The answer is surprising.

If each person living in the US, Canada, and Mexico were to travel to the zone of totality on April 8, 2024, it would clearly be an impossible transportation nightmare.

However, if we were somehow able to spread ourselves out evenly, the end result wouldn’t be so bad: only about 4 people per acre! (Or 8 per hectare.)

The eclipse will traverse around 3,000 miles from Mazatlan to Newfoundland, and the zone is on average about 110 miles across. Multiplying those two numbers gives the total area: about 330,000 square miles.

The USA has about 330 million people, Mexico about 120 million, and Canada has a bit under 40 million. Adding those numbers gives about 490,000,000 people. If we divide the total number of people by the total number of square miles, you get about 1500 per square mile.

Now a square mile is defined as 640 acres, so if we divide that 1500 people per square mile by 640 acres per square mile, you get around two and a half people per acre — or roughly five people per hectare…

But of course having everyone spread out evenly like that would be impossible!