---
title: "China vs United States — area, population, currency"
description: "China is 9,596,960 km² with 1,406,585,000 people; United States is 9,833,517 km² with 341,784,857. Area, density, currency, languages and time zones side by side."
url: https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-united-states/
site: "At One Place"
---

# China vs United States

**China vs United States: United States is larger; China has more people**

9,596,960 km² vs 9,833,517 km² · 1,406,585,000 vs 341,784,857

United States is slightly larger, by 2.5% — 9,833,517 against 9,596,960 km². China is 4.1 times more populous than United States — 1,406,585,000 against 341,784,857 people.

## Side by side

|  | China | United States |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capital | Beijing | Washington, D.C. |
| Area | 9,596,960 km² | 9,833,517 km² |
| Population | 1,406,585,000 (2025) | 341,784,857 (2025) |
| Density | 146.6 /km² | 34.8 /km² |
| Currency | Chinese yuan (CNY) | United States dollar (USD) |
| Official languages | Standard Chinese | English |
| Time zones | UTC+08:00 | UTC-10:00, UTC-09:00, UTC-08:00, UTC-07:00, UTC-06:00, UTC-05:00 |
| Calling code | +86 | +1 |
| Drives on the | right | right |
| Continent | Asia | North America |
| ISO codes | CN / CHN | US / USA |

## Population density

China is 4.2 times more densely populated than United States — 147 against 35 people per km². Density is where area and population interact, and it often reverses the impression the headline figures give — a large country with a small population can feel emptier than a small crowded one by an enormous margin.

## Practical differences

- Different currencies: the Chinese yuan and the United States dollar.
- United States spans 6 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.
- Different continents — Asia and North America.

## China

The largest country in the world using a single time zone, so the sun rises in the far west around three hours later by the clock than in Beijing. China has a land border with fourteen countries — more than any other state except Russia, which also has fourteen. Its terrain runs from Mount Everest on the Nepalese border to the Turpan Depression at 154 m below sea level.

## United States

Third or fourth largest country in the world depending on how China's area is counted. It spans six standard time zones across the fifty states, from UTC-10 in Hawaii to UTC-5 on the east coast. Death Valley holds the highest reliably recorded air temperature on Earth, 56.7 °C in 1913, and is 86 m below sea level; Denali, 5,500 km away in Alaska, is 6,190 m.

> Neutral facts only. Nothing here addresses politics, government, economics or which country is preferable in any respect — population is the one figure that dates, and it carries its year.

## Common questions

### Is China bigger than United States?

United States is larger — 9,833,517 km² against 9,596,960 km².

### Which has more people, China or United States?

China, with 1,406,585,000 against 341,784,857.

### What is the time difference between China and United States?

China is UTC+08:00 and United States is UTC-10:00, UTC-09:00, UTC-08:00, UTC-07:00, UTC-06:00, UTC-05:00. Daylight saving shifts the gap during the year in places that observe it.

## Related pages

- [China](https://atoneplace.net/country/china/)
- [United States](https://atoneplace.net/country/united-states/)
- [United States vs Vietnam](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/united-states-vs-vietnam/)
- [United States vs Vatican City](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/united-states-vs-vatican-city/)
- [United States vs Venezuela](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/united-states-vs-venezuela/)
- [India vs United States](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-united-states/)
- [China vs India](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-india/)
- [China vs United Kingdom](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-united-kingdom/)
- [China vs Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-japan/)
- [China vs New Zealand](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-new-zealand/)
- [China vs France](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-france/)
- [China vs Germany](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-germany/)
- [China vs Italy](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-italy/)
- [China vs Russia](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-russia/)

## Sources

- The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/) [Public domain (US Government)]
- World Bank Open Data — The World Bank (https://data.worldbank.org/) [CC BY 4.0]