Canada vs the United States: which has more area?
Canada is 1.05× the area of United States of America in our Natural Earth boundary dataset. The difference between the estimates is 432,669 km².
What the map can hide
This comparison needs a definition of area before a map can give a useful answer. Land area excludes inland water; total surface area adds water according to the source’s statistical rules. The answer above instead compares the areas enclosed by this site’s map polygons.
A coastline polygon can enclose lakes without separately classifying them. It can also omit water or small islands because of its boundary conventions. These estimates do not settle the official land-area or total-area ordering. For either question, use the same statistical source and definition for both countries.
Compare the outlines
Use Equal Earth to inspect the two full country outlines, then move Canada over the United States. Notice the distant parts and island gaps: a bounding rectangle would include ocean and exaggerate the enclosed area. Read the fixed figures alongside the source note.
Open this pair in the equal-area map or compare it in Mercator. The selected outline moves on the map, while both area numbers stay fixed.
How to read these figures
The United States feature includes Alaska and Hawaii; this is not a comparison with only the contiguous 48 states. Canada’s Arctic islands are part of its mapped feature. Both figures use Natural Earth’s generalized boundaries and the same spherical calculation, rather than official area tables.
Both areas are calculated from the original Natural Earth 1:50m polygons before display simplification. They are consistent estimates for this site, rather than official land or total-area statistics. The area guide explains what those definitions include. The projection guide explains the changing drawing.