List of U.S. states by population - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

This is a list of U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

s by population (with inhabited non-state jurisdictions included for comparison) as of April 1, 2010, the date of the 2010 United States Census. The nine most populous 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

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, the most populous state, contains more people than the 21 least populous states combined.

Methodology

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

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

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

, 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

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

or other U.S. dependencies). The Electoral College

United States Electoral College

The Electoral College consists of the electors appointed by each state who formally elect the President and Vice President of the United States. Since 1964, there have been 538 electors in each presidential election...

is the body that, every four years, elects the president

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

and vice president of the United States

Vice President of the United States

The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...

. 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

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

. The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution

Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution permits citizens in the District of Columbia to vote for Electors for President and Vice President. The amendment was proposed by Congress on June 17, 1960, and ratified by the states on March 29, 1961...

grants the District of Columbia, which is separate from any state, three votes. More precisely, it gets as many votes in the Electoral College as it would have if it were a state, but no more votes than the state with the fewest votes, which is currently three (e.g. Wyoming). Thus, the total representation in the College is 538 members (equal to 100 senators

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

plus 435 representatives

United States House of Representatives

, plus 3 members for the District of Columbia). The 11 most populous states, representing 56% of the population, have a majority of the Electoral College votes, enough to elect the president.

States and territories

Rank in the Fifty States, 2010	Rank in all states & terri- tories, 2010	State or territory	Census population, April 1, 2010	Rank in the Fifty States, 2000	Census population, April 1, 2000	Census population, April 1, 1990	Seats in U.S. House United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution... , 2003–2013	Presi- dential Electors 2004– 2008	2010 Census Pop. per House seat	2000 Census Pop. per House seat	2000 Census Pop. per Pres. Elector	Percent of total U.S. pop., 2010
1	1	California	37,253,956	1	33,871,648	29,780,021	53	55	702,905	639,088	615,848	11.91%
2	2	Republic of Texas	25,145,561	2	20,851,820	17,986,510	32	34	785,799	651,619	613,289	8.04%
3	3	New York	19,378,102	3	18,976,457	17,980,455	29	31	668,210	654,361	612,144	6.19%
4	4	Florida	18,801,310	4	15,982,378	12,937,926	25	27	752,052	639,295	591,940	6.01%
5	5	Illinois	12,830,632	5	12,419,293	11,630,602	19	21	675,296	653,647	591,395	4.10%
6	6	Pennsylvania	12,702,379	6	12,281,054	11,881,643	19	21	668,546	646,371	584,812	4.06%
7	7	Ohio	11,536,504	7	11,353,140	10,847,115	18	20	640,917	630,730	567,657	3.69%
8	8	Michigan	9,883,640	8	9,938,444	9,295,297	15	17	658,909	662,563	584,614	3.16%
9	9		9,687,653	10	8,186,453	6,478,218	13	15	745,204	629,727	545,764	3.10%
10	10	North Carolina	9,535,483	11	8,049,313	6,628,837	13	15	733,499	619,178	536,621	3.05%
11	11	New Jersey	8,791,894	9	8,414,350	7,730,188	13	15	676,300	647,258	560,957	2.81%
12	12	Virginia	8,001,024	12	7,078,515	6,187,358	11	13	727,366	643,501	544,501	2.56%
13	13	Washington	6,724,540	15	5,894,121	4,886,892	9	11	747,171	654,902	535,829	2.15%
14	14	Massachusetts	6,547,629	13	6,349,097	6,016,425	10	12	654,763	634,910	529,091	2.04%
15	15	Indiana	6,483,802	14	6,080,485	5,544,159	9	11	720,422	675,609	552,771	2.07%
