In 2023, Washington, D.C. had the highest population density in the United States, with 11,130.69 people per square mile. As a whole, there were about 94.83 residents per square mile in the U.S., and Alaska was the state with the lowest population density, with 1.29 residents per square mile. The problem of population density Simply put, population density is the population of a country divided by the area of the country. While this can be an interesting measure of how many people live in a country and how large the country is, it does not account for the degree of urbanization, or the share of people who live in urban centers. For example, Russia is the largest country in the world and has a comparatively low population, so its population density is very low. However, much of the country is uninhabited, so cities in Russia are much more densely populated than the rest of the country. Urbanization in the United States While the United States is not very densely populated compared to other countries, its population density has increased significantly over the past few decades. The degree of urbanization has also increased, and well over half of the population lives in urban centers.

This graph shows the population density of the United States of America from 1790 to 2019. In 2019, the population density was approximately 92.9 residents per square mile of land area. Population density in the United States Population density has been tracked for over two hundred years in the United States. Over the last two centuries, the number of people living in the United States per square mile has grown from 4.5 in 1790 to 87.4 in 2010. After examining the data in detail, it becomes clear that a major population increase started around 1870. Population density was roughly 11 at the time and has doubled in the last century. Since then, population density grew by about 16 percent each decade. Population density doubled in 1900, and grew in total by around 800 percent until 2010.

The population density of the United States varies from state to state. The most densely populated state is New Jersey, with 1,208 people per square mile living there. Rhode Island is the second most densely populated state, with slightly over 1,000 inhabitants per square mile. A number of New England states follow at the top of the ranking, making the northeastern region of the United States the most densely populated region of the country.

The least populated U.S. state is the vast territory of Alaska. Only 1.3 inhabitants per square mile reside in the largest state of the U.S.

Compared to other countries around the world, the United States does not rank within the top 50, in terms of population density. Most of the leading countries and territories are city states. However, the U.S. is one of the most populous countries in the world, with a total population of over 327 million inhabitants, as of 2018.

This map shows population density of the United States. Areas in darker magenta have much higher population per square mile than areas in orange or yellow. Data is from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 Census Demographic and Housing Characteristics. The map's layers contain total population counts by sex, age, and race groups for Nation, State, County, Census Tract, and Block Group in the United States and Puerto Rico. From the Census:"Population density allows for broad comparison of settlement intensity across geographic areas. In the U.S., population density is typically expressed as the number of people per square mile of land area. The U.S. value is calculated by dividing the total U.S. population (316 million in 2013) by the total U.S. land area (3.5 million square miles).When comparing population density values for different geographic areas, then, it is helpful to keep in mind that the values are most useful for small areas, such as neighborhoods. For larger areas (especially at the state or country scale), overall population density values are less likely to provide a meaningful measure of the density levels at which people actually live, but can be useful for comparing settlement intensity across geographies of similar scale." SourceAbout the dataYou can use this map as is and you can also modify it to use other attributes included in its layers. This map's layers contain total population counts by sex, age, and race groups data from the 2020 Census Demographic and Housing Characteristics. This is shown by Nation, State, County, Census Tract, Block Group boundaries. Each geography layer contains a common set of Census counts based on available attributes from the U.S. Census Bureau. There are also additional calculated attributes related to this topic, which can be mapped or used within analysis.Vintage of boundaries and attributes: 2020 Demographic and Housing Characteristics Table(s): P1, H1, H3, P2, P3, P5, P12, P13, P17, PCT12 (Not all lines of these DHC tables are available in this feature layer.)Data downloaded from: U.S. Census Bureau’s data.census.gov siteDate the Data was Downloaded: May 25, 2023Geography Levels included: Nation, State, County, Census Tract, Block GroupNational Figures: included in Nation layer The United States Census Bureau Demographic and Housing Characteristics: 2020 Census Results 2020 Census Data Quality Geography & 2020 Census Technical Documentation Data Table Guide: includes the final list of tables, lowest level of geography by table and table shells for the Demographic Profile and Demographic and Housing Characteristics.News & Updates This map is ready to be used in ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online and its configurable apps, Story Maps, dashboards, Notebooks, Python, custom apps, and mobile apps. Data can also be exported for offline workflows. Please cite the U.S. Census Bureau when using this data. Data Processing Notes: These 2020 Census boundaries come from the US Census TIGER geodatabases. These are Census boundaries with water and/or coastlines erased for cartographic and mapping purposes. For Census tracts and block groups, the water cutouts are derived from a subset of the 2020 Areal Hydrography boundaries offered by TIGER. Water bodies and rivers which are 50 million square meters or larger (mid to large sized water bodies) are erased from the tract and block group boundaries, as well as additional important features. For state and county boundaries, the water and coastlines are derived from the coastlines of the 2020 500k TIGER Cartographic Boundary Shapefiles. These are erased to more accurately portray the coastlines and Great Lakes. The original AWATER and ALAND fields are unchanged and available as attributes within the data table (units are square meters).  The layer contains all US states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. Census tracts with no population that occur in areas of water, such as oceans, are removed from this data service (Census Tracts beginning with 99). Block groups that fall within the same criteria (Block Group denoted as 0 with no area land) have also been removed.Percentages and derived counts, are calculated values (that can be identified by the "_calc_" stub in the field name). Field alias names were created based on the Table Shells file available from the Data Table Guide for the Demographic Profile and Demographic and Housing Characteristics. Not all lines of all tables listed above are included in this layer. Duplicative counts were dropped. For example, P0030001 was dropped, as it is duplicative of P0010001.To protect the privacy and confidentiality of respondents, their data has been protected using differential privacy techniques by the U.S. Census Bureau.

