Here's how I computed the average width of a state. I represented each state as a grid of 900 points. Then, for each point, I calculated how far you could travel in a straight east-west line without leaving the state. The average width is the average of these distances.
Nice quiz. Unless there is already a quiz addressing it, it would be interesting to do the same with the maximum width vs maximum height (or vice versa for the tall states). For example, Oklahoma is twice as wide as high considering its panhandle but the "average" width is obviously much less.
Hawaii looks, to the naked eye, to be about 2.00. I wouldn't have thought travelling across the water between the islands to be "leaving" the state, but maybe that's how you categorise that here and therefore disqualify Hawaii?
I like these kind of quizzes about geographical proportions. It is interesting that US states right north of Texas are like horizontally wide boxes, but in other parts of country the main direction is north-west, as with California. There must be historical reason for this, or then it has something to do with the fact that on coasts the oceans dictate partly borders and shapes, but in the middle of country every border is agreed by humans.
sorry for being pedantic