Which States Have the Highest Percentage of Water Area?

Water is a defining feature of many U.S. states, shaping their geography and ecosystems. Some states have vast water resources that cover significant portions of their land area, while others have relatively little.  Past reports about multi-year droughts in California and the western part of the United States has highlighted just how precious water is as a resource.  

The USGS has consolidated a table with the area of each state that covered by perennial water from data provided by the  U.S. Census Bureau’s table: Geography: State Area Measurements, 2010.  Perennial water refers to bodies of water that exist continuously throughout the year. This includes rivers, lakes, and streams that have a consistent flow or presence of water.

The statistics from both tables calculates the amount of area for each state and the District of Columbia that is covered by perennial water.  These calculations don’t include water from intermittent, glacier, and and marsh/swamp sources.

Which states have the highest percentage by area of perennial water and which states have the lowest amount of perennial water?

What Percentage of the United States is Covered in Water?

Overall, the United States has 264,837 square miles of water, accounting for 7% of the total 3,796,742 square miles that is the area of the country.  

State with the Largest Total Area of Water

Alaska has the most water

The state with the largest total area of water is Alaska, which has 94,743 square miles of water.  Alaska contains approximately 12,000 rivers, 3 million lakes larger than 5 acres, and numerous creeks and ponds, accounting for more than 14% of the state’s total area.

Alaska is home to many major rivers, including the Yukon River, one of the longest rivers in North America. The Kuskokwim, Tanana, and Copper Rivers are also significant, providing vital transportation routes and supporting local communities.

Alaska also has numerous lakes, with Lake Iliamna being the largest freshwater lake in Alaska. Other notable lakes include Becharof Lake and Teshekpuk Lake. Alaska is renowned for its glaciers, with more than 100,000 of them covering approximately 5% of the state’s land area. Meltwater from these glaciers account for a significant amount of runoff into Alaska’s rivers and lakes.

Michigan has the second most water of all the US states in terms of area

The state with the second largest total water area is Michigan, a distant second compared to Alaska with 40,175 square miles of water.

Michigan, often called the “Great Lakes State” as it’s bordered by four of the five Great Lakes: Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, and Lake Erie. In addition to the Great Lakes, Michigan has over 11,000 inland lakes. Some of the largest include Houghton Lake, Torch Lake, and Higgins Lake.

Top ten states with the most water by area

The top ten states for water by area are:

Minnesota water

Minnesota is famous for its lakes, with more than 11,000 lakes that are larger than ten acres. Some of the most well-known include Lake Superior, which is the largest freshwater lake by surface area in the world, and Mille Lacs Lake, a popular destination for fishing and recreation.

Where does Minnesota rank in terms of total area for water?

Minnesota, known by the nickname  “Land of 10,000 Lakes” is the state with the ninth largest total water area. Minnesota has 7,309 square miles of water.

States With the Highest Percentage of Water

Percentage wise, however, Michigan ranks as the number one state with 41.5% of its total area occupied by water.  Michigan has more than 64,980 inland lakes and ponds.

Michigan is flanked by four of the five Great Lakes, as well as Lake St. Clair, and boasts the world’s longest freshwater shoreline of any governmental unit.

Sources of water are so abundant in Michigan that no one is ever more than 6 miles from a body of water in Michigan, or 85 miles from a Great Lake.

Hawaii, with 41.2% of its total area water-based, is a close second.  Hawaii is the only state that is totally surrounded by water and is made up of islands.

Hawaii has an abundance of fresh water and hundreds of streams but very few natural lakes. Only In Hawaii, there are just five natural lakes, all of which are quite small, but 266 freshwater reservoirs with a surface area of up to 400 acres have been formed by impounding stream waters.

Alaska’s percentage of area that is water is only 14.2%.

What are the Driest States?

The driest states are found mostly in the mid-west and western part of the country.  New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Nevada, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, and West Virginia all have less than 1% of each state’s total area as water.

Map Showing the Percentage of Water Area Per State

The tile grid map below shows which states are the driest (light grey and light blue) and which states are the wettest (medium and dark blues).  

Only three states have 30% or more water area: Rhode Island, Michigan, and Hawaii.  

On the dry side, thirty states have less than five percent water area.

This chart shows how the states stack up in terms of percentage of area that is water:

Table: Land Area and Water Area of Each State and the District of Columbia

This table shows the total land area and water area of each state and the District of Columbia.  

This article was originally written on November 10, 2015 and has since been updated.

Fonte : National Geographic