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Water share of total area: U.S. states ranked (2025)

Measure: Water share of total area (%, derived). All 50 states and District of Columbia with data in Land area, water area and population density by state, ranked from highest to lowest. Reference period: 2025.

Licence: Public domain (U.S. federal government work).
Data last updated: 2026-11-09

Download full table CSV Source: U.S. Census Bureau, TIGERweb (opens in a new tab)Source: U.S. Census Bureau (opens in a new tab)

National value: 7.1 (United States).

Small states, hard to see on the map:

DC 10.6 %
RI 33.1 %
DE 21.7 %
CT 12.6 %
NJ 15.6 %
MD 21.7 %
MA 26.1 %
VT 4.1 %
NH 4.2 %

Lowest: 0.2 to 1.1 %
Group 2: 1.1 to 2.7 %
Group 3: 2.7 to 6.1 %
Group 4: 6.1 to 14.2 %
Highest: 14.2 to 41.5 %

The map is a visual summary; every value is in the table below, which is the keyboard and screen-reader path. Groups are quintiles of the values shown (a derived grouping). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain), simplified. Alaska and Hawaii are shown as insets, not to scale.

Rank is derived by Quadranac: 1 = highest value; ties share a rank. The ranked value is itself derived; see the source table for the method. Values are as published in the source table.


1	Hawaii	41.5
1	Michigan	41.5
3	Rhode Island	33.1
4	Massachusetts	26.1
5	Florida	24.9
6	Delaware	21.7
6	Maryland	21.7
8	Louisiana	17.5
9	Wisconsin	17.3
10	New Jersey	15.6
11	Alaska	14.2
12	New York	13.6
13	Maine	12.8
14	Connecticut	12.6
15	District of Columbia	10.6
16	North Carolina	9.7
17	Ohio	8.8
18	Minnesota	8.4
19	Virginia	7.7
20	Washington	6.8
21	South Carolina	6.1
22	California	4.8
23	New Hampshire	4.2
24	Illinois	4.1
24	Vermont	4.1
26	Alabama	3.4
27	Mississippi	3.1
28	Georgia	2.9
29	Pennsylvania	2.8
30	Texas	2.7
30	Utah	2.7
32	North Dakota	2.4
32	Oregon	2.4
34	Arkansas	2.3
34	Kentucky	2.3
36	Tennessee	2.1
37	Oklahoma	1.9
38	South Dakota	1.7
39	Indiana	1.6
40	Missouri	1.4
41	Idaho	1.1
42	Montana	1
43	West Virginia	0.8
44	Iowa	0.7
44	Nebraska	0.7
44	Wyoming	0.7
47	Kansas	0.6
47	Nevada	0.6
49	Colorado	0.4
50	Arizona	0.3
51	New Mexico	0.2

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, TIGERweb, TIGERweb State_County MapServer layer 0 (States): AREALAND and AREAWATER
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, July 1, 2025 resident population (denominator). Reference period: 2025.

Cite this ranking

U.S. states ranked by water share of total area (%, derived) (2025). Data: U.S. Census Bureau, TIGERweb (with Census population), TIGERweb State_County MapServer layer 0 (States): AREALAND and AREAWATER; rank derived by Quadranac. Data last updated 2026-11-09. https://quadranac.com/rankings/us-states-by-water-share-of-total-area/

Download source table CSV All rankings