Is Alaska or Hawaii closer to the US?

I'm curious, could you please clarify something for me? I've heard the question, "Is Alaska or Hawaii closer to the US?" being asked, but I'm not entirely sure how to answer it. After all, both Alaska and Hawaii are part of the United States, so they're both technically "close" to the US, right? But I'm wondering if there's a more nuanced way to answer this question, perhaps in terms of geographical proximity or some other metric. Could you offer some insight on how one might best respond to this question?