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maybe, but in terms of density overall;

CA: 253.9 residents per square mile

FL: 397.2 residents per square mile

Should probably compare places where people live. Including the vast parts of CA that are empty desert skews this stat.

that would be helpful. is there a stat that does that? removing empty CA desert and empty FL swamp?

Large chunks of land in CA are completely deserted and uninhabitable.

What's more interesting is the local density; what does the distributions of residents per square miles looks like.