[wanderer34]

According to the 2020 US Census, FL ranked #13 overall amongst US jurisdictions and is the ninth densest state in the Union, just behind NY (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...lation_density). However, when I checked out the 2022 US Census for both states, it appears that FL is catching up to NY in the density department. It's already well known that FL already has a larger population at over 22M people (maybe higher due to a huge undercount), while NY continues to decline at 19M after hitting the 20M mark back in 2020. Here's the current states' densities for 2022:

FL - 414.8/sq mi (160/km2)
NY - 416.42/sq mi (159/km2)

It's one thing that FL is the bigger state than NY due to geography, and it's another thing that FL has the longest coastline in the continental US (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...s_by_coastline; AK has an even longer coastline than FL overall), but to have FL beat NY in population density is a shock and quite amazing, especially since NY State has been one of the densest states and NY City in general is practically the densest city in the US.

Only US states that FL will have a tougher time beating are NJ, RI, MA, CT, DE, and possibly MD due to those states' smaller geographies. But beating NY in not just population but density is a tall order than FL has done!

[Arcenal813]

Doesn't surprise me at all. Most of NY is mountains and forests.

[Corrie22]

also, ~1/3 of the land in Florida is protected conservation land....with another 5 million acres deeded out for timber, cattle, etc that's also protected

[James Bond 007]

Not sure why anyone is surprised. Florida isn't that big in land area, and its population recently surpassed NY.

Outside of the NYC metro area, NY is actually reasonably low density. Florida, on the other hand, is almost certainly more sprawled.

FL is also more densely populated than California and Pennsylvania.

[FL_Expert]

NY State statistics aren’t very meaningful when one huge city skews everything.

[wanderer34]

Originally Posted by FL_Expert

NY State statistics aren’t very meaningful when one huge city skews everything.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...er_square_mile

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...shington,_D.C.

NYC has the largest density of any American city as well as the largest population in the US. Miami is the fourth most densest primary core city in the country, behind only NYC, SF, and Boston, and only eclipsing Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. It's also the ninth densest city w/ a population of over 100K people.

It's also fair to say that with the exception of Buffalo, which had seen surprising growth in it's city limits, the rest of Upstate NY, had seen very little or stagnant growth, to the point where Rochester, then the third largest city in NY State, lost it's position to Yonkers, which is just north of the Bronx.

NYC does dominate everything in NYS to the point where about 44% of the state's population lives in NYC while FL is evenly spread out in South FL, Southwest FL, Tampa Bay, Greater Orlando, and Greater Jacksonville. In a few years, it will be pretty apparent that FL will most definitely surpass NY in density as well as in population and another state where FL may have a chance in beating is Maryland, so long as it maintains very robust growth to the point where it can stay even with MD's density. And if that were the case today, than FL would have an eye popping population of 34,105,500.

[Chas863]

It doesn't surprise me one bit that people are moving FROM NY state and moving TO Florida. I mean, who WOULDN'T do so if they had the financial means and freedom to do so?

[Ellwood]

I spent many winters in the Keys in FL and loved it November through March, but was happy to return to upstate NY (Saratoga Springs) as soon as the humidity returned. Saratoga has been growing in population tremendously. Upstate NY maintains much unpopulated and beautiful areas.

I can't blame those moving south from NY as being a blue state does not sit well with many.

[Ghaati]

Originally Posted by FL_Expert

NY State statistics aren’t very meaningful when one huge city skews everything.

When people think of New York City, they think primarily of Manhattan (even though it's only one of six boroughs in the city). Manhattan Island is only 22 square miles. It's pretty small.

[FL_Expert]

Originally Posted by Ghaati

When people think of New York City, they think primarily of Manhattan (even though it's only one of six boroughs in the city). Manhattan Island is only 22 square miles. It's pretty small.

I don’t mean the city is physically large. It’s huge in terms of population, density, income, etc. and it’s enough to significantly skew NYS statistics.