State size comparison
compared to
South Dakota is about 2 times smaller than California.
California is approximately 403,882 sq km, while South Dakota is approximately 196,540 sq km, making South Dakota 48.66% the size of California. Meanwhile, the population of California is ~37.3 million people (36.4 million fewer people live in South Dakota).
Tip:
This to-scale comparison of
California
vs.
South Dakota
uses the Mercator projection, which distorts the size of regions near the poles.
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Compare further: South Dakota vs. California
Flip Comparison · See true size
See South Dakota on top of California
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Quality of Life Comparison · 18 statistics
Be 2.1 times more likely to be unemployed in California
→
Cost of Living Comparison · 7 categories - 2026 data
California is 58.6% more expensive than South Dakota
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City Size Comparison · See true size
Compare the size of New York City vs Los Angeles
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