US State Map

The United States is a federal republic consisting of fifty states, a federal district known as Washington, D.C. (the capital city of the United States of America), 5 major self-governing territories, and various possessions. The forty eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., are in North America between Mexico and Canada, while Alaska is in the far north-western part of North America and Hawaii is an archipelago in the midPacific. Territories of the U.S. are scattered throughout the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.

Powers, Functions and Representation of the States of the United States

The United States is a huge nation which comprises 50 states and a federal district, Washington D.C., which is the capital of the nation. The area of he states is not uniform. While Alaska is the largest state of the country comprising an area of 665,384 square miles, Rhode Island is the smallest and covers an area of just 1,545 square miles. For a better administration, the all the 50 states are divided into counties or county-equivalents. These counties many have some sort of local government for an effective management of affairs; however, they are not sovereign and are subject to the laws of the state. the structure of the counties or county-equivalents differs from one state to the other.

Through their individual constitution, the government of each state of the United States is allocated power by the people. The government of every state in the country comprises three branches and these are the executive, legislature, and the judiciary.

Powers and functions of the US states

The States have a number of powers that are granted to them under the Constitution of the country. One of the most important powers of the states is the ratifying of the constitutional amendments. Some of the functions that come under the control of the state governments are public education and health, local law enforcement, regulating intrastate commerce, and local transportation, to name a few. However, these now receive funding from the federal government and are regulated as well. During, the past few years, the relations between the federal government and the states in the country have undergone some changes. Today, the federal government is playing a much larger role in state affairs as compared to the earlier times. In a nutshell, it can be said that the general tendency in the country is today more towards centralization.

States’ representation in the Congress and bicameral legislature

Every state of the country is well represented in the federal Congress and the bicameral legislature, which comprises the Senate and the House of Representatives. Two Senators represent a particular state in the Senate, while every state is entitled to at least one representative in the House of Representatives. The representatives are elected from the single-member districts. However, unlike the senate, the allotment of seats to the representatives is not uniform across all states. The seats in the House of Representatives are distributed among all states of the country in proportion to the constitutionally mandated decennial census that has been conducted recently. Thus California, which is the most populous state of the country, has 53 representatives, while Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming have just one representative. Another significant role that states play is the selecting of electors. Every state of the nation is entitled to select a number of electors to the to vote in the Electoral College. This is an important body, which elects the President of the United States. The number of electors elected by each state should be equal to the total of representatives and senators from that particular state.

Admitting new states

The Congress has been granted authority by the Constitution of the nation to admit new states into the Union. This authority has frequently been used and a number of new states have been admitted into the Union over the years. During the establishment of the United States in 1776, there were just 13 states in the country. Over the course of the next two years the number has significantly risen and today the United States comprises 50 states. The recent additions to the Union have been the two stats of Hawaii and Alaska. Both these states were admitted to the Union in 1959.

Meanwhile, the Constitution says nothing about the states’ right to secede from the Union. However, the Supreme Court had passed a judgment in this regard shortly after the end of the Civil War. In the Texas v. White case, which was argued before the Supreme Court in 1869, the highest court of the land held that the states couldn’t secede from the Union.

