# How big is a State? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 14, 2004, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-a-state/269148 "2004-10-14T03:21:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-a-state/269148/21 "2004-10-14T23:14:16Z")
I like the [insert city name] Polar Bears Their mascot could do his own little dance called The Migration ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-a-state/269148/22 "2004-10-14T23:25:44Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > The total area of the United States is 9,518,323 square kms. Therefore the average size of a state is 190,366 square kms. The total area of the state of Texas is 692,248 square kms. Therefore a Texas-sized object is one which is approximately 3.6364 times the average size of that class of objects. To continue that reasoning in a different direction: The radius of the earth is 6.37 x 10[sup]6[/sup] m. That makes the surface area 5.09 x 10[sup]14[/sup] m[sup]2[/sup] and the volume 1.08 x 10[sup]21[/sup] m[sup]3[/sup]. Using your numbers for the surface area of Texas, I get a volume for Texas of 1.47 x 10[sup]18[/sup] m[sup]3[/sup]. ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-a-state/269148/23 "2004-10-14T23:31:22Z")
> [@ITR champion](#): > > When I was a little kid I spent hours pondering this exact question, and the only conclusion that I came to is that it doesn’t matter. Who has mineral rights five miles below Texas? Nobody, because you can’t get minerals from that deep. Why not, “Everybody, because you can’t get minerals that deep.”? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-a-state/269148/24 "2004-10-14T23:42:48Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] Using “state” in its U.S. meaning, a sovereign entity which has surrendered a portion of its sovereignty to a larger national body, however, the largest state is neither Texas nor Alaska, but Western Australia. [QUOTE] I just checked to see the relative sizes: Area of Texas - 678,354 square kilometres Area of Western Australia - 2,529,875 square kilometres ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-a-state/269148/25 "2004-10-15T00:01:59Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > I just checked to see the relative sizes: > > Area of Texas - 678,354 square kilometres > Area of Western Australia - 2,529,875 square kilometres Yeah, but Texas is measured in _miles_. Square miles are bigger than square kilimeters. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-a-state/269148/26 "2004-10-15T00:24:24Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Yeah, but Texas is measured in _miles_. Square miles are bigger than square kilimeters. For the non-metrically inclined: Area of Texas - 261,914 square miles Area of Western Australia - 976,790 square miles Not surprisingly, the relative sizes are still the same. Western Australia is about 3.7 times the size of Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-a-state/269148/27 "2004-10-15T03:41:32Z")
So using the figures I derived above, we have established that Western Australia is a Texas-sized version of Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-a-state/269148/28 "2004-10-15T07:46:04Z")
Ummm… whoosh? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-a-state/269148/29 "2004-10-15T13:39:36Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > The total area of the United States is 9,518,323 square kms. Therefore the **average size of a state is 190,366 square kms.** The total area of the state of Texas is 692,248 square kms. Therefore a Texas-sized object is one which is approximately 3.6364 times the average size of that class of objects. However, the _mean_ size of the fifty states would be somewhere between Illinois, 25th in size at 149,998 sq. km and Iowa, 26th in size at 145,743 sq. km. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-a-state/269148/30 "2004-10-15T19:24:46Z")
Mean states, hmmm… No wonder we have such a problem with them dang Yankees! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-a-state/269148/31 "2004-10-15T19:33:24Z")
Didn’t all those hurricanes recently wipe out Texas? Oh, wait. It was was Florida. Sorry. I was looking behind the wrong bush. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-a-state/269148/32 "2004-10-15T19:40:51Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > However, the _mean_ size of the fifty states would be somewhere between Illinois, 25th in size at 149,998 sq. km and Iowa, 26th in size at 145,743 sq. km. That would be the median, actually. The number **Little Nemo** came up with _was_ the mean. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-a-state/269148/33 "2004-10-16T07:22:23Z")
I couldn’t use the median. I tried finding a Texan median but they were all buried under dead armadillos. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-a-state/269148.md?page=1)