State size comparison

compared to

California is about 2.8 times bigger than Iowa.

Iowa is approximately 144,701 sq km, while California is approximately 403,882 sq km, making California 179% larger than Iowa. Meanwhile, the population of Iowa is ~3.0 million people (34.2 million more people live in California).
Tip: This to-scale comparison of Iowa vs. California uses the Mercator projection, which distorts the size of regions near the poles.
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Compare further: California vs. Iowa
Flip Comparison · See true size
See California on top of Iowa
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Cost of Living Comparison · 7 categories - 2026 data
Iowa is 22.3% cheaper than California
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