16	16	Arizona	6,392,017	20	5,130,632	3,685,228	8	10	799,002	641,329	513,063	2.04%
17	17	Tennessee	6,346,105	16	5,689,283	4,877,185	9	11	705,123	632,143	517,208	2.03%
18	18	Missouri	5,988,927	17	5,595,211	5,117,073	9	11	665,436	621,690	508,656	1.91%
19	19	Maryland	5,773,552	19	5,296,486	4,781,468	8	10	721,694	662,061	529,649	1.85%
20	20	Wisconsin	5,686,986	18	5,363,675	4,891,768	8	10	710,873	670,459	536,368	1.82%
21	21	Minnesota	5,303,925	21	4,919,479	4,375,898	8	10	662,991	614,935	491,948	1.70%
22	22	Colorado	5,029,196	24	4,301,261	3,294,394	7	9	720,704	614,466	477,918	1.61%
23	23	Alabama	4,779,736	23	4,447,100	4,040,587	7	9	682,819	635,300	494,122	1.53%
24	24	South Carolina	4,625,364	26	4,012,012	3,486,703	6	8	770,894	668,669	501,502	1.48%
25	25	Louisiana	4,533,372	22	4,468,976	4,219,973	7	9	647,625	638,425	496,553	1.45%
26	26	Kentucky	4,339,367	25	4,041,769	3,685,296	6	8	723,228	673,628	505,221	1.39%
27	27	Oregon	3,831,074	28	3,421,399	2,842,321	5	7	766,215	684,280	488,771	1.22%
28	28	Oklahoma	3,751,351	27	3,450,654	3,145,585	5	7	750,270	690,131	492,951	1.20%
71 —	29	Puerto Rico	3,725,789	71 —	3,808,610	3,522,037		0	—	—	—	1.19%
29	30	Connecticut	3,574,097	29	3,405,565	3,287,116	5	7	714,819	681,113	486,509	1.14%
30	31	Iowa	3,046,355	30	2,926,324	2,776,755	5	7	609,271	585,265	418,046	0.97%
31	32	Mississippi	2,967,297	31	2,844,658	2,573,216	4	6	741,824	711,165	474,110	0.95%
32	33	Arkansas	2,915,918	33	2,673,400	2,350,725	4	6	728,980	668,350	445,567	0.93%
33	34	Kansas	2,853,118	32	2,688,418	2,477,574	4	6	713,280	672,105	448,070	0.91%
34	35	Utah	2,763,885	34	2,233,169	1,722,850	3	5	921,295	744,390	446,634	0.88%
35	36	Nevada	2,700,551	35	1,998,257	1,201,833	3	5	900,184	666,086	399,651	0.86%
36	37	New Mexico	2,059,179	36	1,819,046	1,515,069	3	5	686,393	606,349	363,809	0.66%
37	38	West Virginia	1,852,994	37	1,808,344	1,793,477	3	5	617,665	602,781	361,669	0.59%
38	39	Nebraska	1,826,341	38	1,711,263	1,578,385	3	5	608,780	570,421	342,253	0.58%
39	40	Idaho	1,567,582	39	1,293,953	1,006,748	2	4	783,791	646,977	323,488	0.51%
40	41	Hawaii	1,360,301	42	1,211,537	1,108,228	2	4	680,151	605,769	302,884	0.43%
41	42	Maine	1,328,361	40	1,274,923	1,227,928	2	4	664,181	637,462	318,731	0.42%
42	43	New Hampshire	1,316,470	41	1,235,786	1,109,525	2	4	658,235	617,893	308,947	0.42%
43	44	Rhode Island	1,052,567	43	1,048,319	1,003,464	2	4	526,284	524,160	262,080	0.34%
44	45	Montana	989,415	44	902,195	799,065	1	3	999,243	902,195	300,732	0.32%
45	46	Delaware	897,934	45	783,600	666,188	1	3	900,877	783,600	261,200	0.29%
46	47	South Dakota	814,180	46	754,844	696,064	1	3	814,180	754,844	251,615	0.26%
47	48	Alaska	710,231	48	626,932	550,043	1	3	710,231	626,932	208,977	0.23%
48	49	North Dakota	672,591	47	642,200	638,800	1	3	672,591	642,200	214,067	0.21%
49	50	Vermont	625,741	49	608,827	562,758	1	3	625,741	608,827	202,942	0.20%
72 —	51	'	601,723	72 —	572,059	606,900		3	—	—	190,686	0.19%
50	52	Wyoming	563,626	50	493,782	453,588	1	3	563,626	493,782	164,594	0.18%
73—	53	Guam	159,358 http://2010.census.gov/news/releases/operations/cb11-cn179.html	73 —	154,805	133,152		0	—	—	—	0.06%
74—	54	'	106,405 http://2010.census.gov/news/releases/operations/cb11-cn180.html	74 —	108,612	101,809		0	—	—	—	0.04%
75—	55	'	55,519 http://2010.census.gov/news/releases/operations/cb11-cn177.html	76 —	57,291	46,773		0	—	—	—	0.02%
76—	56	'	53,883 http://2010.census.gov/news/releases/operations/cb11-cn178.html	75 —	69,221	43,345		0	—	—	—	0.03%
81 —	81 —	The Fifty States	308,143,815	81 —	280,849,847	248,108,150	435	535	709,760	645,632	524,953	98.48%
82 —	82 —	50 States + D.C.	308,745,538	82 —	281,421,906	248,709,873	435	538	—	—	523,089	98.67%
83 —	83 —	Total U.S. territory	312,913,872	83 —	285,620,445	252,556,989	435	538	—	—	—	100.00%

— not applicable
has fewer than 300 occupants, mainly related to activities of the United States Air Force

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

, none of whom is considered a permanent resident. All other insular area

Insular area

An insular area is a United States territory, that is neither a part of one of the fifty U.S. states nor the District of Columbia, the federal district of the United States...

s under the sovereignty of the United States are uninhabited.

Methodology

Electoral apportionment

States and territories

See also