The Most Populous U.S. States & Territories

Where Americans live, ranked by population.

Population is concentrated in a handful of large states — California, Texas, Florida, and New York lead — that together hold a large share of the country's people. Ranked here by population.

#	Place	Population
1	California The most populous U.S. state, admitted 1850	39,355,309
2	Texas The Lone Star State, second-largest in area and population	31,709,821
3	Florida The Sunshine State, a low subtropical peninsula	23,462,518
4	New York The Empire State, from Manhattan to the Adirondacks	20,002,427
5	Pennsylvania The Keystone State, ridge-and-valley heart of Appalachia	13,059,432
6	Illinois The Prairie State, hinge of the Midwest	12,719,141
7	Ohio The Buckeye State, between the lake and the river	11,900,510
8	Georgia The largest state east of the Mississippi by area	11,302,748
9	North Carolina The Tar Heel State, from the Blue Ridge to the Outer Banks	11,197,968
10	Michigan The Great Lakes State, two peninsulas surrounded by fresh water	10,127,884
11	New Jersey The Garden State, densely settled between two cities	9,548,215
12	Virginia The Old Dominion, from the Chesapeake to the Blue Ridge	8,880,107
13	Washington The Evergreen State, the wet and dry sides of the Cascades	8,001,020
14	Arizona The Grand Canyon State, admitted 1912	7,623,818
15	Tennessee The Volunteer State, a long ribbon across the South	7,315,076

Place

Population

California
The most populous U.S. state, admitted 1850

39,355,309

Texas
The Lone Star State, second-largest in area and population

31,709,821

Florida
The Sunshine State, a low subtropical peninsula

23,462,518

New York
The Empire State, from Manhattan to the Adirondacks

20,002,427

Pennsylvania
The Keystone State, ridge-and-valley heart of Appalachia

13,059,432

Illinois
The Prairie State, hinge of the Midwest

12,719,141

Ohio
The Buckeye State, between the lake and the river

11,900,510

Georgia
The largest state east of the Mississippi by area

11,302,748

North Carolina
The Tar Heel State, from the Blue Ridge to the Outer Banks

11,197,968

Michigan
The Great Lakes State, two peninsulas surrounded by fresh water

10,127,884

New Jersey
The Garden State, densely settled between two cities

9,548,215

Virginia
The Old Dominion, from the Chesapeake to the Blue Ridge

8,880,107

Washington
The Evergreen State, the wet and dry sides of the Cascades

8,001,020

Arizona
The Grand Canyon State, admitted 1912

7,623,818

Tennessee
The Volunteer State, a long ribbon across the South

7,315,076

Figures are drawn from standard government and reference sources and shown in both imperial and metric units. See each entry for full details and citations. Browse all guides or open the explore map.