About 11 US states are bigger than the UK in total area.

How big is the UK?

The United Kingdom covers just over 93,600 square miles (about 242,500 square kilometers). This makes it around 40 times smaller than the United States as a whole. Even so, it is still larger than many individual US states.

States larger than the UK

Most analyses and maps that compare land area conclude that there are 11 US states whose total area exceeds that of the UK. These include the biggest, like Alaska and Texas, as well as several large western states.

Commonly listed states larger than the UK are:

  • Alaska
  • Texas
  • California
  • Montana
  • New Mexico
  • Arizona
  • Nevada
  • Colorado
  • Oregon
  • Wyoming
  • Michigan or Idaho (different lists sometimes swap one here, but still total 11)

Why this comes up in forums

This question is a frequent forum discussion topic because people are often surprised that multiple single US states can “fit” the UK inside them. Posts and videos comparing outlines of the UK to states like Texas or Alaska tend to go viral as a fun geography reality check.

Quick perspective

  • The US is roughly 40 times larger than the UK in area.
  • The UK could, in theory, fit entirely inside each of those 11 largest states.
  • Many mid‑sized states (for example, Ohio or Georgia) are smaller than the UK, which is why the exact count matters.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.