Member-only story
The One Minute Geographer: The Triplets: Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont
The three states of northern New England are quite alike on many measures of geography and demography. And, believe it or not, they are also quite a bit like West Virginia. (Quadruplets?)
When I mention rankings among the 50 states, keep in mind that what state is 1, 2 or 3 may mean a difference of a decimal. States change rankings from census to census and even from year to year if an annual survey is taken. (Unless it’s square miles of territory, lol.)
Population size: All three states have relatively small populations. New Hampshire has the most people (1.4 million) but still ranks only 40th. New Hampshire edged out Maine by 15,000 people since 2010, so Maine is now 41st. Vermont is much smaller with less than half the population of the other two, ranking 49th. (Wyoming is 50th; West Virginia is 38th.)
Areal size: Maine’s the big dog in New England in terms of area; it’s half of New England. But Maine is still a relatively small state nationally — 39th. Vermont is 45th, a hair larger than New Hampshire at 46. (West Virginia is almost the same size as Maine — 41st.)
Rural: If you read my earlier post about Maine being the most rural state in the nation (2010, latest figures) you may recall that mostly that means that a large percentage of…