State of the United States

Kentucky

Kentucky is a state of the United States. It covers about 105,000 km² (40,400 mi²), the 36th largest of the 51 states and districts in Natural Earth’s file for the United States, and about the same size as Iceland. About 4.5 million people live there (Wikidata, 2020).

In area1.02×the size ofIceland102,000 km² In people1.01×as many people asKuwait4.5 million

200 km

Kentucky
Iceland

Facts

Area, measured	105,000 km²40,400 mi²
Official area	105,000 km²Wikidata · agrees with our measure
Share of the United States	1.1%of the area of the 51 states and districts
Rank by area	36th of 51states and districts of the United States
Population	4.5 millionWikidata, 2020 · the census year of every unit
Density	43 people per km²
Capital	Frankfort
Latitude range	36°N to 39°N
Type	StateUS-KY

What the numbers say about Kentucky

Kentucky covers 1.1% of the area of the United States and ranks 26th of 51 by population, against 36th by area.
It would take 90.5 states and districts the size of Kentucky to cover the United States.
Kentucky holds 1.4% of the 331.4 million people that Wikidata’s 2020 figures give for the 51 states and districts together: about 1 in 74.
The largest, Alaska, is 14.4× the size of Kentucky; the smallest, Washington, D.C., is 0.2% of it.
Closest in size within the United States: Virginia (104,000 km², 1.01×) and Tennessee (109,000 km², 1.05×).
Counted as a country, Kentucky would be larger than 133 of the 239 countries and territories listed on sizeversus, and would rank 107th by area, between Guatemala (109,000 km²) and Iceland (102,000 km²).
With 4.5 million people it would rank 129th of 238 by population.
Kentucky has 43 people per km², about the density of Belarus, which has 44 per km².
That makes Kentucky the 23rd most densely populated of the 51 states and districts, 1.23× the average for the United States (35 per km²).
On a standard web map (Web Mercator), a place at 38°N is drawn about 1.6× too large in area, so Kentucky looks bigger there than it is.
Laid out flat, Kentucky stretches about 291 km north to south and 675 km east to west.
Wikidata's official figure of 105,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 105,000 km², to within 2%.

About the same size as

About as many people as

Beside the regions of other countries

The closest region by area and by people in each of the other countries that have regional pages here, within a factor of 2. All 395 regions side by side.

Where Kentucky ranks

Kentucky is the 36th largest of the 51 states and districts of the United States.

Ranked within the United States

All 51 states and districts of the United States, matched to countries

Compare Kentucky

Sources and method

Outline: Natural Earth, 1:10m Admin 1 - States, Provinces, public domain
Boundary: De facto, as drawn by Natural Earth.
Area: Measured on the WGS84 ellipsoid from the full-detail outline, shown rounded. The region’s whole area is counted, every island included.
Official figures: Area, population and capital from Wikidata (CC0), fetched 2026-11-12
Population: Wikidata, 2020. United States’s units share the 2020 figures where Wikidata has them; the year is shown wherever the figure is.
Matching: Countries come from Natural Earth’s country file. Places whose status is contested and dependencies are never used as automatic matches. A region under 2,500 km² is matched against the small countries and island nations.
Data built: 2026-11-12

Full method