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Historical Population Density Data (1910-2020)

Population density is a measure of average population per square mile. Density levels have been higher across the Eastern seaboard and the Pacific coastline and lower in much of the West.

Area 2020 2010 2000 1990 1980 1970 1960 1950 1940 1930 1920 1910

X Not applicable.

1 Includes the resident population of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, as ascertained by the Decennial Census.

Note: Population density is a measure of the average population per square mile of land. Density rankings 1 to 52 include the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

United States1
Resident
Population
331,449,281 308,745,538 281,421,906 248,709,873 226,545,805 203,211,926 179,323,175 151,325,798 132,165,129 123,202,660 106,021,568 92,228,531
Population
Density
93.8 87.4 79.7 70.4 64.1 57.5 50.6 42.6 37.2 34.7 29.9 26.0
Density Rank X X X X X X X X X X X X
Alabama
Resident
Population
5,024,279 4,779,736 4,447,100 4,040,587 3,893,888 3,444,165 3,266,740 3,061,743 2,832,961 2,646,248 2,348,174 2,138,093
Population
Density
99.2 94.4 87.8 79.8 76.9 68.0 64.5 60.5 55.9 52.3 46.4 42.2
Density Rank 29 29 28 27 28 28 28 24 23 24 25 25
Alaska
Resident
Population
733,391 710,231 626,932 550,043 401,851 300,382 226,167 128,643 72,524 59,278 55,036 64,356
Population
Density
1.3 1.2 1.1 1.0 0.7 0.5 0.4 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1
Density Rank 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52
Arizona
Resident
Population
7,151,502 6,392,017 5,130,632 3,665,228 2,718,215 1,770,900 1,302,161 749,587 499,261 435,573 334,162 204,354
Population
Density
62.9 56.3 45.2 32.3 23.9 15.6 11.5 6.6 4.4 3.8 2.9 1.8
Density Rank 35 35 38 39 42 43 43 47 47 47 49 49
Arkansas
Resident
Population
3,011,524 2,915,918 2,673,400 2,350,725 2,286,435 1,923,295 1,786,272 1,909,511 1,949,387 1,854,482 1,752,204 1,574,449
Population
Density
57.9 56.0 51.4 45.2 43.9 37.0 34.3 36.7 37.5 35.6 33.7 30.3
Density Rank 36 36 36 37 37 37 36 34 32 32 31 30
California
Resident
Population
39,538,223 37,253,956 33,871,648 29,760,021 23,667,902 19,953,134 15,717,204 10,586,223 6,907,387 5,677,251 3,426,861 2,377,549
Population
Density
253.7 239.1 217.4 191.0 151.9 128.1 100.9 68.0 44.3 36.4 22.0 15.3
Density Rank 13 13 14 14 16 15 15 22 30 31 35 38
Colorado
Resident
Population
5,773,714 5,029,196 4,301,261 3,294,394 2,889,964 2,207,259 1,753,947 1,325,089 1,123,296 1,035,791 939,629 799,024
Population
Density
55.7 48.5 41.5 31.8 27.9 21.3 16.9 12.8 10.8 10.0 9.1 7.7
Density Rank 39 39 39 40 40 41 42 42 42 41 42 42
Connecticut
Resident
Population
3,605,944 3,574,097 3,405,565 3,287,116 3,107,576 3,031,709 2,535,234 2,007,280 1,709,242 1,606,903 1,380,631 1,114,756
Population
Density
744.7 738.1 703.3 678.8 641.7 626.1 523.6 414.5 353.0 331.8 285.1 230.2
Density Rank 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
Delaware
Resident
Population
989,948 897,934 783,600 666,168 594,338 548,104 446,292 318,085 266,505 238,380 223,003 202,322
Population
Density
