How does New York compare with the Death Star?
New York measures 657.7 km (408.7 mi) east to west, and the Death Star measures 160 km (99.4 mi) across. New York comes to 4.11 times the measured size of the Death Star, a difference of 497.7 km (309.3 mi). The two are not judged on the same axis: New York is quoted as an east-west span and the Death Star as a diameter, so the honest statement is one figure against the other, 24% of it, and not one outline against another. New York and the Death Star are both written in hundreds of kilometres, so the 4.11-to-one gap has to be read off the digits rather than off the unit.
| Object | Real size | Axis measured | What the figure covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 657.7 km 408.7 mi |
East-west span | US State |
| Death Star | 160 km 99.4 mi |
Diameter | Star Wars |
Both figures, New York and Death Star, come from the Size It Up measurement set, one real-world size and one measured axis per object, last checked in September 2026; outline provenance is listed on the sources page.
Why this one is hard to judge by eye
New York is drawn about 4.11 times as wide as the Death Star as well as 4.11 times its measured size, so the area it takes in the frame grows faster than the figure anyone quotes. The outline of New York that most people carry comes from a world map, and every projection that keeps angles true stretches whatever sits far from the equator; the outline of the Death Star above is scaled from measured distances instead.
What each figure covers
New York. New York State is measured east to west. The state is roughly a hundred times the area of the city that shares its name.
Death Star. The figure is a diameter rather than a length: the object is a sphere, so every axis gives the same answer. It is the widely used value for the first station.
New York is quoted as an east-west span and the Death Star as a diameter: two conventions, so the ratio compares the two numbers rather than the two objects.
What else is about that size?
Measured the same way, New York at 657.7 km sits within a tenth of Honduras at 670.3 km, Belarus at 641.4 km and South Dakota at 621 km. Swapping any of those in for New York would move its ratio to the Death Star by less than 10%.