List of U.S. states by population
Encyclopedia

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
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...

, 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.

See also

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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