Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico, Spanish for "rich port" and officially the "Commonwealth of Puerto Rico," is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeast Caribbean Sea, approximately 1000 miles southeast of Miami, Florida. Puerto Rico is not an official US state but does possess some of the same rights as a state and, similarly to Washington DC, could conceivably become a state at some point in the future.

If Puerto Rico were an entire US state, its 3,515 square miles (mi²) area would make it the third-smallest state in terms of size, more diminutive than every state but Rhode Island and Delaware. However, Puerto Rico's population, estimated to be 3,153,898 as of 2023, would rank 33rd out of 51, just below Nevada and just above Arkansas. Puerto Rico's population has decreased by an estimated 15.35% from 2010 to 2023, significantly more than any existing US state.

Although Puerto Rico's population is contracting, its population density remains high. Currently estimated at 912 people per square mile, Puerto Rico's population density is nearly ten times the US national density of 96 people/mi². It would rank as the fourth-highest among existing US states. The most populous city in Puerto Rico is the island's capital, San Juan, estimated to have approximately 342,259 residents. This makes San Juan the 57th-largest city under United States jurisdiction.

Rhode Island was the last of the 13 original colonies to ratify the Constitution, entering the Union in May 1790. The state has been reliably Democratic since 1928, only voting Republican four times—twice for Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956, Nixon in 1972, and Reagan in 1984, when he won every state except Minnesota. In 2020, Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump by just over 20%.

Since its first participation in 1792, the Ocean State has had four electoral votes, except for the 1910s and 1920s, when it had five. It has the most electoral votes proportional to size—one for every 303 square miles. Heading into releasing the 2020 Census results, the state had been projected to lose an electoral vote. This did not occur.