San Luis Potosí is 1.14× the size of Paraíba

San Luis Potosí (state of Mexico) covers about 64,200 km² (24,800 mi²) and Paraíba (state of Brazil) about 56,500 km² (21,800 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

64,200km²San Luis Potosí
56,500km²Paraíba

100 km

San Luis Potosí
Paraíba

What fits

Paraíba is 88% of the size of San Luis Potosí.
San Luis Potosí is larger by 7,690 km² (2,970 mi²), which is 14% of the area of Paraíba.
Measured in Belgiums: San Luis Potosí is about 2.09, Paraíba about 1.84.

How they differ

San Luis Potosí is larger, but Paraíba has the larger population: 4.0 million against 2.7 million, 1.46× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 70 in Paraíba against 42 in San Luis Potosí: Paraíba is 1.66× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 7,660 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: San Luis Potosí at 23°N is drawn about 1.2× too large and Paraíba at 7°S about 1.0×, so the map shows San Luis Potosí as 1.31× the size of Paraíba instead of 1.14×.
Together San Luis Potosí and Paraíba cover 121,000 km², close to the size of Malawi (119,000 km², 1.1% smaller).
The gap between them, 7,690 km², is about the size of Palestine (6,070 km²).
At Paraíba's density, San Luis Potosí would have 4.5 million people (it has 2.7 million). At San Luis Potosí's density, Paraíba would have 2.4 million (it has 4.0 million).
San Luis Potosí's centre is 29.7° of latitude, about 3,300 km, farther north than Paraíba's.
San Luis Potosí is the 15th largest of the 32 states of Mexico and covers 3.3% of its area; it is the 25th most densely populated of them.
Paraíba is the 21st largest of the 27 states and districts of Brazil and covers 0.7% of its area; it is the 9th most densely populated of them.
San Luis Potosí lies about 30° of latitude (roughly 3,300 km) north of Paraíba, on the other side of the equator.
Shared out evenly, each person in San Luis Potosí would have about 23,620 m² and each person in Paraíba about 14,220 m².
Laid side by side, San Luis Potosí and Paraíba would cover 121,000 km², about the same size as Malawi.
Together they have 6.7 million people, about as many people as Serbia.

Side by side

	San Luis Potosí	Paraíba
Is a	StateMexico	StateBrazil
Area, measured	64,200 km²24,800 mi²	56,500 km²21,800 mi²
Official area	61,000 km²Wikidata	56,600 km²Wikidata
Rank by area	15th of 32in Mexico	21st of 27in Brazil
Population	2.7 millionWikidata, 2015	4.0 millionWikidata, 2022
Rank by population	19th of 32in Mexico	13th of 27in Brazil
Density	42 per km²	70 per km²
Capital	San Luis Potosí	João Pessoa
Latitude range	21°N to 25°N	8°S to 6°S

Population: Wikidata 2015 and Wikidata 2022. Official figures: Wikidata (CC0).

Our measured 64,200 km² is 5.3% above Wikidata's official figure of 61,000 km². Official figures can include inland water or count land that an outline draws differently. This difference is flagged for review.
Wikidata's official figure of 56,600 km² agrees with our measured area of 56,500 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to San Luis Potosí

Similar in size to Paraíba

More comparisons

Sources and method

Outlines: Natural Earth, 1:10m Admin 1 - States, Provinces, public domain
Boundary: De facto, as drawn by Natural Earth. A region is drawn whole, every island included; a country is its main territory.
Area: Measured on the WGS84 ellipsoid from the full-detail outlines, shown rounded.
Drawing: Each outline is projected with an equal-area projection centred on its own centroid, so areas stay true and the two can be laid over each other.
Data built: 2026-11-12

Full method