Hike to the top of the tallest building in Vermont, and you’ll barely break a sweat. The teeny, tiny Decker Towers apartment complex in Burlington is the tallest building in the Green Mountain State.
Imagine the view from the top of the tallest building in America — the 104-floor, 1,776-foot One World Trade Center in New York City — and those people at the base of Decker Towers would look like ants.
HighRises.com compiled a list of the tallest building in each U.S. state, and the results are rather varied. The tallest building in New York City is about twice the size of the tallest building in Seattle, and well over three times the height of the tallest building in Portland, Ore. Map too small? See the full size version of the map here.
New York eclipses the nation in terms of most high-rise buildings. The Big Apple has 6,229 high-rise buildings, while Chicago ranks second place with 1,180 high-rise buildings. The majority of those high-rise buildings — 76.47% of them — are used as office space. But in Washington, D.C., the tallest building is actually a church — the 329-foot, one-story Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. And in Mississippi, the tallest building is a casino — the Beau Rivage Casino Hotel.
According to LiveStrong estimates, you burn six calories per flight of stairs. That means by the time you get to the top of Vermont’s Decker Towers, you’ll have left a whopping 66 calories down at the base. Climbing to the top of other state’s tallest buildings might be a bit more difficult. Chicago actually capitalizes on the enormous height of its Willis Tower with its own race. The 2,109 step race takes athletes 1,729 feet above the ground, where they climb 108 floors.
