State size comparison
compared to
Illinois is about 2.8 times smaller than California.
California is approximately 403,882 sq km, while Illinois is approximately 143,961 sq km, making Illinois 35.64% the size of California. Meanwhile, the population of California is ~37.3 million people (24.4 million fewer people live in Illinois).
Tip:
This to-scale comparison of
California
vs.
Illinois
uses the Mercator projection, which distorts the size of regions near the poles.
Try dragging the outline to reposition.
Compare further: Illinois vs. California
Flip Comparison · See true size
See Illinois on top of California
→
Quality of Life Comparison · 14 statistics
Make 18.9% more money in California
→
Cost of Living Comparison · 7 categories - 2026 data
California is 17.9% more expensive than Illinois
→
Moving from Illinois to California · Cost, visas & climate
Compare cost of living, salary and climate.
→
City Size Comparison · See true size
Compare the size of Chicago vs Sacramento
→
Our free app, MapSize by MyLifeElsewhere — compare any two places, to scale on your mobile device.