United States US: Population Density: People per Square Km data was reported at 35.608 Person/sq km in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 35.355 Person/sq km for 2016. United States US: Population Density: People per Square Km data is updated yearly, averaging 26.948 Person/sq km from Dec 1961 (Median) to 2017, with 57 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 35.608 Person/sq km in 2017 and a record low of 20.056 Person/sq km in 1961. United States US: Population Density: People per Square Km data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population density is midyear population divided by land area in square kilometers. Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship--except for refugees not permanently settled in the country of asylum, who are generally considered part of the population of their country of origin. Land area is a country's total area, excluding area under inland water bodies, national claims to continental shelf, and exclusive economic zones. In most cases the definition of inland water bodies includes major rivers and lakes.; ; Food and Agriculture Organization and World Bank population estimates.; Weighted average;

This map shows the population density and total population in the United States in 2010. This is shown by state, county, tract, and block group. The color shows the population per square mile (population density), while the size of each feature shows the total population living there. This is a valuable way to represent population by understanding the quantity and density of the people living there. Areas with high population density are more tightly packed, while low population density means the population is more spread out.The map shows this pattern for states, counties, tracts, and block groups. There is increasing geographic detail as you zoom in, and only one geography is configured to show at any time. The data source is the US Census Bureau, and the vintage is 2010. The original service and data metadata can be found here.

Content

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.

Acknowledgements

Data was taken from the USA Government 2010 Census.

Link to landing page referenced by identifier. Service Protocol: Link to landing page referenced by identifier. Link Function: information-- dc:identifier.

Population density (people per sq. km of land area) in United States was reported at 36.51 sq. Km in 2022, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. United States - Population density (people per sq. km) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.

As of 2024, Barbados was the most densely populated country in Latin America and the Caribbean, with approximately 652 people per square kilometer. In that same year, Argentina's population density was estimated at approximately 16.7 people per square kilometer.

In 2008, the Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) developed a map of white-tailed deer density with information obtained from state wildlife agencies. The map contains information from 2001 to 2005, with noticeable changes since the development of the first deer density map made by QDMA in 2001. The University of Minnesota, Forest Ecosystem Health Lab and the US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service-Northern Research Station have digitized the deer density map to provide information on the status and trends of forest health across the eastern United States. The QDMA spatial map depicting deer density (deer per square mile) was digitized across the eastern United States. Estimates of deer density were: White = rare, absent, or urban area with unknown population, Green = less than 15 deer per square mile, Yellow = 15 to 30 deer per square mile, Orange = 30 to 40 deer per square mile, or Red = greater than 45 deer per square mile. These categories represent coarse deer density levels as identified in the QDMA report in 2009 and should not be used to represent current or future deer densities across the study region. Sponsorship: Quality Deer Management Association; US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service-Northern Research Station; Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station. Resources in this dataset:Resource Title: Link to DRUM catalog record. File Name: Web Page, url: https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/178246

This map shows the population density in the United States in 2012. Population density is calculated by dividing the total population count of geographic feature by the area of the feature, in square miles. The area is calculated from the geometry of the geographic feature in projected coordinates. The best use of this map is at the larger scales (tracts and block groups).The data shown is from Esri's 2012 Updated Demographics. The map adds increasing level of detail as you zoom in, from state, to county, to ZIP Code, to tract, to block group data. This map shows Esri's 2012 estimates using Census 2010 geographies.The map is designed to be displayed in conjunction with the Canvas basemap with a transparency of 25%. To use it on other basemaps, try a transparency of 25-50%.Information about the USA Population Density map service used in this map is here.