States of the United States of America

S.N.	State	Abr.	Capital	Largest City	State-hood	Population (2019 est.)	Total Area (mi²)	Total Area (km²)	Land Area (mi²)	Land Area (km²)	Water Area (mi²)	Water Area (km²)	Number of Reps.
1	Alabama	AL	Montgomery	Birmingham	Dec 14, 1819	4,903,185	52,420	135,767	50,645	131,171	1,775	4,597	7
2	Alaska	AK	Juneau	Anchorage	Jan 3, 1959	731,545	665,384	1,723,337	570,641	1,477,953	94,743	245,384	1
3	Arizona	AZ	Phoenix	Phoenix	Feb 14, 1912	7,278,717	113,990	295,234	113,594	294,207	396	1,026	9
4	Arkansas	AR	Little Rock	Little Rock		3,017,804	53,179	137,732	52,035	134,771	1,143	2,961	4
5	California	CA	Sacramento	Los Angeles	Sep 9, 1850	39,512,223	163,695	423,967	155,779	403,466	7,916	20,501	53
6	Colorado	CO	Denver	Denver	Aug 1, 1876	5,758,736	104,094	269,601	103,642	268,431	452	1,170	7
7	Connecticut	CT	Hartford	Bridgeport	Jan 9, 1788	3,565,278	5,543	14,357	4,842	12,542	701	1,816	5
8	Delaware	DE	Dover	Wilmington	Dec 7, 1787	973,764	2,489	6,446	1,949	5,047	540	1,399	1
9	Florida	FL	Tallahassee	Jacksonville	Mar 3, 1845	21,477,737	65,758	170,312	53,625	138,887	12,133	31,424	27
10	Georgia	GA	Atlanta	Atlanta	Jan 2, 1788	10,617,423	59,425	153,910	57,513	148,959	1,912	4,951	14
11	Hawaii	HI	Honolulu	Honolulu	Aug 21, 1959	1,415,872	10,932	28,313	6,423	16,635	4,509	11,678	2
12	Idaho	ID	Boise	Boise	Jul 3, 1890	1,787,065	83,569	216,443	82,643	214,045	926	2,398	2
13	Illinois	IL	Springfield	Chicago	Dec 3, 1818	12,671,821	57,914	149,995	55,519	143,793	2,395	6,202	18
14	Indiana	IN	Indianapolis	Indianapolis	Dec 11, 1816	6,732,219	36,420	94,326	35,826	92,789	593	1,537	9
15	Iowa	IA	Des Moines	Des Moines	Dec 28, 1846	3,155,070	56,273	145,746	55,857	144,669	416	1,077	4
16	Kansas	KS	Topeka	Wichita	Jan 29, 1861	2,913,314	82,278	213,100	81,759	211,754	520	1,346	4
17	Kentucky	KY	Frankfort	Louisville	Jun 1, 1792	4,467,673	40,408	104,656	39,486	102,269	921	2,387	6
18	Louisiana	LA	Baton Rouge	New Orleans	Apr 30, 1812	4,648,794	52,378	135,659	43,204	111,898	9,174	23,761	6
19	Maine	ME	Augusta	Portland	Mar 15, 1820	1,344,212	35,380	91,633	30,843	79,883	4,537	11,750	2
20	Maryland	MD	Annapolis	Baltimore	Apr 28, 1788	6,045,680	12,406	32,131	9,707	25,142	2,699	6,990	8
21	Massachusetts	MA	Boston	Boston	Feb 6, 1788	6,892,503	10,554	27,336	7,800	20,202	2,754	7,134	9
22	Michigan	MI	Lansing	Detroit	Jan 26, 1837	9,986,857	96,714	250,487	56,539	146,435	40,175	104,052	14
23	Minnesota	MN	St. Paul	Minneapolis	May 11, 1858	5,639,632	86,936	225,163	79,627	206,232	7,309	18,930	8
24	Mississippi	MS	Jackson	Jackson	Dec 10, 1817	2,976,149	48,432	125,438	46,923	121,531	1,508	3,907	4
25	Missouri	MO	Jefferson City	Kansas City	Aug 10, 1821	6,137,428	69,707	180,540	68,742	178,040	965	2,501	8
26	Montana	MT	Helena	Billings	Nov 8, 1889	1,068,778	147,040	380,831	145,546	376,962	1,494	3,869	1
27	Nebraska	NE	Lincoln	Omaha	Mar 1, 1867	1,934,408	77,348	200,330	76,824	198,974	524	1,356	3
28	Nevada	NV	Carson City	Las Vegas	Oct 31, 1864	3,080,156	110,572	286,380	109,781	284,332	791	2,048	4
29	New Hampshire	NH	Concord	Manchester	Jun 21, 1788	1,359,711	9,349	24,214	8,953	23,187	397	1,027	2
30	New Jersey	NJ	Trenton	Newark	Dec 18, 1787	8,882,190	8,723	22,591	7,354	19,047	1,368	3,544	12
31	New Mexico	NM	Santa Fe	Albuquerque	Jan 6, 1912	2,096,829	121,590	314,917	121,298	314,161	292	757	3
32	New York	NY	Albany	New York	Jul 26, 1788	19,453,561	54,555	141,297	47,126	122,057	7,429	19,240	27
33	North Carolina	NC	Raleigh	Charlotte	Nov 21, 1789	10,488,084	53,819	139,391	48,618	125,920	5,201	13,471	13
34	North Dakota	ND	Bismarck	Fargo	Nov 2, 1889	762,062	70,698	183,108	69,001	178,711	1,698	4,397	1
35	Ohio	OH	Columbus	Columbus	Mar 1, 1803	11,689,100	44,826	116,098	40,861	105,829	3,965	10,269	16
36	Oklahoma	OK	Oklahoma City	Oklahoma City	Nov 16, 1907	3,956,971	69,899	181,037	68,595	177,660	1,304	3,377	5
37	Oregon	OR	Salem	Portland	Feb 14, 1859	4,217,737	98,379	254,799	95,988	248,608	2,391	6,191	5
38	Pennsylvania	PA	Harrisburg	Philadelphia	Dec 12, 1787	12,801,989	46,054	119,280	44,743	115,883	1,312	3,397	18
39	Rhode Island	RI	Providence	Providence	May 29, 1790	1,059,361	1,545	4,001	1,034	2,678	511	1,324	2
40	South Carolina	SC	Columbia	Charleston	May 23, 1788	5,148,714	32,020	82,933	30,061	77,857	1,960	5,076	7
41	South Dakota	SD	Pierre	Sioux Falls	Nov 2, 1889	884,659	77,116	199,729	75,811	196,350	1,305	3,379	1
42	Tennessee	TN	Nashville	Nashville	Jun 1, 1796	6,829,174	42,144	109,153	41,235	106,798	909	2,355	9
43	Texas	TX	Austin	Houston	Dec 29, 1845	28,995,881	268,596	695,662	261,232	676,587	7,365	19,075	36
44	Utah	UT	Salt Lake City	Salt Lake City	Jan 4, 1896	3,205,958	84,897	219,882	82,170	212,818	2,727	7,064	4
45	Vermont	VT	Montpelier	Burlington	Mar 4, 1791	623,989	9,616	24,906	9,217	23,871	400	1,035	1
46	Virginia	VA	Richmond	Virginia Beach	Jun 25, 1788	8,535,519	42,775	110,787	39,490	102,279	3,285	8,508	11
47	Washington	WA	Olympia	Seattle	Nov 11, 1889	7,614,893	71,298	184,661	66,456	172,119	4,842	12,542	10
48	West Virginia	WV	Charleston	Charleston	Jun 20, 1863	1,792,147	24,230	62,756	24,038	62,259	192	497	3
49	Wisconsin	WI	Madison	Milwaukee	May 29, 1848	5,822,434	65,496	169,635	54,158	140,268	11,339	29,367	8
50	Wyoming	WY	Cheyenne	Cheyenne	Jul 10, 1890	578,759	97,813	253,335	97,093	251,470	720	1,864	1

