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  3. Sierra Leone vs United States

Sierra Leone's area vs the United States': size comparison by land type

Updated on by Georank team

The United States is 137 times bigger by total area compared to Sierra Leone: 3,794,100 sq mi vs 27,699 sq mi. Without inland water, the land area of the United States is 3,531,839 sq mi vs 27,869 sq mi for Sierra Leone — a 126.7 times difference in territory size.

  • Sierra Leone ranks 117/197 by total surface area vs 3/197 for the United States.
  • Sierra Leone occupies 0.05% of the land mass of all countries, compared with 6.14% for the United States.
  • 54.7% of Sierra Leone's area is agricultural land vs 46.1% in the United States.
  • Sierra Leone has 0.08% of the world's agricultural land area — the US has 8.83%.
  • 34.3% of Sierra Leone is covered by forests, compared to 33.9% in the US.
  • 0.06% of the world's forests are in Sierra Leone, and 7.67% are in the United States.

True size map comparison: Sierra Leone vs United States

See how Sierra Leone and the United States compare in true size on the map. Drag the outlines to different latitudes to see how the Mercator projection affects their apparent size.

Total size and land area comparison

Sierra Leone United States
Total area 27,699
sq mi 		3,794,100
sq mi
Size difference ratio 1 137
Total area rank 117/197 3/197
Share of all countries' surface area 0.01% 1.93%
Land area 27,869
sq mi 		3,531,839
sq mi
Land area difference ratio 1 126.7
Land area rank 116/197 3/197
Share of all countries' land area 0.05% 6.14%
Population 8,642,022 341,784,857
Population density 323 ppl/mi² 97.3 ppl/mi²

Surface area by type

Sierra Leone United States
Forest area 9,559
sq mi 		1,196,125
sq mi
Forest area as share of land 34.3% 33.9%
Forest area rank 98/196 4/196
World's forests share 0.06% 7.67%
Agricultural land area 15,247
sq mi 		1,627,576
sq mi
Agricultural land share 54.7% 46.1%
Agricultural land area rank 96/194 2/194
Share of global agricultural land 0.08% 8.83%
Arable land 6,116
sq mi 		585,190
sq mi
Arable land share 21.9% 16.6%
Arable land area rank 89/191 2/191
Permanent cropland 637
sq mi 		12,242
sq mi
Permanent cropland share 2.29% 0.35%
Permanent cropland area rank 90/192 14/192
Water area 0
sq mi 		262,262
sq mi
Water as share of total area 0% 6.91%
Water area rank 191/197 3/197
Roads length 7,270
mi 		4,092,730
mi
Land borders length 679
mi 		7,458
mi
Coastline length 249.8
mi 		12,380
mi
Share of marine protected waters 1.7% 19%

Size of Sierra Leone compared to states in USA

If Sierra Leone were a state in the US, it would be the 41st biggest by land area: larger than West Virginia, smaller than South Carolina, and 9.37 times smaller than the size of Texas.

# State Land area Compared to Sierra Leone
1 Alaska 570,641 sq mi x20.5
2 Texas 261,232 sq mi x9.37
3 California 155,779 sq mi x5.59
4 Montana 145,546 sq mi x5.22
5 New Mexico 121,298 sq mi x4.35
6 Arizona 113,594 sq mi x4.08
7 Nevada 109,781 sq mi x3.94
8 Colorado 103,642 sq mi x3.72
9 Wyoming 97,093 sq mi x3.48
10 Oregon 95,988 sq mi x3.44
11 Idaho 82,643 sq mi x2.97
12 Utah 82,169 sq mi x2.95
13 Kansas 81,759 sq mi x2.93
14 Minnesota 79,627 sq mi x2.86
15 Nebraska 76,824 sq mi x2.76
16 South Dakota 75,811 sq mi x2.72
17 North Dakota 69,001 sq mi x2.48
18 Missouri 68,742 sq mi x2.47
19 Oklahoma 68,595 sq mi x2.46
20 Washington 66,456 sq mi x2.38
21 Georgia 57,513 sq mi x2.06
22 Michigan 56,539 sq mi x2.03
23 Iowa 55,857 sq mi x2
24 Illinois 55,519 sq mi x1.99
25 Wisconsin 54,158 sq mi x1.94
26 Florida 53,625 sq mi x1.92
27 Arkansas 52,035 sq mi x1.87
28 Alabama 50,645 sq mi x1.82
29 North Carolina 48,618 sq mi x1.74
30 New York 47,126 sq mi x1.69
31 Mississippi 46,923 sq mi x1.68
32 Pennsylvania 44,743 sq mi x1.61
33 Louisiana 43,204 sq mi x1.55
34 Tennessee 41,235 sq mi x1.48
35 Ohio 40,861 sq mi x1.47
36 Virginia 39,490 sq mi x1.42
37 Kentucky 39,486 sq mi x1.42
38 Indiana 35,826 sq mi x1.29
39 Maine 30,843 sq mi x1.11
40 South Carolina 30,061 sq mi x1.08
* Sierra Leone 27,869 sq mi *
41 West Virginia 24,038 sq mi 0.86
42 Maryland 9,707 sq mi 0.35
43 Vermont 9,217 sq mi 0.33
44 New Hampshire 8,953 sq mi 0.32
45 Massachusetts 7,800 sq mi 0.28
46 New Jersey 7,354 sq mi 0.26
47 Hawaii 6,423 sq mi 0.23
48 Connecticut 4,842 sq mi 0.17
49 Puerto Rico 3,459 sq mi 0.12
50 Delaware 1,949 sq mi 0.07
51 Rhode Island 1,045 sq mi 0.04
52 Guam 209.7 sq mi 0.008
53 Northern Mariana Islands 179.2 sq mi 0.006
54 US Virgin Islands 133.7 sq mi 0.005
55 American Samoa 76.4 sq mi 0.003
56 District of Columbia 61 sq mi 0.002

Sierra Leone vs United States size on the map

Data sources: World Bank | Agriculture & Rural Development (2026, retrieved 2026-04-06).

GeoRank.org/size/sierra-leone/united-states | CC BY

The map above outlines the borders of Sierra Leone and the United States but is not accurate for size comparison because it's a 2d map with Mercator projection that distorts territories near the poles. The farther a country is from the equator, the more magnified it appears. More about country size projections.

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Data sources:

  1. World Bank | Agriculture & Rural Development (2023–2026, retrieved 2026-04-06)
  2. Wikidata (2026, retrieved 2026-02-08)
  3. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) (2025, retrieved 2026-02-20)
  4. United Nations | World Population Prospects (2026, retrieved 2026-03-10)
  5. U.S. Census Bureau (2025, retrieved 2026-02-08)

Total agricultural land encompasses all areas used for agriculture: territories under permanent and temporary crops and pastures. It includes land under flowering shrubs, fruit and nut trees, and vineyards, but excludes sites utilized for timber production.

Arable land encompasses fields utilized for temporary crop production, pastures, market or kitchen gardens, and temporarily fallowed land. Land abandoned due to shifting cultivation practices is not included.

Permanent cropland refers to farmland for the long-term cultivation of crops, such as coffee, cocoa, and rubber, which do not require replanting after each harvest. This category encompasses land with permanent crops like flowering shrubs, fruit and nut trees, and vines, but does not include land under trees for timber production.

Inland areas under water, such as large rivers, lakes, and some coastal waterways.

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