How Wide Is New York State? Total Distance From East to West

New York State is in the middle of the pack as far as size goes. The Empire State ranks 27^th on the list of states by total area. Due to its size, people may believe that the state is narrow. So, how wide is New York State? We’re going to show you the width of this state when measured from east to west, showing you the widest and narrowest points.

How Wide is New York State?

New York State is roughly 330 miles wide when measured in a straight line from east to west. This measurement is derived by taking the measure of the state from the place where New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont meet. From there, the measure passes across the state to the border with Canada on Lake Erie. That total distance is roughly 330 miles.

However, a larger width measurement is possible when using a diagonal line instead of a straight one. In this case. The greatest measurement in the state is found by starting from the northeast corner of the state at the border with Canada. From there, the measure travels to the southwest corner of the state near the border with Pennsylvania in French Creek, New York.

Neither of those measures takes Long Island into account, though. Since many sources count the Aleutian Islands for Alaska as part of its width, it’s only fair to include Long Island. Measuring from the Montauk Lighthouse at the farthest reach of the island to the southwest corner of the Empire State once again, we can find that the absolute greatest width of New York is about 412 miles.

Several narrow measurements exist for the state when ignoring the water boundaries in the Long Island Sound. For example, the boundary from the Hudson River to the boundary of the Bronx by Eastchester Bay is a mere 7 miles.

How Wide Is the Empire State Compared to Others?

New York is not among the top 5 widest states. Yet, despite being on the smallest side of the average for a state, New York is in the top 10 widest states in the country. Oklahoma, one of the widest, is only about 135 miles wider than New York State.

Neither of these states can match Alaska for its width. While the main landmass is about 1,400 miles wide when measured from the west coast to the southeasternmost part of Alaska, it has closer to 2,400 miles.

That would mean Alaska is 7 times wider than New York’s average, and about 6 times as wide when including the greatest width of the state. All in all, New York State is fairly wide compared to most states.

The Overall Size of New York State

We have now looked at the width of New York. Now, it’s time to look at the overall size of the state. The state has a total size of 54,555 square miles, which is 141,297 square kilometers. This state is ranked 27^th in total size in the country.

Several states are near New York in terms of area. All the following states have a difference of about 2,000 square miles:

• North Carolina
• Alabama
• Arkansas
• Louisiana
• Iowa

Each of these states is close to the same size as New York in terms of sheer size by square miles. Compared to the largest states, though, New York is rather small. The following chart shows the largest states by size compared to New York.

New York State is much smaller than the largest states in the country. It’s over 10 times smaller than Alaska, and it is also about a third of the size of Montana. So, the Empire State is somewhat wide. Yet, it doesn’t have the great area measures that other states possess.

About New York State

New York State is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. This state is bordered by Pennsylvania to the south and New Jersey to the southwest. To the east lie Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont. The state also borders Canada at its west and northwest, including a border in Lake Ontario.

New York State is a major hub for commerce, entertainment, trade, and culture in the present. The GDP of the state as a whole is about $1.5 trillion! New York City is the largest city by population in the state and country, and it is one of the most influential in the world.

Not only is New York very important in the modern day, but it is also significant to the nation’s history. Roughly a third of all battles during the Revolutionary War occurred in this state. New York City was also a major entry point for immigration throughout the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. It is impossible to overstate the significance of New York to the United States.

The Population in the Empire State

Despite being on the smaller side of the average in terms of state sizes, New York has the fourth-highest population of any state in the United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, New York had a population of 20,201,230 people in 2020. Recent estimates suggest that about 600,000 people have moved out of the area in the past 2 years.

Many people left large cities like New York City as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but others were driven away by job losses and economic hardships. The next series of estimates or the next census will show whether the state has recovered its pre-COVID population.

So, how wide is New York State? It’s quite wide compared to many other states with its total area. Moreover, the state is at least large enough to contain over 20 million people, many of them concentrated in a small portion of the state! Still, other states are far wider than New York, including Alaska.  

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Sean Pavone/Shutterstock.com

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