According to the 2020 US census there are 331.4 million people living in the United States.
The animated map above shows the growth of US population density from 1790-2010. In 1790, population density was just 4.5 people per sq. mile. But by 2010 it had grown to 87.4 people per sq. mile over a much larger area.
It should be noted that the map above has its shortcomings most notably the fact it doesn’t count Native Americans until they became full US citizens.
And there remains a huge variation in US population density. New Jersey is the densest state with 1,207 people per sq mile, while Alaska has only 1.28 or 1/1000th the population density. Washington DC is even denser at 11,685 people per sq. mile but is not yet a state.
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