The federal government owns more than half of the land in five states, ranging from 50.2% to 84.5% of the total in the state.
Can you name which five? Answer in first comment.
Overall the federal government — hey, that would be us citizens — owns 28.8% of all the land in the U.S.
Nevada 84.5%
Alaska 69.1%
Utah 57.4%
Oregon 53.1%
Idaho 50.2%
Next are Arizona 48.1%, California 45.3%, Wyoming 42.3% and New Mexico 41.8%.
The least are Connecticut and Rhode Island, 0.4% of each.
I guessed Nevada, Oregon and Idaho, as well as Arizona and New Mexico, so I wasn’t too far off. I completely forgot about the obvious choice of Alaska–maybe because it’s the only state I’ve never been in.
Here’s a map of federal land from Radical Cartography.