United States on five projections
United States covers 9,493,296 km² of ground. Mercator draws it 2.30 times over. Area and shape readings on all five projections, each one measured.
2.30 times
The United States covers 9,493,296 km², anchored at 44.8° N, inflated 2.30 times. It is 4.33 times Greenland's true area and still loses to it on Mercator: 4.33 multiplied by 2.30 does not reach 16.5.
Standing on Gall-Peters's standard parallel
Gall-Peters deforms no shape at 45° N and 45° S - its standard parallels, and the only two lines on that map where the indicatrix is a circle. The United States anchors at 44.8°, almost exactly on one, and reads 1.01 on shape. The same map stretches Brazil to 1.93.
This object
- True area
- 9,493,296 km²
- Anchor latitude
- 44.8° N
- Angular radius
- 50.9°
- Draggable latitude range
- -85.1° … 80.8°
On five projections
Each number is measured against its own projection's equator, not against another projection. These five rows do not share an axis - they are five answers to the same question: what did this map give up to lay this place flat?
| Projection | Area distortion | Shape distortion |
|---|---|---|
| Equirectangular | 1.46 | 1.41 |
| Mercator | 2.30 | 1.00 constant |
| Natural Earth | 1.26 | 1.50 |
| Equal Earth | 1.00 constant | 1.73 |
| Gall-Peters | 1.00 constant | 1.01 |
Mercator inflates it most, 2.30 times over. Equal Earth stretches it most: its long axis is 1.73 times its short one.
The same size, drawn otherwise
Nothing in the catalogue is close to United States's area at a far enough latitude to be worth the comparison.
Bigger than the map admits
Mercator draws nothing larger than United States smaller than it.
On an equal-area projection this section is empty, for every object there is. An equal-area map draws in proportion to true area, so it cannot draw a larger thing smaller. That is a definition, not a coincidence.
Open it in the tool
Drag United States across the latitude bands and the readout follows.