Open main menu

List of U.S. states and territories by population

Wikimedia list article
Map of each state's population as of 2013

As of April 1, 2010, the date of the 2010 United States Census, the nine most populous U.S. states contain slightly more than half of the total population. The 25 least populous states contain less than one-sixth of the total population. California, the most populous state, contains more people than the 21 least populous states combined.

Contents

Methodology

 
Map of population change in U.S. states from April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2013

The United States Census counts most persons residing in the United States including citizens, non-citizen permanent residents, and non-citizen long-term visitors.[1] Civilian and military federal employees serving abroad and their dependents are counted in their home state.[2]

Electoral apportionment

Based on data from the decennial census, each state is allocated a proportion of the 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives, although each state is guaranteed a minimum of one seat, regardless of population. This apportionment is based on the proportion of each state's population to that of the Fifty States together (without regard to the populations of the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or other U.S. dependencies). The Electoral College is the body that, every four years, elects the President and Vice President of the United States. Each state's representation in the Electoral College is equal to that state's total number of members in both houses of the United States Congress. The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution effectively grants the District of Columbia, which is separate from any state, three votes. More precisely, the district gets as many votes in the Electoral College as it would have if it were a state, with the caveat that the district can have no more votes than the least populous state (which is currently Wyoming). Currently, this caveat is a moot point since the District would only be entitled to one Representative if it were a state, and is more populous than only two of the seven states with a single member in the House since 2013. Since the Constitution guarantees every state at least one Representative and effectively guarantees every state two Senators, it effectively guarantees every state (and, since the ratification of the 23rd Amendment, the District of Columbia) at least three electoral votes. Thus, the total representation in the College is 538 members (equal to 100 senators plus 435 representatives, plus 3 members for the District of Columbia).[3]

The eleven most populous states, representing 56% of the population, currently have a majority of the Electoral College votes, enough to elect the president. These eleven states have not voted for the same candidate in any presidential election since 1984.

