Arizona vs Italy: Size Comparison

Arizona covers 113,655 square miles of land; Italy covers 114,178 square miles — a ratio of 1.0, making them essentially identical in size. The difference is just 523 square miles, less than half of one percent — closer than almost any other US-state-to-country pairing. Yet the two could hardly feel more different. Italy packs 59 million people, millennia of cities, and a boot-shaped peninsula into its frame; Arizona holds 7.6 million people amid desert, canyon country, and ponderosa highlands. One is defined by human history layered deep; the other by geology on a grand, empty scale. Overlay Arizona on Italy and the Grand Canyon would land somewhere near Rome. It is a perfect demonstration that land area says nothing about what a place contains — two near-twin footprints, two utterly different worlds drawn inside them.

Arizona vs Italy by the numbers

In other words, you could fit Italy inside Arizona about 1.0 times. Area figures are land area (square miles). Sources: US Census Bureau, 2024 Gazetteer (land area, sq mi)