Historical Population Density Data (1910-2020)

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.

Population Density of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico: 1910 to 2020
Area 2020
Census		 2010
Census		 2000
Census		 1990
Census		 1980
Census		 1970
Census		 1960
Census		 1950
Census		 1940
Census		 1930
Census		 1920
Census		 1910
Census
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
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.

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Page Last Revised - September 29, 2026