Bay

Chesapeake Bay

Natural Earth’s outline of the Chesapeake Bay measures about 11,700 km² (4,500 mi²), the 40th largest of the 42 seas on sizeversus, and 1.05× the size of Qatar.

In area1.05×the size ofQatar11,200 km² Among Chinese provinces1.02×the size ofTianjin11,500 km²

50 km

Chesapeake Bay
Qatar

The numbers

11,700km²Area, measured4,500 mi² · Natural Earth outline
11,600km²Area, publishedWikidata · agrees within 2%
81.8km³VolumeWikidata

The area is measured from the outline drawn above, on the WGS84 ellipsoid; the published figure is shown beside it, and a water body is kept only if the two are within 10%.

What the numbers say about the Chesapeake Bay

The Arabian Sea, the largest of the 42 seas ranked on sizeversus, is 354× the size of the Chesapeake Bay; the Chesapeake Bay ranks 40th.
The Chesapeake Bay sits between the Bay of Fundy (15,600 km²) and the Sea of Marmara (11,600 km²) in the ranking.
Counted as a country, the Chesapeake Bay would be larger than 51 of the 212 countries listed on sizeversus and would rank 162nd by area, between Vanuatu (12,300 km²) and Falkland Islands (11,600 km²).
It is larger than 3 of the 51 US states and districts (the biggest of them is Delaware, 5,170 km²) and smaller than 48.
It is larger than 2 of the 31 provinces and regions of China (the biggest of them is Tianjin, 11,500 km²) and smaller than 29.
The closest Chinese province is Tianjin (11,500 km²): the Chesapeake Bay is about the same size as Tianjin.
Wikidata records a volume of 82 km³. Poured over Belgium (30,700 km²), that water would stand 2.7 m deep.
On a standard web map (Web Mercator), a place at 38°N is drawn about 1.6× too large in area, so the Chesapeake Bay looks bigger there than it is.
Laid out flat, the Chesapeake Bay stretches about 300 km north to south and 145 km east to west.
Wikidata’s published figure of 11,600 km² agrees with our measured 11,700 km², to within 2%.

About the same size as

Countries

US states

Chinese provinces

Lakes and seas

On the shore

United States

Natural Earth’s outlines of the United States lie within 25 km of the outline of the Chesapeake Bay. That is what its geometry says, and it is not a statement about who owns the water or where any border runs in it.

Where the Chesapeake Bay ranks

The Chesapeake Bay is the 40th largest of the 42 seas on sizeversus, ranked by measured area.

Ranked seas

All seas, matched to countries

Compare the Chesapeake Bay

Sources and method

Outline: Natural Earth, 1:10m Marine Areas (geography_marine_polys), public domain (Marine Areas (geography_marine_polys)). Natural Earth draws marine areas for labels and cuts them at named sub-areas; the outline is kept because its area matches the published one.
Boundary: A lake or a sea has no legal boundary of its own. The outline is a cartographic one, and the page says so by showing the measured area beside the published one.
Area basis: Measured outline: computed on the WGS84 ellipsoid from the full-detail outline and shown rounded. Published figure: Wikidata (CC0), fetched 2026-11-11. An outline is kept within 10% of the published figure and matched to other places automatically within 5%.
Depth, volume, height: As recorded in Wikidata; a volume that cannot be right for the area and depth is left out.
Shore: Countries whose Natural Earth outline contains or comes close to the water's outline; computed, not a statement of ownership.
Drawing: Each outline is projected with an equal-area projection centred on its own centroid, so areas stay true and two can be laid over each other.
Data built: 2026-11-11

Full method