Texas Unraveled: 12 Intriguing Size Facts Every Newcomer Should Know

If you are new to Texas, welcome! I've met so many people in just the last year, either through winning prizes on our morning show or in conversation out and about that say I'm not originally from here. Fortunately, several of them that I have spoken to say they love the Lonestar State and plan to stick around! 

So here is something for you newbies, you may not realize just how big our state is, but these 12 fun facts will help you to realize just how big Texas is.

1. Texas is bigger than the UK - 93,628 square miles to Texas' 268,500 sq. mi.
2. There are 3550 routes designated in the Farm to Market Road system.
3. 48 of the other states can individually fit into Texas, the only exception is Alaska.
4. US Highway 83 is the longest highway in Texas at 783 miles.
5. The state capitol building is the largest domed capitol building with over 18 acres of floor space.
6. The Texas Triangle, which is composed of DFW, Houston, and San Antonio/Austin, makes up 21 million of the 29 million people that make up the population of Texas.
7. DFW Airport is larger than the island of Manhattan at 27 square miles.
8. If Texas became a country again, it would be the 40th largest out of the 193 countries in the world.
9. Texas is larger than every country in Europe.
10. El Paso is closer to Denver (637 miles) than it is to Houston (747 miles).
11. El Paso is closer to the Pacific Ocean (and San Diego, California) than it is to Texarkana.
12. Texas is 1.65 times larger than California.

That should put the size of Texas into a little bit more perspective about just how big Texas is but it is nowhere near the size of Alaska which Texas can entirely fit inside its borders 2 times over.

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