508.0 460.8 402.1 341.9 305.0 281.3 229.0 163.2 136.8 122.3 114.4 103.8
Density Rank 8 8 9 9 9 9 11 11 12 12 12 11
District of Columbia
Resident
Population
689,545 601,723 572,059 606,900 638,333 756,510 763,956 802,178 663,091 486,869 437,571 331,069
Population
Density
11,280.0 9,856.5 9,370.6 9,941.3 10,456.2 12,392.0 12,513.9 13,140.0 10,861.7 7,975.1 7,167.6 5,423.1
Density Rank 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Florida
Resident
Population
21,538,187 18,801,310 15,982,378 12,937,926 9,746,324 6,789,443 4,951,560 2,771,305 1,897,414 1,468,211 968,470 752,619
Population
Density
401.4 350.6 298.0 241.3 181.8 126.6 92.3 51.7 35.4 27.4 18.1 14.0
>Density Rank 10 10 10 12 13 16 19 29 33 35 38 40
Georgia
Resident
Population
10,711,908 9,687,653 8,186,453 6,478,216 5,463,105 4,589,575 3,943,116 3,444,578 3,123,723 2,908,506 2,895,832 2,609,121
Population
Density
185.6 168.4 142.3 112.6 95.0 79.8 68.6 59.9 54.3 50.6 50.4 45.4
Density Rank 19 20 20 23 24 26 26 27 27 26 21 23
Hawaii
Resident
Population
1,455,271 1,360,301 1,211,537 1,108,229 964,691 768,561 632,772 499,794 423,330 368,336 255,912 191,909
Population
Density
226.6 211.8 188.6 172.6 150.2 119.7 98.5 77.8 65.9 57.3 39.8 29.9
Density Rank 15 15 15 15 17 17 17 19 20 21 28 31
Idaho
Resident
Population
1,839,106 1,567,582 1,293,953 1,006,749 943,935 712,567 667,191 588,637 524,873 445,032 431,866 325,594
Population
Density
22.3 19.0 15.7 12.2 11.4 8.6 8.1 7.1 6.4 5.4 5.2 3.9
Density Rank 46 46 46 46 45 47 47 46 46 46 46 46
Illinois
Resident
Population
12,812,508 12,830,632 12,419,293 11,430,602 11,426,518 11,113,976 10,081,158 8,712,176 7,897,241 7,630,654 6,485,280 5,638,591
Population
Density
230.8 231.1 223.7 205.9 205.8 200.2 181.6 156.9 142.2 137.4 116.8 101.6
Density Rank 14 14 13 13 12 12 12 12 11 11 11 12
Indiana
Resident
Population
6,785,528 6,483,802 6,080,485 5,544,159 5,490,224 5,193,669 4,662,498 3,934,224 3,427,796 3,238,503 2,930,390 2,700,876
Population
Density
189.4 181.0 169.7 154.8 153.2 145.0 130.1 109.8 95.7 90.4 81.8 75.4
Density Rank 18 18 18 18 15 14 14 14 13 13 13 13
Iowa
Resident
Population
3,190,369 3,046,355 2,926,324 2,776,755 2,913,808 2,824,376 2,757,537 2,621,073 2,538,268 2,470,939 2,404,021 2,224,771
Population
Density
57.1 54.5 52.4 49.7 52.2 50.6 49.4 46.9 45.4 44.2 43.0 39.8
Density Rank 38 38 35 35 34 31 30 30 29 28 26 26
Kansas
Resident
Population
2,937,880 2,853,118 2,688,418 2,477,574 2,363,679 2,246,578 2,178,611 1,905,299 1,801,028 1,880,999 1,769,257 1,690,949
Population
Density
35.9 34.9 32.9 30.3 28.9 27.5 26.6 23.3 22.0 23.0 21.6 20.7
Density Rank 43 42 42 41 39 39 39 39 39 38 36 35
Kentucky
Resident
Population
4,505,836 4,339,367 4,041,769 3,685,296 3,660,777 3,218,706 3,038,156 2,944,806 2,845,627 2,614,589 2,416,630 2,289,905
Population
Density
114.1 109.9 102.4 93.3 92.7 81.5 76.9 74.6 72.1 66.2 61.2 58.0
Density Rank 25 24 25 25 25 25 23 20 17 16 15 14
Louisiana
Resident
Population
4,657,757 4,533,372 4,468,976 4,219,973 4,205,900 3,641,306 3,257,022 2,683,516 2,363,880 2,101,593 1,798,509 1,656,388
Population
Density
