I wanted to have some fun, so I started drawing states (that can cross original state boundaries) of equal population. Since 308,745,538/50 = 6,174,911, that will be roughly the size of each state, with a maximum of a 5% range above and below.
1. Everything is based on 2010 census numbers (its just a lot easier that way)
2. Has to be based on counties, not municipalities (in all but one case, NYC which might as well be its own state
3. No county splits (with one exception, LA County because its so huge. As you can see, that and Ventura County I'm still deciding how to do the last two states)
4. I tried my best to create states that have areas of similar characteristics (though in some areas its very hard based on what I've previously drawn, like the tan one in West Texas, south NM and South AZ)
5. All states are contiguos except the one with Staten Island (which includes Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia as part of it). This is the one kind of ugly thing I just had to go with.
If you have ideas on how to better clean these up, let me know. I'm not going to modify them a huge amount but if something fits better, I'll change it (i.e. That Eastern Pennsylvania state can look better). Otherwise I'll get right down to the info.
You can follow state boundaries a lot better if you have 49-state plan. But if you are willing to loosen the equality standards a bit:
California 6,033 (6)
Washington 1.089
OreHawAska 0.956
Arizona 1,039
UtaVada 0.885
ColoWyo 0.906
NebIdaMontAkotas 0.951
The following are paired:
IowaKan 0.955
Missouri 0.970
OklaArka 1,080
The following are paired:
Texas 4.072 (4)
Louisaexico 1.068
Minnesota 0.859
Wisconsin 0.921
Illinois 2.078 (2)
Indiana 1.050
OhMiTucky 4.172 (4)
Tennessee 1.028
GeoBamaSippi 2.823 (3)
Florida 3.045 (3)
NoCaVaWeVa 3.889 (4)
Maryland (includes DC) 1.032
Pennsylvania 2.057 (2)
Massachusetts 1.060
New Jersey (+Manhattan, Staten Island): 1.901 (2)
Long Island Sound (Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Delaware, Fairfield, New Haven): 1.029
New York: 2.065 (2, one Upstate, one New York City)
New England (minus MA, and two counties of CT): 0.990