States and territories

Rank in the fifty states, 2016 Rank in all states & territories, 2010 State or territory Population estimate, July 1, 2016 Census population, April 1, 2010 Total seats in House of Representatives, 2013–2023 Estimated pop. per House seat, 2016 Census pop. per House seat, 2010 Percent of total U.S. pop., 2016[note 1]
1 1   California 39,250,017 37,254,503 53 738,581 702,905 12.15%
2 2   Texas 27,862,596 25,146,105 36 763,031 698,487 8.62%
3 4   Florida 20,612,439 18,804,623 27 750,788 696,345 6.38%
4 3   New York 19,745,289 19,378,087 27 733,177 717,707 6.11%
5 6   Pennsylvania 12,802,503 12,702,887 18 711,250 705,688 3.96%
6 5   Illinois 12,801,539 12,831,549 18 714,444 712,813 3.96%
7 7   Ohio 11,614,373 11,536,725 16 725,839 721,032 3.59%
8 9   Georgia 10,310,371 9,688,681 14 729,633 691,975 3.19%
9 10   North Carolina 10,146,788 9,535,692 13 772,523 733,498 3.14%
10 8   Michigan 9,928,301 9,884,129 14 708,755 705,974 3.07%
11 11   New Jersey 8,944,469 8,791,936 12 746,501 732,658 2.77%
12 12   Virginia 8,411,808 8,001,045 11 762,090 727,366 2.60%
13 13   Washington 7,288,000 6,724,543 10 717,035 672,454 2.26%
14 16   Arizona 6,931,071 6,392,307 9 758,674 710,224 2.15%
15 14   Massachusetts 6,811,779 6,547,817 9 754,936 727,514 2.11%
16 17   Tennessee 6,651,194 6,346,275 9 733,367 705,123 2.06%
17 15   Indiana 6,633,053 6,484,229 9 735,520 720,422 2.05%
18 18   Missouri 6,093,000 5,988,927 8 760,459 748,615 1.89%
19 19   Maryland 6,016,447 5,773,785 8 750,800 721,694 1.86%
20 20   Wisconsin 5,778,708 5,687,289 8 721,417 710,873 1.79%
21 22   Colorado 5,540,545 5,029,324 7 779,511 720,704 1.72%
22 21   Minnesota 5,519,952 5,303,925 8 686,199 662,991 1.71%
23 24   South Carolina 4,961,119 4,625,401 7 699,449 660,766 1.54%
24 23   Alabama 4,863,300 4,780,127 7 694,140 682,819 1.51%
25 25   Louisiana 4,681,666 4,533,479 6 778,454 755,562 1.45%
26 26   Kentucky 4,436,974 4,339,349 6 737,515 723,228 1.37%
27 27   Oregon 4,093,465 3,831,073 5 805,795 766,215 1.27%
28 28   Oklahoma 3,923,561 3,751,616 5 782,268 750,270 1.21%
29 30   Connecticut 3,576,452 3,574,118 5 718,177 714,819 1.11%
— 29   Puerto Rico 3,411,307 3,726,157 1 (non-voting) — — 1.06%
30 31   Iowa 3,134,693 3,046,869 4 780,975 761,589 0.97%
31 35   Utah 3,051,217 2,763,888 4 748,083 690,221 0.94%
32 32   Mississippi 2,988,726 2,968,103 4 748,083 741,824 0.93%
33 33   Arkansas 2,988,248 2,915,958 4 744,551 728,980 0.93%
34 36   Nevada 2,940,058 2,700,691 4 722,711 675,110 0.91%
35 34   Kansas 2,907,289 2,853,132 4 727,910 713,280 0.90%
36 37   New Mexico 2,081,015 2,059,192 3 695,036 686,393 0.64%
37 39   Nebraska 1,907,116 1,826,341 3 632,063 608,780 0.59%
38 38   West Virginia 1,831,102 1,853,011 3 614,709 617,665 0.57%
39 40   Idaho 1,683,140 1,567,652 2 827,465 783,791 0.52%
40 41   Hawaii 1,428,557 1,360,301 2 715,802 680,151 0.44%
41 43   New Hampshire 1,334,795 1,316,466 2 665,304 658,235 0.41%
42 42   Maine 1,331,479 1,328,361 2 664,664 664,181 0.41%
43 44   Rhode Island 1,056,426 1,052,931 2 528,149 526,284 0.33%
44 45   Montana 1,042,520 989,417 1 1,032,949 989,415 0.32%
45 46   Delaware 952,065 897,936 1 952,065 897,934 0.30%
46 47   South Dakota 865,454 814,191 1 858,469 814,180 0.27%
47 49    North Dakota 757,952 672,591 1 756,927 672,591 0.24%
48 48   Alaska 741,894 710,249 1 741,894 710,231 0.23%
— 51   District of Columbia 681,170 601,767 1 (non-voting) — — 0.21%
49 50   Vermont 624,594 625,745 1 626,042 625,741 0.19%
50 52   Wyoming 585,501 563,767 1 586,107 563,626 0.18%
— 53   Guam 161,785 159,358[4] 1 (non-voting) — — 0.06%
— 54   U.S. Virgin Islands 103,574 106,405[5] 1 (non-voting) — — 0.04%
— 55   American Samoa 54,343 55,519[6] 1 (non-voting) — — 0.02%
— 56   Northern Mariana Islands 52,344 53,883[7] 1 (non-voting) — — 0.02%
— — The fifty states 322,446,343 308,156,338 435 737,348 708,376 98.48%
— — Fifty states + D.C. 323,127,513 308,758,105 435 (+ 1 non-voting) — — 98.67%
— — Total U.S. territory — 312,913,872 435 (+ 6 non-voting) — — 100.00%
  1. ^ Because of rounding of the individual percentages, the entries in this column may not sum to 100%.