107.8 104.9 103.4 97.7 97.3 84.3 75.4 62.1 54.7 48.6 41.6 38.3
Density Rank 28 26 24 24 23 22 24 25 26 27 27 29
Maine
Resident
Population
1,362,359 1,328,361 1,274,923 1,227,928 1,124,660 992,048 969,265 913,774 847,226 797,423 768,014 742,371
Population
Density
44.2 43.1 41.3 39.8 36.5 32.2 31.4 29.6 27.5 25.9 24.9 24.1
Density Rank 40 40 40 38 38 38 38 37 36 36 34 33
Maryland
Resident
Population
6,177,224 5,773,552 5,296,486 4,781,468 4,216,975 3,922,399 3,100,689 2,343,001 1,821,244 1,631,526 1,449,661 1,295,346
Population
Density
636.1 594.8 545.6 492.6 434.4 404.1 319.4 241.4 187.6 168.1 149.3 133.4
Density Rank 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 9 9 9 9
Massachusetts
Resident
Population
7,029,917 6,547,629 6,349,097 6,016,425 5,737,037 5,689,170 5,148,578 4,690,514 4,316,721 4,249,614 3,852,356 3,366,416
Population
Density
901.2 839.4 814.0 771.3 735.5 729.4 660.1 601.3 553.4 544.8 493.9 431.6
Density Rank 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 3 3
Michigan
Resident
Population
10,077,331 9,883,640 9,938,444 9,295,297 9,262,078 8,875,083 7,823,194 6,371,766 5,256,106 4,842,325 3,668,412 2,810,173
Population
Density
178.0 174.8 175.8 164.4 163.8 157.0 138.4 112.7 93.0 85.6 64.9 49.7
Density Rank 20 19 17 16 14 13 13 13 14 14 14 19
Minnesota
Resident
Population
5,706,494 5,303,925 4,919,479 4,375,099 4,075,970 3,804,971 3,413,864 2,982,483 2,792,300 2,563,953 2,387,125 2,075,708
Population
Density
71.7 66.6 61.8 54.9 51.2 47.8 42.9 37.5 35.1 32.2 30.0 26.1
Density Rank 32 33 33 33 35 33 32 33 34 34 32 32
Mississippi
Resident
Population
2,961,279 2,967,297 2,844,658 2,573,216 2,520,638 2,216,912 2,178,141 2,178,914 2,183,796 2,009,821 1,790,618 1,797,114
Population
Density
63.1 63.2 60.6 54.8 53.7 47.2 46.4 46.4 46.5 42.8 38.2 38.3
Density Rank 34 34 34 34 33 34 31 31 28 29 29 28
Missouri
Resident
Population
6,154,913 5,988,927 5,595,211 5,117,073 4,916,686 4,676,501 4,319,813 3,954,653 3,784,664 3,629,367 3,404,055 3,293,335
Population
Density
89.5 87.1 81.4 74.4 71.5 68.0 62.8 57.5 55.1 52.8 49.5 47.9
Density Rank 30 30 29 29 29 28 29 28 24 23 22 21
Montana
Resident
Population
1,084,225 989,415 902,195 799,065 786,690 694,409 674,767 591,024 559,456 537,606 548,889 376,053
Population
Density
7.4 6.8 6.2 5.5 5.4 4.8 4.6 4.1 3.8 3.7 3.8 2.6
Density Rank 50 50 50 50 50 49 49 49 49 48 47 48
Nebraska
Resident
Population
1,961,504 1,826,341 1,711,263 1,578,385 1,569,825 1,483,493 1,411,330 1,325,510 1,315,834 1,377,963 1,296,372 1,192,214
Population
Density
25.5 23.8 22.3 20.5 20.4 19.3 18.4 17.3 17.1 17.9 16.9 15.5
Density Rank 45 45 44 44 43 42 40 40 40 40 40 37
Nevada
Resident
Population
3,104,614 2,700,551 1,998,257 1,201,833 800,493 488,738 285,278 160,083 110,247 91,058 77,407 81,875
Population
Density
28.3 24.6 18.2 10.9 7.3 4.5 2.6 1.5 1.0 0.8 0.7 0.7
Density Rank 44 44 45 47 49 50 51 51 51 51 51 51
New Hampshire
Resident
Population
1,377,529 1,316,470 1,235,786 1,109,252 920,610 737,681 606,921 533,242 491,524 465,293 443,083 430,572
Population
Density
153.8 147.0 138.0 123.9 102.8 82.4 67.8 59.6 54.9 52.0 49.5 48.1
