US deaths: 234,034 US population: 330,052,960 Death rate per million: 709

US deaths minus NY: 200,248 NY population: 310,674,858 Death rate per million: 644

You'd have to remove NJ and Connecticut (the top three states) to make much of a difference.

Not just that, you'd be comparing with countries that also have major cities that are particularly badly affected and have not removed those figures from their total.

Thank you.