Federal District

Federal District	Abr.	Established	Population (2019 est.)	Total Area (mi²)	Total Area (km²)	Land Area (mi²)	Land Area (km²)	Water Area (mi²)	Water Area (km²)	Number of Reps.
District of Columbia	DC	Jul 16, 1790	705,749	68	176	61	158	7	18	1

Territories of United States of America

Inhabited Territories of the United States

S.N.	Inhabited territories	Abr.	Capital	Acquired	Territorial Status	Population (2015 est.)	Total Area (mi²)	Total Area (km²)	Land Area (mi²)	Land Area (km²)	Water Area (mi²)	Water Area (km²)	Number of Reps.
1	American Samoa	AS	Pago Pago	1900	Unincorporated, unorganized	57,400	581	1,505	76	198	505	1,307	1
2	Guam	GU	Hagåtña	1899	Unincorporated, organized	161,700	571	1,478	210	543	361	935	1
3	Northern Mariana Islands	MP	Saipan	1986	Unincorporated, organized	52,300	1,976	5,117	182	472	1,793	4,644	1
4	Puerto Rico	PR	San Juan	1899	Unincorporated, organized	3,193,694	5,325	13,791	3,424	8,868	1,901	4,924	1
5	U.S. Virgin Islands	VI	Charlotte Amalie	1917	Unincorporated, organized	103,700	733	1,898	134	348	599	1,550	1

Uninhabited Territories

Territories of the United States of America with no indigenous population

S.N.	Name	Acquired	Territorial Status	Land Area (mi²)	Land Area (km²)
1	Baker Island	1856	Unincorporated; unorganized	0.9	2.2
2	Howland Island	1858	Unincorporated, unorganized	0.6	1.6
3	Jarvis Island	1856	Unincorporated, unorganized	2.2	5.7
4	Johnston Atoll	1859	Unincorporated, unorganized	1	2.6
5	Kingman Reef	1860	Unincorporated, unorganized	0.005	0.01
6	Midway Atoll	1867	Unincorporated, unorganized	3	7.8
7	Navassa Island	1858	Unincorporated, unorganized	3	7.8
8	Palmyra Atoll	1898	Incorporated, unorganized	1.5	3.9
9	Wake Island	1899	Unincorporated, unorganized	2.5	6.5

Disputed Territories

Territories claimed but not administered by the United States of America

S.N.	Name	Claimed	Territorial Status	Total Area (mi²)	Total Area (km²)	Administered by	Also claimed by
1	Bajo Nuevo Bank (Petrel Island)	1869	Unincorporated, unorganized (disputed sovereignty)	56	145	Colombia	Jamaica, Nicaragua
2	Serranilla Bank	1880	Unincorporated, unorganized (disputed sovereignty)	463	1,200	Colombia	Honduras, Nicaragua

S.N.	Total	Total Area (sq mi)	Total area (km²)	Census population, April 1, 2010
1	Contiguous United States	3,120,426.47	8,081,867	308,156,338
2	50 states and District of Columbia	3,796,742.23	9,833,517	308,758,105
3	All U.S. territory	3,805,943.26	9,857,348	312,913,872