Density Rank 23 23 22 20 22 23 27 26 25 25 22 20
New Jersey
Resident
Population
9,288,994 8,791,894 8,414,350 7,730,188 7,364,823 7,168,164 6,066,782 4,835,329 4,160,165 4,041,334 3,155,900 2,537,167
Population
Density
1,263.0 1,195.5 1,144.2 1,051.1 1,001.4 974.7 824.9 657.5 565.7 549.5 429.1 345.0
Density Rank 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 4 3 3 4 4
New Mexico
Resident
Population
2,117,522 2,059,179 1,819,046 1,515,069 1,302,894 1,016,000 951,023 681,187 531,818 423,317 360,350 327,301
Population
Density
17.5 17.0 15.0 12.5 10.7 8.4 7.8 5.6 4.4 3.5 3.0 2.7
Density Rank 47 47 47 45 46 48 48 48 47 49 48 47
New York
Resident
Population
20,201,249 19,378,102 18,976,457 17,990,455 17,558,072 18,236,967 16,782,304 14,830,192 13,479,142 12,588,066 10,385,227 9,113,614
Population
Density
428.7 411.2 402.7 381.7 372.6 387.0 356.1 314.7 286.0 267.1 220.4 193.4
Density Rank 9 9 8 8 8 8 7 7 7 7 7 7
North Carolina
Resident
Population
10,439,388 9,535,483 8,049,313 6,628,637 5,881,766 5,082,059 4,556,155 4,061,929 3,571,623 3,170,276 2,559,123 2,206,287
Population
Density
214.7 196.1 165.6 136.3 121.0 104.5 93.7 83.5 73.5 65.2 52.6 45.4
Density Rank 17 17 19 19 19 19 18 17 16 17 20 22
North Dakota
Resident
Population
779,094 672,591 642,200 638,800 652,717 617,761 632,446 619,636 641,935 680,845 646,872 577,056
Population
Density
11.3 9.7 9.3 9.3 9.5 9.0 9.2 9.0 9.3 9.9 9.4 8.4
Density Rank 49 49 49 48 47 45 45 43 43 42 41 41
Ohio
Resident
Population
11,799,448 11,536,504 11,353,140 10,847,115 10,797,630 10,652,017 9,706,397 7,946,627 6,907,612 6,646,697 5,759,394 4,767,121
Population
Density
288.8 282.3 277.8 265.5 264.3 260.7 237.5 194.5 169.1 162.7 141.0 116.7
Density Rank 12 12 11 11 11 11 10 10 10 10 10 10
Oklahoma
Resident
Population
3,959,353 3,751,351 3,450,654 3,145,585 3,025,290 2,559,229 2,328,284 2,233,351 2,336,434 2,396,040 2,028,283 1,657,155
Population
Density
57.7 54.7 50.3 45.9 44.1 37.3 33.9 32.6 34.1 34.9 29.6 24.2
Density Rank 37 37 37 36 36 36 37 36 35 33 33 33
Oregon
Resident
Population
4,237,256 3,831,074 3,421,399 2,842,321 2,633,105 2,091,385 1,768,687 1,521,341 1,089,684 953,786 783,389 672,765
Population
Density
44.1 39.9 35.6 29.6 27.4 21.8 18.4 15.8 11.4 9.9 8.2 7.0
Density Rank 41 41 41 42 41 40 40 41 41 42 44 44
Pennsylvania
Resident
Population
13,002,700 12,702,379 12,281,054 11,881,643 11,863,895 11,793,909 11,319,366 10,498,012 9,900,180 9,631,350 8,720,017 7,665,111
Population
Density
290.6 283.9 274.5 265.6 265.2 263.6 253.0 234.6 221.3 215.3 194.9 171.3
Density Rank 11 11 12 10 10 10 9 9 8 8 8 8
Rhode Island
Resident
Population
1,097,379 1,052,567 1,048,319 1,003,464 947,154 946,725 859,488 791,896 713,346 687,497 604,397 542,610
Population
Density
1,061.4 1,018.1 1,014.0 970.6 916.2 915.8 831.4 766.0 690.0 665.0 584.6 524.9
Density Rank 3 4 4 4 4 3 2 3 2 2 2 2
South Carolina
Resident
Population
5,118,425 4,625,364 4,012,012 3,486,703 3,121,820 2,590,516 2,382,594 2,117,027 1,899,804 1,738,765 1,683,724 1,515,400
Population
Density
170.2 153.9 133.5 116.0 103.9 86.2 79.3 70.4 63.2 57.8 56.0 50.4
