# How big is Alaska?

Alaska covers 665,384 square miles (1.72 million km²), 570,641 of them land. It is by far the biggest state: about two and a half times the size of Texas, and bigger than Texas, California and Montana put together.

- 665,384 square miles
- 1.72 million km²
- 426 million acres
- 322 million football fields

Interactive map, to drop it on any town at its true size: https://how-big-is.com/alaska/

## Against the lower 48

Laid over the lower 48 states, Alaska covers about a fifth of them. On most web maps it looks far bigger than that, because the Mercator projection stretches everything near the poles.

## Across the date line

Its Aleutian Islands run so far west that they cross the 180th meridian, which makes Alaska both the westernmost and the easternmost state. It also has more coastline than all the other states together.

## How it compares

- 431× the size of [Rhode Island](https://how-big-is.com/rhode-island/), the smallest state
- 2.5× the size of [Texas](https://how-big-is.com/texas/)
- 2,463× the size of [the Little Giant Fire](https://how-big-is.com/little-giant-fire/)
- 426 million [acres](https://how-big-is.com/an-acre/)
- 322 million [American football fields](https://how-big-is.com/a-football-field/)
- 241 million [soccer pitches](https://how-big-is.com/a-soccer-field/)
- 505,155× the size of [Central Park](https://how-big-is.com/central-park/)
- 3.51 million× the size of [Vatican City](https://how-big-is.com/vatican-city/)
- 192× the size of [Yellowstone National Park](https://how-big-is.com/yellowstone-national-park/)
- 3,484× the size of [Lake Tahoe](https://how-big-is.com/lake-tahoe/)
- 80% of the area of [Greenland](https://how-big-is.com/greenland/)
- 2,420× the size of [Anglesey](https://how-big-is.com/anglesey/)
- 3,013× the size of [the Isle of Man](https://how-big-is.com/isle-of-man/)

## Questions people ask

**How many square miles is Alaska?**
665,384 square miles (1.72 million km²), 570,641 of them land.

**How big is Alaska compared to Texas?**
About two and a half times the size of Texas.

**Is Alaska bigger than Texas, California and Montana combined?**
Yes. Those three add up to about 579,000 square miles. Alaska is about 665,000.

**How big is Alaska compared to the lower 48?**
About a fifth of the size of the lower 48 states put together.

## Where the numbers come from

Official figure: 665,384 square miles in all, 570,641 of them land, per the US Census Bureau. Outline: US Census Bureau (https://www.census.gov/geographies/mapping-files/time-series/geo/cartographic-boundary.html), licence: Public domain.

Credit: Map: how-big-is.com. Outline: US Census Bureau.