Summary of population by region

Legend
Division totals – 9 divisions for 50 states and D.C.
Region totals – 4 regions ( 2 or 3 divisions each)
Individual territories
Total U.S. Territories
50 States + District of Columbia
Divisions & regions as defined by U.S. Census Bureau
Last col. shows larger region which contains entity in col. 1
Population of states, territories, divisions and regions
State/Territory/
Division/Region		 Rank 2013
population		 Rank 2010
population		 Rank 2000
population		 Rank 2000-
2010
change		 Geographic
sort
  Massachusetts 14 6,692,824 14 6,547,629 13 6,349,097 43 3.1% NEng
  Connecticut 29 3,596,080 29 3,574,097 29 3,405,565 35 4.9% NEng
  Maine 41 1,328,302 41 1,328,361 40 1,274,923 39 4.2% NEng
  New Hampshire 42 1,323,459 42 1,316,470 41 1,235,786 32 6.5% NEng
  Rhode Island 43 1,051,511 43 1,052,567 43 1,048,319 49 0.4% NEng
  Vermont 49 626,630 49 625,741 49 608,827 44 2.8% NEng
       New England 9 14,618,806 9 14,444,865 9 13,922,517 7 3.8% NEast
  New York 3 19,651,127 3 19,378,102 3 18,976,457 46 2.1% MAtl
  Pennsylvania 6 12,773,801 6 12,702,379 6 12,281,054 41 3.4% MAtl
  New Jersey 11 8,899,339 11 8,791,894 9 8,414,350 37 4.5% MAtl
       Mid-Atlantic 4 41,324,267 4 40,872,375 4 39,671,861 8 3.0% NEast
       Northeast 4 55,943,073 4 55,317,240 4 53,594,378 4 3.2% USA
  Florida 4 19,552,860 4 18,801,310 4 15,982,378 8 17.6% SAtl
  Georgia 8 9,992,167 9 9,687,653 10 8,186,453 7 18.3% SAtl
  North Carolina 10 9,848,060 10 9,535,483 11 8,049,313 6 18.5% SAtl
  Virginia 12 8,260,405 12 8,001,024 12 7,078,515 16 13.0% SAtl
  Maryland 19 5,928,814 19 5,773,552 19 5,296,486 23 9.0% SAtl
  South Carolina 24 4,774,839 24 4,625,364 26 4,012,012 10 15.3% SAtl
  West Virginia 38 1,854,304 37 1,852,994 37 1,808,344 45 2.5% SAtl
  Delaware 45 925,749 45 897,934 45 783,600 11 14.6% SAtl
  District of Columbia -- 646,449 -- 601,723 -- 572,059 -- 5.2% SAtl
       South Atlantic 1 61,783,647 1 59,777,037 1 51,769,160 3 15.5% South
  Tennessee 17 6,495,978 17 6,346,105 16 5,689,283 19 11.5% ESC
  Alabama 23 4,833,722 23 4,779,736 23 4,447,100 27 7.5% ESC
  Kentucky 26 4,395,295 26 4,339,367 25 4,041,769 28 7.4% ESC
  Mississippi 31 2,991,207 31 2,967,297 31 2,844,658 38 4.3% ESC
       East South Central 8 18,716,202 8 18,432,505 8 17,022,810 5 8.3% South
  Texas 2 26,448,193 2 25,145,561 2 20,851,820 5 20.6% WSC
  Louisiana 25 4,625,470 25 4,533,372 22 4,468,976 48 1.4% WSC
  Oklahoma 28 3,850,568 28 3,751,351 27 3,450,654 24 8.7% WSC
  Arkansas 32 2,959,373 32 2,915,918 33 2,673,400 22 9.1% WSC
       West South Central 5 37,883,604 5 36,346,202 5 31,444,850 2 15.6% South
       South 1 118,383,453 1 114,555,744 1 100,236,820 1 14.3% USA
  Illinois 5 12,882,135 5 12,830,632 5 12,419,293 42 3.3% ENC
  Ohio 7 11,570,808 7 11,536,504 7 11,353,140 47 1.6% ENC
  Michigan 9 9,895,622 8 9,883,640 8 9,938,444 50 -0.6% ENC
