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The 50 states of the United States of America cover nearly 3.7 million square miles, with a wide range of geographic features and nearly every type of climate.

The contiguous 48 states border Canada to the North and Mexico to the South. The Pacific Ocean borders them to the West, the Atlantic Ocean to the East, and the Gulf of Mexico to the Southeast. The contiguous United States is also known as the Lower 48. Alaska, part of the continental United States, lies at the northwestern end of North America. Hawaii lies far to the Southwest of the mainland in the Pacific Ocean.

The United States also administers several territories, including five inhabited ones: American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The United States began with the 13 original states and grew as people pushed westward, with its boundaries modified as territories and states were added.

Washington, D.C., the capital city, is a federal district on land donated by Maryland.

More than the European Union, the United States features diverse landscapes, including tropical beaches in Florida, high peaks in the Rocky Mountains, vast central plains, barren deserts in the West, and dense wilderness areas in the Northeast and Northwest. Interspersed throughout the country are the Great Lakes, the mighty Mississippi River, impressive formations in Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks, more mountain ranges such as the Appalachians and the Sierra Nevadas, and hundreds of lakes and rivers. The lowest point in the country is in Death Valley, California, at 282 feet below sea level, and the highest peak is Denali (Mt. McKinley) in Alaska at 20,320 feet. Across the nation, residents and visitors also enjoy National Monuments and Historic Sites that display more dramatic landscapes, various eras of American History, historic buildings, and more.

“I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.”  

– Susan Sontag

©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated October 2026.

Also See:

Destinations Across America

Regions of the United States

United States Facts, Trivia, & Firsts

United States Geography

United States Maps

See Sources.