The U.S. ranks as the third most populous country globally, boasting a population of around 336 million people.
Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti and Sam Parker created this map to compares it states and Washington D.C. to countries with similar population sizes to provide a perspective on the U.
S. population. The data is sourced from Census.gov and Worldometer, with population projections for U.S. states as of December 8, 2023, and other countries as of July 16, 2023.
U.S Population Driven by Three States
Almost a third of the U.S. population resides in three states: California, Texas, and Florida.
California, the most populated, has a population equivalent to Canada. If the Golden State were a country, it would rank as the 38th most populous.
| Rank | State | 2023 Population | Country | 2023 Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 38,915,693 | Canada | 38,781,291 |
| 2 | Texas | 30,500,280 | Madagascar | 30,325,732 |
| 3 | Florida | 22,661,577 | Taiwan | 23,923,276 |
| 4 | New York | 19,496,810 | Romania | 19,892,812 |
| 5 | Pennsylvania | 12,931,957 | Bolivia | 12,388,571 |
| 6 | Illinois | 12,477,595 | Tunisia | 12,458,223 |
| 7 | Ohio | 11,747,774 | Haiti | 11,724,763 |
| 8 | Georgia | 11,037,723 | Belgium | 11,686,140 |
| 9 | North Carolina | 10,832,061 | Sweden | 10,612,086 |
| 10 | Michigan | 10,030,722 | Greece | 10,341,277 |
| 11 | New Jersey | 9,255,437 | Israel | 9,174,520 |
| 12 | Virginia | 8,709,873 | Switzerland | 8,796,669 |
| 13 | Washington | 7,830,827 | Hong Kong SAR | 7,491,609 |
| 14 | Arizona | 7,453,517 | Serbia | 7,149,077 |
| 15 | Tennessee | 7,134,327 | Nicaragua | 7,046,310 |
| 16 | Massachusetts | 6,974,258 | Libya | 6,888,388 |
| 17 | Indiana | 6,852,542 | Paraguay | 6,861,524 |
| 18 | Missouri | 6,186,091 | Republic of the Congo | 6,106,869 |
| 19 | Maryland | 6,154,710 | Singapore | 6,014,723 |
| 20 | Wisconsin | 5,904,977 | Denmark | 5,910,913 |
| 21 | Colorado | 5,868,555 | Slovakia | 5,795,199 |
| 22 | Minnesota | 5,722,897 | Finland | 5,545,475 |
| 23 | South Carolina | 5,372,002 | New Zealand | 5,228,100 |
| 24 | Alabama | 5,098,746 | Ireland | 5,056,935 |
| 25 | Louisiana | 4,553,384 | Oman | 4,644,384 |
| 26 | Kentucky | 4,518,031 | Panama | 4,468,087 |
| 27 | Oregon | 4,223,973 | Kuwait | 4,310,108 |
| 28 | Oklahoma | 4,048,375 | Croatia | 4,008,617 |
| 29 | Connecticut | 3,629,055 | Mongolia | 3,447,157 |
| 30 | Utah | 3,422,487 | Moldova | 3,435,931 |
| 31 | Nevada | 3,209,142 | Uruguay | 3,423,108 |
| 32 | Iowa | 3,203,345 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 3,210,847 |
| 33 | Arkansas | 3,063,152 | Albania | 2,832,439 |
| 34 | Kansas | 2,936,378 | Jamaica | 2,825,544 |
| 35 | Mississippi | 2,930,528 | The Gambia | 2,773,168 |
| 36 | New Mexico | 2,110,011 | Slovenia | 2,119,675 |
| 37 | Idaho | 1,973,752 | North Macedonia | 2,085,679 |
| 38 | Nebraska | 1,972,292 | Latvia | 1,830,211 |
| 39 | West Virginia | 1,764,786 | Equatorial Guinea | 1,714,671 |
| 40 | Hawaii | 1,433,238 | Bahrain | 1,485,509 |
| 41 | New Hampshire | 1,402,957 | Estonia | 1,322,765 |
| 42 | Maine | 1,393,442 | Mauritius | 1,300,557 |
| 43 | Montana | 1,139,507 | Cyprus | 1,260,138 |
| 44 | Rhode Island | 1,090,483 | Eswatini | 1,210,822 |
| 45 | Delaware | 1,031,985 | Djibouti | 1,136,455 |
| 46 | South Dakota | 923,484 | Fiji | 936,375 |
| 47 | North Dakota | 780,588 | Bhutan | 787,424 |
| 48 | Alaska | 732,984 | Solomon Islands | 740,424 |
| 49 | D.C. | 678,972 | Macao SAR | 704,149 |
| 50 | Vermont | 647,156 | Luxembourg | 654,768 |
| 51 | Wyoming | 583,279 | Micronesia | 544,321 |
Texas, with over 30 million people, matches the population of Madagascar. Florida, with around 23 million, is comparable to Taiwan’s population.
Conversely, Wyoming stands as the least populated state in the country with fewer than 600,000 people, roughly equivalent to the population of Micronesia in the western Pacific Ocean. The state is also the second-last in the U.S. economy by GDP output, just ahead of Vermont (the runner-up state by lowest population).
If New Jersey were a country, its population would match Israel’s. Virginia would have the same number of people as Switzerland, and Michigan would have the same number as Greece.
What might be more surprising to some are comparisons like Pennsylvania, which has almost the same amount of people as Bolivia, the eighth most populated country in South America.
U.S. Population Trends
According to the United States Census Bureau, the U.S. population continues to grow despite declining births.
The nation gained more than 1.6 million people in 2023, growing by 0.5%. More states experienced population growth in 2023 than in any year since the start of the pandemic.
U.S. migration returning to pre-pandemic levels and a drop in deaths have been the key drivers of this population growth.