Rank U.S. states by July 1, 2025 population. See exact Census estimates, the largest places, national shares, growth context and downloadable rankings.
California leads this resident population ranking with 39,355,309 residents. The reference population is July 1, 2025.
California leads this ranking with 39,355,309 residents on July 1, 2025. Texas follows with 31,709,821; the gap between them is 7,645,488 people. The ten largest states together have 184,837,758 residents, equivalent to 54.08% of the national resident total.
That share is a descriptive comparison using matching dates and the same national universe. The state list excludes DC, but the national denominator includes the district. The remaining states and DC account for the rest of the national population.
Population size and growth tell different stories
The largest state in 2025 lost 172,499 residents between July 1, 2020 and July 1, 2025, a 0.44% decline. Its most recent one-year change was a loss of 9,465 residents. A high position in a population-size ranking does not imply a high position in a growth ranking.
For a comparison over time, use the six-year history on the place profile or the population comparison tool. A current ranking orders a single July 1 observation. It does not establish an all-time peak, a historical rank in an unsupported year or the size of a metropolitan area.
Comparison universe: 50 states; DC is excluded from state rankings. Source: PEP Vintage 2025. Population date: July 1, 2025. Growth interval: July 1, 2024–2025. Ties share a competition rank; subsequent ranks skip tied positions. Filters produce a subset of this universe and do not change the national profile rank.
10 states have at least 10 million residents in this release; 24 have at least 5 million. California alone represents 11.51% of the U.S. population. These thresholds are readable comparisons rather than Census geographic classifications.
Use Census region populations to group states into the Northeast, Midwest, South and West. Region totals include their complete member states and DC where applicable. They should not be assembled by adding a state total to its counties.
Sources, calculation rules and downloadable results
Source: NST-EST2025-ALLDATA.csv, Census Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025, variables POPESTIMATE2024 and POPESTIMATE2025. Density additionally uses 2025 Gazetteer ALAND joined by official code. The retained source snapshot is pep-2025-r1; calculations use unrounded values.
Population order uses the exact July 1, 2025 count. Equal unrounded metric values share a competition rank, and the following rank skips the tied positions. Display rounding can make different underlying values look identical; the table order uses the originals.
Export visible rows after filtering to preserve the displayed subset. Use complete dataset downloads for all observations, or population research tools for a longer comparison. A ranking is a dated descriptive result, not an official forecast. Publication vintages can revise earlier years; retain the release identifier with your research.