Density Rank 21 22 23 22 21 21 21 21 21 20 19 18
South Dakota
Resident
Population
886,667 814,180 754,844 696,004 690,768 665,507 680,514 652,740 642,961 692,849 636,547 583,888
Population
Density
11.7 10.7 10.0 9.2 9.1 8.8 9.0 8.6 8.5 9.1 8.4 7.7
Density Rank 48 48 48 49 48 46 46 44 44 44 43 42
Tennessee
Resident
Population
6,910,840 6,346,105 5,689,283 4,877,185 4,591,120 3,923,687 3,567,089 3,291,718 2,915,841 2,616,556 2,337,885 2,184,789
Population
Density
167.6 153.9 138.0 118.3 111.3 95.2 86.5 79.8 70.7 63.5 56.7 53.0
Density Rank 22 21 21 21 20 20 20 18 18 18 18 15
Texas
Resident
Population
29,145,505 25,145,561 20,851,820 16,986,510 14,229,191 11,196,730 9,579,677 7,711,194 6,414,824 5,824,715 4,663,228 3,896,542
Population
Density
111.6 96.3 79.8 65.0 54.5 42.9 36.7 29.5 24.6 22.3 17.9 14.9
Density Rank 26 28 30 31 32 35 35 38 38 39 39 39
Utah
Resident
Population
3,271,616 2,763,885 2,233,169 1,722,850 1,461,037 1,059,273 890,627 688,862 550,310 507,847 449,396 373,351
Population
Density
39.7 33.6 27.2 21.0 17.8 12.9 10.8 8.4 6.7 6.2 5.5 4.5
Density Rank 42 43 43 43 44 44 44 45 45 45 45 45
Vermont
Resident
Population
643,077 625,741 608,827 562,758 511,456 444,330 389,881 377,747 359,231 359,611 352,428 355,956
Population
Density
69.8 67.9 66.1 61.1 55.5 48.2 42.3 41.0 39.0 39.0 38.2 38.6
Density Rank 33 32 32 32 31 32 34 32 31 30 30 27
Virginia
Resident
Population
8,631,393 8,001,024 7,078,515 6,187,358 5,346,818 4,648,494 3,966,949 3,318,680 2,677,773 2,421,851 2,309,187 2,061,612
Population
Density
218.6 202.6 179.2 156.7 135.4 117.7 100.5 84.0 67.8 61.3 58.5 52.2
Density Rank 16 16 16 17 18 18 16 16 19 19 17 16
Washington
Resident
Population
7,705,281 6,724,540 5,894,121 4,866,692 4,132,156 3,409,169 2,853,214 2,378,963 1,736,191 1,563,396 1,356,621 1,141,990
Population
Density
115.9 101.2 88.7 73.2 62.2 51.3 42.9 35.8 26.1 23.5 20.4 17.2
Density Rank 24 27 27 30 30 30 32 35 37 37 37 36
West Virginia
Resident
Population
1,793,716 1,852,994 1,808,344 1,793,477 1,949,644 1,744,237 1,860,421 2,005,552 1,901,974 1,729,205 1,463,701 1,221,119
Population
Density
74.6 77.1 75.2 74.6 81.1 72.6 77.4 83.4 79.1 71.9 60.9 50.8
Density Rank 31 31 31 28 27 27 22 15 15 15 15 17
Wisconsin
Resident
Population
5,893,718 5,686,986 5,363,675 4,891,769 4,705,767 4,417,731 3,951,777 3,434,575 3,137,587 2,939,006 2,632,067 2,333,860
Population
Density
108.8 105.0 99.0 90.3 86.9 81.6 73.0 63.4 57.9 54.3 48.6 43.1
Density Rank 27 25 26 26 26 24 25 23 22 22 24 24
Wyoming
Resident
Population
576,851 563,626 493,782 453,588 469,557 332,416 330,066 290,529 250,742 225,565 194,402 145,965
Population
Density
5.9 5.8 5.1 4.7 4.8 3.4 3.4 3.0 2.6 2.3 2.0 1.5
Density Rank 51 51 51 51 51 51 50 50 50 50 50 50
Puerto Rico
Resident
Population
3,285,874 3,725,789 3,808,610 3,522,037 3,196,520 2,712,033 2,349,544 2,210,703 1,869,255 1,543,913 1,299,809 1,118,012
Population
Density
959.6 1,088.2 1,112.4 1,028.7 933.6 792.1 686.2 645.7 546.0 450.9 379.6 326.5
Density Rank 4 3 3 3 3 4 4 2 5 5 5 5

Page Last Revised - August 5, 2022
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