How big is Australia compared to the US?
The US is about 24% bigger than Australia, but the 48 contiguous US states have roughly the same area as Australia.
Australia is a big country. In fact, it is the sixth largest country in the world. But it’s not as big as the United States, which is the fourth largest country in the world. Russia, Canada and China take the top three spots on that particular list.
But how big is Australia compared to the US? Well, a lot depends on how you’re measuring it. Using data from the United Nations Statistics Division, Australia’s total area is 7,692,024 square kilometres.
Size of Australia compared to United States
The area of the United States, meanwhile, is 9,525,067 square kilometres. Using these figures, the US is about 24% bigger than Australia.
However, for getting an idea of Australia’s size when it comes to things like driving times, including Alaska in the US comparison isn’t entirely helpful. Alaska is enormous, largely empty and physically separated from the rest of the United States.
Area of Australia compared to 48 contiguous US states
Perhaps a more helpful comparison is with the contiguous 48 states of the US, ditching Hawaii and Alaska. For those familiar with the rough distance from, say, New York City to Los Angeles, this helps give a better idea of how far it is from Perth to Sydney.
The contiguous 48 states, plus the District of Columbia, have a combined area of 8,080,464 square kilometres. That’s slightly bigger than Australia, but pretty darned close.
Thus, as a rough rule of thumb, assume that Australia is roughly the same size as the mainland US.
If doing that Perth to Sydney comparison, by road it’s 3,932km from Perth to Sydney. It’s 2,789km from New York to Los Angeles. This is partly because the journey across the US is more direct, but also because the countries have different shapes.
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