List of states and territories of the United States by population


The states and territories included in the United States Census Bureau's statistics include the fifty states, the District of Columbia, and the five permanently inhabited territories of the United States, including Puerto Rico.

Methodology

The United States Census counts total 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 each decennial census, each state is allocated a proportion of the 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives. This apportionment is based on the proportion of each state's population to the combined population of the fifty states. The Electoral College is the body that, every four years, elects the President and Vice President of the United States based on the popular vote in each state and the District of Columbia. Each state's number of votes in the Electoral College is equal to that state's total number of members in the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States Congress. The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution effectively grants DC, which is not part of any state, three Electoral College votes. More precisely, DC gets as many Electoral College votes as it would have if it were a state, with the caveat that DC can have no more votes than the least populous state. Currently, this caveat is a moot point since DC would only be entitled to one member of the House of Representatives 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 member of the U.S. House of Representatives and two U.S. Senators, it effectively guarantees every state at least three Electoral College votes. Thus, the total representation in the Electoral College is 538 members. Territories of the United States such as Puerto Rico are not included in the electoral college, and so people in those territories cannot vote for the President of the United States; because of this, various scholars conclude that the U.S. national-electoral process is not fully democratic due to U.S. government disenfranchisement of U.S. citizens residing in the U.S. territories.

State rankings

Summary of population by region

Legend
Division totals – 9 divisions for 50 states and District of Columbia
Region totals – 4 regions
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