• Alaska has the lowest population density by state.Tom Fowlks/Photodisc/Getty Images
  
  Population density lets you know which areas of the United States have elbow-to-elbow crowds of people and which have relatively secluded spaces of land. The U.S. Census Bureau takes the population of each state and county every 10 years. By using the gathered numbers and the known area in square miles of each state, the Census Bureau calculates a population density of persons per square mile of land area. Because the most recent figures were calculated in 2000, all the figures below are taken from the 2000 census.
  
  

Alaska

• Alaska had a total population of 626,932 and a total area of 663,267.26 square miles, giving the state a population density of 1.1. The counties of Denali Borough, Yakutat City and Borough, North Slope Borough, and Lake and Peninsula Borough had the lowest density in the state, with 0.1.
  
  

Wyoming

• Wyoming had a total population of 493,782 and a total area of 97,813.56 square miles, giving the state a population density of 5.1. Niobrara County had the lowest density in the state at 0.9.
  
  

Montana

• Montana had a total population of 902,195 and a total area of 147,042.40 square miles, giving the state a population density of 6.2. Garfield County and Petroleum County had the lowest density within the state at 0.3 each.
  
  

North Dakota

• North Dakota had a total population of 642,200 and a total area of 70,699.79 square miles, giving the state a population density of 9.3. Slope County had the lowest population density in the state with 0.6.
  
  

South Dakota

• South Dakota had a total population of 754,844 and a total area of 77,116.49 square miles, giving the state a population density of 9.9. Harding County had the lowest density in the state at 0.5.
  
  

New Mexico

• In 2000, New Mexico had a total population of 1,819,046 and a total area of 121,589.48 square miles, giving it a population density of 15.0. Harding County had the lowest population density within the state at 0.4.
  
  

Idaho

• The 2000 census reported that Idaho had a total population of 1,293,953 and total area of 83,570.08 square miles, with a population density of 15.6. Clark County has a population density of 0.6, making it the lowest in the state.
  
  

Nevada

• Nevada had a total population of 1,998,257 and total area of 110,560.71 square miles, giving it a population density of 18.2. Esmeralda County had the lowest density in the state at 0.3.
  
  

Nebraska

• Nebraska had a total population of 1,711,263 and total area of 77,353.73 square miles, giving the state a density of 22.3. Arthur County and McPherson County both had a density of 0.6, the lowest in the state.
  
  

Utah

• Utah had a total population of 2,233,169 and a total area of 84,898.83 square miles, with a population density of 27.2. Garfield County had the lowest density in the state with 0.9.