US states by population (California has 67x more people than Wyoming)

California has about 39 million residents. Wyoming has about 585,000. That is a 67-to-1 ratio, yet each state sends two senators to Washington. Nine states hold more than half the country. The bottom nine hold less than 3 percent. This guide ranks all 50 states from largest to smallest, explains where the growth is happening in 2026, and walks through the political weight each state carries in the Electoral College and House.

All 50 states ranked by population

Figures below are 2024 US Census Bureau vintage estimates, the most recent official numbers available heading into 2026. Rankings shift slightly each year at the margins, but the top five and bottom five have been stable since 2020.

Rank	State	Population	Electoral votes
1	California	39,431,000	54
2	Texas	31,290,000	40
3	Florida	23,373,000	30
4	New York	19,867,000	28
5	Pennsylvania	13,079,000	19
6	Illinois	12,710,000	19
7	Ohio	11,884,000	17
8	Georgia	11,181,000	16
9	North Carolina	11,046,000	16
10	Michigan	10,140,000	15
11	New Jersey	9,500,000	14
12	Virginia	8,811,000	13
13	Washington	7,959,000	12
14	Arizona	7,582,000	11
15	Tennessee	7,227,000	11
16	Massachusetts	7,136,000	11
17	Indiana	6,924,000	11
18	Maryland	6,264,000	10
19	Missouri	6,246,000	10
20	Wisconsin	5,961,000	10
21	Colorado	5,957,000	10
22	Minnesota	5,793,000	10
23	South Carolina	5,479,000	9
24	Alabama	5,157,000	9
25	Louisiana	4,597,000	8
26	Kentucky	4,588,000	8
27	Oregon	4,272,000	8
28	Oklahoma	4,096,000	7
29	Connecticut	3,675,000	7
30	Utah	3,504,000	6
31	Iowa	3,242,000	6
32	Nevada	3,267,000	6
33	Arkansas	3,089,000	6
34	Mississippi	2,943,000	6
35	Kansas	2,970,000	6
36	New Mexico	2,131,000	5
37	Nebraska	2,006,000	5
38	Idaho	2,001,000	4
39	West Virginia	1,769,000	4
40	Hawaii	1,446,000	4
41	New Hampshire	1,410,000	4
42	Maine	1,405,000	4
43	Montana	1,138,000	4
44	Rhode Island	1,113,000	4
45	Delaware	1,051,000	3
46	South Dakota	925,000	3
47	North Dakota	797,000	3
48	Alaska	740,000	3
49	Vermont	648,000	3
50	Wyoming	585,000	3

The top nine states hold half the country

The nine states with more than 10 million people together contain roughly 172 million residents, about 52 percent of the US total of 340 million. That concentration has real consequences. It shapes House apportionment, Electoral College math, media markets, and consumer product decisions. When companies say they are launching a product "nationwide," they usually mean California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, and North Carolina first, then the rest.

• California (39M) has been the largest state since 1962, when it passed New York. Los Angeles County alone, at 9.7 million people, outnumbers 41 individual states.
• Texas (31M) has added more residents in absolute numbers than any other state since 2010, gaining roughly 4 million people in that stretch and picking up two extra congressional seats after the 2020 census.
• Florida (23M) passed New York in 2014 and has not slowed. It now grows by roughly 300,000 residents a year, driven by domestic migration from the Northeast and Midwest.
• New York (19.6M) was the largest state from 1810 to 1961. It has lost population in most years since 2020, mostly to Florida, Texas and the Carolinas.
• Pennsylvania (13M), Illinois (12.7M) and Ohio (11.9M) are the three rust-belt anchors, each roughly flat or slightly declining.
• Georgia (11.2M) and North Carolina (11M) are the two southern growth stories, both adding population faster than the national average.

The bottom 10 states hold less than 3 percent of the country

At the other end, the 10 smallest states combined hold about 10.5 million people, less than New York State alone. Every one of them gets two US senators, giving them outsized weight per capita in the upper chamber. Wyoming has one senator for every 292,500 residents; California has one for every 19.7 million.

• Wyoming (585,000), the smallest state, would rank behind 32 US cities if it were a metro area. It has been the least populous state every year since 1990.
• Vermont (648,000) lost population in the 2020 census cycle for the first time in a century but has recovered slightly since.
• Alaska (740,000) is the largest state by land area, at 665,000 square miles, and has fewer than one person per square mile in most boroughs.
• North Dakota (797,000) and South Dakota (925,000) are both under a million despite covering huge stretches of the northern plains.
• Delaware (1.05M), the first state to ratify the Constitution in 1787, only crossed the million mark in 2011.
• Rhode Island (1.11M), the smallest state by area, is also the most densely populated of the bottom 10.
• Montana (1.14M) gained a second House seat in the 2020 reapportionment after losing one in 1990.
• Maine (1.4M) and New Hampshire (1.41M) are essentially tied and often flip ranks year to year.
• Hawaii (1.45M) is the only state whose population has declined for three straight years due to out-migration to the mainland.

Where the growth is happening in 2026

Population growth in the US is not spread evenly. The South and Mountain West are booming. The Northeast and Great Lakes are flat or shrinking. Between the 2020 and 2024 vintages, six states added more than 1 percent per year on average.

• Idaho grew 1.8 percent per year, the fastest rate in the country. Boise metro tech and California outflow are the two drivers.
• Florida grew 1.6 percent per year, adding roughly 1.5 million residents from 2020 to 2024.
• Texas grew 1.3 percent per year, adding 1.7 million residents in the same window. Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin all cracked the 15 fastest-growing US metros.
• South Carolina, Utah, and North Carolina each grew above 1 percent per year, driven by low taxes, milder climates, and domestic migration.
• West Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana and Illinois lost population, with West Virginia declining for the ninth straight year.

The 2030 census, still four years out, is projected to shift House seats and Electoral College votes further south and west. Texas is on track to gain three or four seats. Florida could gain three. California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Ohio are all expected to lose one seat each. That would mean the top of the ranking looks even more Sun Belt in 2032.

Why the size gap matters

The 67-to-1 gap between California and Wyoming is the largest population disparity between any two US states in history. In 1790 the largest state, Virginia, had about 13 times more residents than the smallest, Delaware. The gap has widened almost every decade since. Three constitutional design choices amplify or offset that gap.

• The Senate gives every state exactly two senators regardless of size. Wyoming voters have 67 times more Senate influence per capita than California voters.
• The House of Representatives is apportioned by population. California has 52 seats, Wyoming has 1. The average House district contains about 761,000 people.
• The Electoral College combines the two: House seats plus two senators. That gives small states a slight boost. Wyoming has 3 electoral votes for 585,000 people, or one per 195,000. California has 54 electoral votes for 39.4 million, or one per 730,000.

The result is that small states hold roughly 3.8 times more per-capita weight in the Electoral College than large states, and 67 times more in the Senate. That structural imbalance is why every close presidential election recycles the same handful of medium-sized swing states, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada, and North Carolina, rather than the coastal giants.

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