Guatemala covers 108,889 square kilometres (about 42,042 square miles): almost exactly the size of Tennessee, and a little under half the size of the United Kingdom. It is in Central America, which the UN counts as part of North America.

In short: INE, Guatemala’s statistics institute, and the Vice Presidency both print 108,889 km². Measured the same way (land plus lakes and rivers), Tennessee is 109,153 km², so Guatemala is 99.8% of Tennessee. Texas is about 6.3 times Guatemala, California about 3.8 times, and the UK about 2.2 times (Guatemala is 45% of the UK and 83% of England). In the UN’s M49 geoscheme Guatemala sits in Central America, a sub-region of North America.

Guatemala’s area, and where the number comes from

PublisherArea printedNotes
INE Guatemala, 2018 census results report108,889 km²North of the Central American isthmus, between latitudes 13°44’ and 18°30’ north; 22 departments, 340 municipalities
Vice Presidency of Guatemala, datos generales108,889 km²Borders Mexico to the west and north, Belize and Honduras to the east, El Salvador to the southeast; coasts on the Atlantic and Pacific
Spain’s foreign ministry country fact sheet (edition dated September 2025)108,889 km², of which 2,500 km² are rivers and lakesThe same sheet prints 108,899 km² further down, a one-digit discrepancy
The Nature Conservancy (secondary)42,042 square miles108,889 km² converted to square miles is 42,042

Both Guatemalan government sources print 108,889 km², and it is the number used for every comparison below. The 108,899 km² in Spain’s fact sheet appears once, on its Superficie line, while the same sheet’s geography paragraph says 108,889; neither of the two Guatemalan sources above prints 108,899.

Guatemala compared with US states

Like with like matters here. Spain’s fact sheet says Guatemala’s 108,889 km² includes about 2,500 km² of rivers and lakes. The US Census Bureau’s table splits each state into land, inland water, and (for coastal states) coastal, Great Lakes and territorial water. A state’s total area therefore includes sea out to its territorial limit, which Guatemala’s figure does not. The fair comparison is a state’s land plus inland water, which is what the table uses. For landlocked Tennessee and Kentucky that equals the Census total.

PlaceLand + inland water, km²Same, sq miCensus total area, km²Size compared with Guatemala (108,889 km²)
Kentucky104,65640,407104,656Guatemala is 4.0% larger
Virginia105,59940,772110,787Guatemala is 3.1% larger
Ohio107,05641,335116,098Guatemala is 1.7% larger
Guatemala108,88942,042
Tennessee109,15342,144109,153Tennessee is 0.2% larger (264 km²)
Pennsylvania117,34245,306119,2801.08 times Guatemala
Mississippi123,52347,692125,4381.13 times
Louisiana123,71347,766135,6591.14 times
New York127,20849,115141,2971.17 times
Florida151,90658,652170,3121.40 times
California410,805158,612423,9673.8 times
Texas691,133266,848695,6626.3 times
50 states + DC9,369,4179,833,517about 86 times

Land + inland water is the sum of the Census Bureau’s land and inland-water columns (State Area Measurements, boundaries as of 1 January 2010); the square-mile sums can differ from the Census total by 1 because of rounding. Census total area also counts coastal, Great Lakes and territorial water. Ratios and percentages are our arithmetic from those figures.

The comparison changes with the column. On Census total area, Virginia (110,787 km²) and Ohio (116,098 km²) look bigger than Guatemala, because their totals include coastal and territorial water (Virginia) or Great Lakes water (Ohio). On land plus inland water, both are slightly smaller. Tennessee is the one state that matches on either measure, because it has no coastal or territorial water at all.

Guatemala compared with the UK

The Office for National Statistics publishes Standard Area Measurements for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in hectares, including the area to mean high water, which is land plus inland water up to the coastline: the same basis as the US table above.

PlaceArea to mean high water, km² (ONS, December 2024)Compared with Guatemala (108,889 km²)
Scotland78,801Guatemala is 1.38 times Scotland
Guatemala108,889
England130,464Guatemala is 83% of England
United Kingdom (four nations added together)244,378Guatemala is 45% of the UK; the UK is 2.2 times Guatemala

ONS figures converted from hectares (1 km² = 100 ha) and rounded; the UK row is the sum of the four countries. The UK government’s toponymic guidelines give a rounder figure for the UK: roughly 95,000 square miles (244,000 km²).

Is Guatemala in Central America or North America?

Both, depending on the level. The UN Statistics Division’s M49 standard, which UN agencies use to group countries for statistics, lists Guatemala in Central America (code 013) alongside Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama. It also states that the continent of North America (code 003) comprises Northern America, the Caribbean and Central America. So in the UN scheme:

  • Guatemala is in Central America and in North America.
  • It is not in Northern America, a narrower M49 group that the UN lists separately (Mexico is not in it either).
  • It is not in South America.
  • For grouping by region, M49 also places Central America inside Latin America and the Caribbean.

The UN adds that these groupings are for statistical convenience and imply nothing about political or other affiliation.

Sources

Frequently Asked Questions

How big is Guatemala?

108,889 square kilometres, the figure printed by Guatemala’s National Statistics Institute (INE) in its 2018 census report and by the Vice Presidency. That is about 42,042 square miles, the figure The Nature Conservancy publishes. The country is divided into 22 departments and 340 municipalities.

Which US state is Guatemala the same size as?

Tennessee. The US Census Bureau gives Tennessee 109,153 km² (42,144 sq mi) of land and inland water, 264 km² more than Guatemala’s 108,889 km², so Guatemala is 99.8% of Tennessee. Ohio and Virginia, measured the same way, are slightly smaller than Guatemala.

How big is Guatemala compared to Texas and California?

Measured as land plus inland water from the Census Bureau’s table, Texas (691,133 km²) is about 6.3 times the size of Guatemala and California (410,805 km²) about 3.8 times.

How big is Guatemala compared to the UK?

Less than half. The Office for National Statistics’ area to the mean high-water line for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland adds up to 244,378 km², so Guatemala is about 45% of the UK, and about 83% of England alone (130,464 km²).

Is Guatemala in Central America or North America?

Both. The UN’s M49 standard lists Guatemala in Central America, and says the continent of North America comprises Northern America, the Caribbean and Central America. It is not in South America.