Alaska is the largest state in the United States in land area at 663,268 square miles (1,717,856 km[SUP]
2[/SUP]), over twice the size of
Texas, the next largest state. Alaska is larger than all but 18 sovereign countries. Counting territorial waters, Alaska is larger than the combined area of the next three largest states: Texas,
California, and
Montana. It is also larger than the combined area of the 22 smallest U.S. states