Gulf
Gulf of California
Natural Earth’s outline of the Gulf of California measures about 172,000 km² (66,300 mi²), the 26th largest of the 42 seas on sizeversus, and 97% of the size of Uruguay.
- Uruguay
- Gulf of California
The numbers
- 172,000km²Area, measured66,300 mi² · Natural Earth outline
- 160,000km²Area, publishedWikidata · 7.4% below our measure, flagged
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%. This one is between 5% and 10% apart, so it is flagged and no comparison is built for it automatically.
What the numbers say about the Gulf of California
- The Arabian Sea, the largest of the 42 seas ranked on sizeversus, is 24.0× the size of the Gulf of California; the Gulf of California ranks 26th.
- The Gulf of California sits between the Bay of Biscay (216,000 km²) and the Adriatic Sea (141,000 km²) in the ranking.
- Counted as a country, the Gulf of California would be larger than 122 of the 212 countries listed on sizeversus and would rank 91st by area, between Uruguay (177,000 km²) and Somaliland (167,000 km²).
- It is larger than 30 of the 51 US states and districts (the biggest of them is Wisconsin, 169,000 km²) and smaller than 21.
- It is larger than 15 of the 31 provinces and regions of China (the biggest of them is Jiangxi, 168,000 km²) and smaller than 16.
- The closest US state is Washington State (174,000 km²): the Gulf of California is about the same size as Washington State.
- On a standard web map (Web Mercator), a place at 27°N is drawn about 1.3× too large in area, so the Gulf of California looks bigger there than it is.
- Laid out flat, the Gulf of California stretches about 965 km north to south and 787 km east to west.
- Our measured 172,000 km² is 7.4% above Wikidata’s published figure of 160,000 km². This difference is flagged for review: a lake’s outline may include islands or bays that the published figure leaves out, or the water level may differ. The outline is kept because it is within 10%, and this page is not matched automatically to any other.
About the same size as
Countries
On the shore
Natural Earth’s outlines of Mexico lie within 25 km of the outline of the Gulf of California. That is what its geometry says, and it is not a statement about who owns the water or where any border runs in it.
Names
- Gulf of Californiathe name in this page’s titlesource: Wikidata’s English label
- Golfo de Californiaalso calledsource: Natural Earth
Where the Gulf of California ranks
The Gulf of California is the 26th largest of the 42 seas on sizeversus, ranked by measured area.
Share this outline
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%.
- 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