Alaska: Largest US State by Land Area (By Far)

Alaska is the largest US state by land area — and it's not close.

The Numbers

Staggering Comparisons

• Alaska > Texas + California + Montana combined (562,557 sq mi).
• 2.2× Texas (the "big state" benchmark).
• 4.7× California.
• ~1/5 of entire US landmass.
• If Alaska were a country, it'd rank 18th globally (between Iran and Mongolia).

Geography

• Location: NW corner of North America.
• Borders: Canada (Yukon, BC) east; Arctic Ocean north; Pacific Ocean south/west; Bering Sea west.
• Coastline: 33,904 mi (more than all other states combined).
• Extremes: Northernmost (Point Barrow), westernmost (Attu Island), easternmost (Semisopochnoi — Aleutians cross 180°).

Why It Matters

• Massive resource base (oil, gas, minerals, fish, timber).
• Strategic military position (Arctic, Pacific).
• Unique governance challenges: 736K people (48th pop.) in 17.5% of land — 1.3 people/sq mi.
• Federal land: 61% (BLM, NPS, USFS, DoD).

Alaska isn't just the biggest state — it's a continental-scale territory that happens to be a state.