Resident population density for Maryland and Jurisdictions per square mile from 2010 to 2017. Source: U.S. Bureau of Census

Important Note: This item is in mature support as of June 2023 and will retire in December 2025. A new version of this item is available for your use.The layers going from 1:1 to 1:1.5M present the 2010 Census Urbanized Areas (UA) and Urban Clusters (UC). A UA consists of contiguous, densely settled census block groups (BGs) and census blocks that meet minimum population density requirements (1000 people per square mile (ppsm) / 500 ppsm), along with adjacent densely settled census blocks that together encompass a population of at least 50,000 people. A UC consists of contiguous, densely settled census BGs and census blocks that meet minimum population density requirements, along with adjacent densely settled census blocks that together encompass a population of at least 2,500 people, but fewer than 50,000 people. The dataset covers the 50 States plus the District of Columbia within United States. The layer going over 1:1.5M presents the urban areas in the United States derived from the urban areas layer of the Digital Chart of the World (DCW). It provides information about the locations, names, and populations of urbanized areas for conducting geographic analysis on national and large regional scales. To download the data for this layer as a layer package for use in ArcGIS desktop applications, refer to USA Census Urban Areas.

This map service displays data derived from the 2008-2012 American Community Survey (ACS). Values derived from the ACS and used for this map service include: Total Population, Population Density (per square mile), Percent Minority, Percent Below Poverty Level, Percent Age (less than 5, less than 18, and greater than 64), Percent Housing Units Built Before 1950, Percent (population) 25 years and over (with less than a High School Degree and with a High School Degree), Percent Linguistically Isolated Households, Population of American Indians and Alaskan Natives, Population of American Indians and Alaskan Natives Below Poverty Level, and Percent Low Income Population (Less Than 2X Poverty Level). This dataset was produced by the US EPA to support research and online mapping activities related to EnviroAtlas. EnviroAtlas (https://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas) allows the user to interact with a web-based, easy-to-use, mapping application to view and analyze multiple ecosystem services for the contiguous United States.

For Census 2000, the Census Bureau classifies as 'urban' all territory, population, and housing units located within an urbanized area (UA) or an urban cluster (UC). It delineates UA and UC boundaries to encompass densely settled territory, which consists of: - core census block groups or blocks that have a population density of at least 1,000 people per square mile and - surrounding census blocks that have an overall density of at least 500 people per square mile In

This data set represents U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) historical Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) from the 1970's that has been refined with 2000 population density at the block group level to indicate new residential development representative of the early 2000's. Any area having a population density of at least 1,000 people per square mile had been re-classified as "urban" land in this data set.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which began in China in late 2019, and subsequently spread across the world during the first several months of 2020, has had a dramatic impact on all facets of life. At the same time, it has not manifested in the same way in every nation. Some countries experienced a large initial spike in cases and deaths, followed by a rapid decline, whereas others had relatively low rates of both outcomes throughout the first half of 2020. The United States experienced a unique pattern of the virus, with a large initial spike, followed by a moderate decline in cases, followed by second and then third spikes. In addition, research has shown that in the United States the severity of the pandemic has been associated with poverty and access to health care services. This study was designed to examine whether the course of the pandemic has been uniform across America, and if not how it differed, particularly with respect to poverty. Results of a random intercept multilevel mixture model revealed that the pandemic followed four distinct paths in the country. The least ethnically diverse (85.1% white population) and most rural (82.8% rural residents) counties had the lowest death rates (0.06/1000) and the weakest link between deaths due to COVID-19 and poverty (b = 0.03). In contrast, counties with the highest proportion of urban residents (100%), greatest ethnic diversity (48.2% nonwhite), and highest population density (751.4 people per square mile) had the highest COVID-19 death rates (0.33/1000), and strongest relationship between the COVID-19 death rate and poverty (b = 46.21). Given these findings, American policy makers need to consider developing responses to future pandemics that account for local characteristics. These responses must take special account of pandemic responses among people of color, who suffered the highest death rates in the nation.

Contained within the 1st Edition (1906) of the Atlas of Canada is a plate that shows two maps. The maps show the density of population per square mile for every township in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Alberta, circa 1901. The statistics from the 1901 census are used, yet the population of Saskatchewan and Alberta is shown as confined within the vicinity of the railways, this is because the railways have been brought up to date of publication, 1906. Cities and towns of 5000 inhabitants or more are shown as black dots. The size of the circle is proportionate to the population. The map uses eight classes, seven of which are shades of brown, more densely populated portions are shown in the darker tints. Numbers make it clear which class is being shown in any one township. Major railway systems are shown. The map also displays the rectangular survey system which records the land that is available to the public. This grid like system is divided into sections, townships, range, and meridian from mid-Manitoba to Alberta.

