger than Rhode Island.

Compared to Smallest State

Rhode Island is the smallest state.

How Big is Rhode Island?

What is the area of Rhode Island?

The area of Rhode Island is 1,545 square miles.

Is Rhode Island a big or small state?

Rhode Island is the smallest state in the US.

Frequently Asked Questions