  Indiana 16 6,570,902 15 6,483,802 14 6,080,485 31 6.6% ENC
  Wisconsin 20 5,742,713 20 5,686,986 18 5,363,675 34 6.0% ENC
       East North Central 3 46,662,180 3 46,421,564 2 45,155,037 9 2.8% MWest
  Missouri 18 6,044,171 18 5,988,927 17 5,595,211 29 7.0% WNC
  Minnesota 21 5,420,380 21 5,303,925 21 4,919,479 26 7.8% WNC
  Iowa 30 3,090,416 30 3,046,355 30 2,926,324 40 4.1% WNC
  Kansas 34 2,893,957 33 2,853,118 32 2,688,418 33 6.1% WNC
  Nebraska 37 1,868,516 38 1,826,341 38 1,711,263 30 6.7% WNC
  South Dakota 46 844,877 46 814,180 46 754,844 25 7.9% WNC
   North Dakota 48 723,393 48 672,591 47 642,200 36 4.7% WNC
       West North Central 7 20,885,710 7 20,505,437 6 19,237,739 6 6.6% MWest
       Midwest 3 67,547,890 3 66,927,001 2 64,392,776 3 3.9% USA
  Arizona 15 6,626,624 16 6,392,017 20 5,130,632 2 24.6% Mtn
  Colorado 22 5,268,367 22 5,029,196 24 4,301,261 9 16.9% Mtn
  Utah 33 2,900,872 34 2,763,885 34 2,233,169 3 23.8% Mtn
  Nevada 35 2,790,136 35 2,700,551 35 1,998,257 1 35.1% Mtn
  New Mexico 36 2,085,287 36 2,059,179 36 1,819,046 15 13.2% Mtn
  Idaho 39 1,612,136 39 1,567,582 39 1,293,953 4 21.1% Mtn
  Montana 44 1,015,165 44 989,415 44 902,195 21 9.7% Mtn
  Wyoming 50 582,658 50 563,626 50 493,782 12 14.1% Mtn
       Mountain 6 22,881,245 6 22,065,451 7 18,172,295 1 21.4% West
  California 1 38,332,521 1 37,253,956 1 33,871,648 20 10.0% Pac
  Washington 13 6,971,406 13 6,724,540 15 5,894,121 13 14.1% Pac
  Oregon 27 3,930,065 27 3,831,074 28 3,421,399 18 12.0% Pac
  Hawaii 40 1,404,054 40 1,360,301 42 1,211,537 17 12.3% Pac
  Alaska 47 735,132 47 710,231 48 626,932 14 13.3% Pac
       Pacific 2 51,373,178 2 49,880,102 3 45,025,637 4 10.8% West
       West 2 74,254,423 2 71,945,553 3 63,197,932 2 13.8% USA
  50 states and D.C. -- 316,128,839 -- 308,745,538 -- 281,421,906 -- 9.7% NAmer
  Puerto Rico 1 3,615,086 1 3,725,789 1 3,808,610 3 -2.2% Terr.
  Guam 2 -- 2 159,358 2 154,805 1 2.9% Terr.
  U.S. Virgin Islands 3 -- 3 106,405 3 108,612 2 -2.0% Terr.
  American Samoa 4 -- 4 55,519 5 57,291 4 -3.1% Terr.
  Northern Mariana Islands 5 -- 5 53,883 4 69,221 5 -22.2% Terr.
       Total Territories -- -- -- 4,100,954 -- 4,198,539 -- -2.3% USA

See also

References

General
Specific
  1. ^ "FAQ: Does the Census Bureau collect data on the number of unauthorized migrants?". U. S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2009-05-13. 
  2. ^ "FAQ: Will 2010 Census apportionment population counts also include any Americans overseas?". U. S Census Bureau. Retrieved 2009-05-13. 
  3. ^ Office of the Federal Register. "A Procedural Guide to the Electoral College". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved 2010-08-13. 
  4. ^ [1][dead link]
  5. ^ [2][dead link]
  6. ^ [3][dead link]
  7. ^ [4][dead link]

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_population&oldid=768343721"