This 30-meter resolution raster data set of land cover for the conterminous United States ("NLCDep0905") was designed to describe conditions representative of the year 2000 and is the result of overlaying enhanced 1992 National Land Cover Data with 2000 population data at the block group geographic level. Any area (excluding water, developed land, or wetlands) with population density of at least 1,000 people per square mile was reclassified as "newly urbanized" land in the derivative product. Areas of water, developed land, or wetlands existing in the original national land-cover data set were preserved.

This data set has been superseded by the one called "Enhanced National Land Cover Data 1992 revised with 1990 and 2000 population data to indicate urban development between 1992 and 2000" ("NLCDep0306") dated March 2006. The approach used in developing NLCDep0905 was determined to have misclassified lands that already were urban in 1990 as newly urbanized and therefore greatly overrepresented new urban land. Although the NLCDep0905 data set has been superseded, some water-quality assessment projects utilized this data set to characterize basins before the NLCDep0306 data set was developed. Therefore, the NLCDep0905 is being published to document the land cover data set used in these analyses.

To estimate county of residence of Filipinx healthcare workers who died of COVID-19, we retrieved data from the Kanlungan website during the month of December 2020.22 In deciding who to include on the website, the AF3IRM team that established the Kanlungan website set two standards in data collection. First, the team found at least one source explicitly stating that the fallen healthcare worker was of Philippine ancestry; this was mostly media articles or obituaries sharing the life stories of the deceased. In a few cases, the confirmation came directly from the deceased healthcare worker's family member who submitted a tribute. Second, the team required a minimum of two sources to identify and announce fallen healthcare workers. We retrieved 86 US tributes from Kanlungan, but only 81 of them had information on county of residence. In total, 45 US counties with at least one reported tribute to a Filipinx healthcare worker who died of COVID-19 were identified for analysis and will hereafter be referred to as “Kanlungan counties.” Mortality data by county, race, and ethnicity came from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).24 Updated weekly, this dataset is based on vital statistics data for use in conducting public health surveillance in near real time to provide provisional mortality estimates based on data received and processed by a specified cutoff date, before data are finalized and publicly released.25 We used the data released on December 30, 2020, which included provisional COVID-19 death counts from February 1, 2020 to December 26, 2020—during the height of the pandemic and prior to COVID-19 vaccines being available—for counties with at least 100 total COVID-19 deaths. During this time period, 501 counties (15.9% of the total 3,142 counties in all 50 states and Washington DC)26 met this criterion. Data on COVID-19 deaths were available for six major racial/ethnic groups: Non-Hispanic White, Non-Hispanic Black, Non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native, Non-Hispanic Asian (hereafter referred to as Asian American), and Hispanic. People with more than one race, and those with unknown race were included in the “Other” category. NCHS suppressed county-level data by race and ethnicity if death counts are less than 10. In total, 133 US counties reported COVID-19 mortality data for Asian Americans. These data were used to calculate the percentage of all COVID-19 decedents in the county who were Asian American. We used data from the 2018 American Community Survey (ACS) five-year estimates, downloaded from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) to create county-level population demographic variables.27 IPUMS is publicly available, and the database integrates samples using ACS data from 2000 to the present using a high degree of precision.27 We applied survey weights to calculate the following variables at the county-level: median age among Asian Americans, average income to poverty ratio among Asian Americans, the percentage of the county population that is Filipinx, and the percentage of healthcare workers in the county who are Filipinx. Healthcare workers encompassed all healthcare practitioners, technical occupations, and healthcare service occupations, including nurse practitioners, physicians, surgeons, dentists, physical therapists, home health aides, personal care aides, and other medical technicians and healthcare support workers. County-level data were available for 107 out of the 133 counties (80.5%) that had NCHS data on the distribution of COVID-19 deaths among Asian Americans, and 96 counties (72.2%) with Asian American healthcare workforce data. The ACS 2018 five-year estimates were also the source of county-level percentage of the Asian American population (alone or in combination) who are Filipinx.8 In addition, the ACS provided county-level population counts26 to calculate population density (people per 1,000 people per square mile), estimated by dividing the total population by the county area, then dividing by 1,000 people. The county area was calculated in ArcGIS 10.7.1 using the county boundary shapefile and projected to Albers equal area conic (for counties in the US contiguous states), Hawai’i Albers Equal Area Conic (for Hawai’i counties), and Alaska Albers Equal Area Conic (for Alaska counties).20