How many states are in the USA?

The flag's 50 stars have been current since July 4, 1960, following Hawaii's admission. The 13 stripes stand for the original colonies. Alaska and Hawaii, both admitted in 1959, were the last additions, ending a run that began with Delaware's ratification in 1787.

Washington, D.C. is a federal district under congressional authority, created so the capital would sit inside no state. Its roughly 680,000 residents — more than Wyoming or Vermont — pay federal taxes and vote for president, but have no senators and only a non-voting House delegate. Statehood is a live political question.

The five inhabited territories are US soil with about 3.6 million residents between them, most in Puerto Rico. People born in four of the five are US citizens at birth; those born in American Samoa are US nationals but not automatically citizens — the only such status in American law. None of the territories vote in presidential elections.

There are also 574 federally recognized tribal nations, which are sovereign governments rather than subdivisions of the states they sit within.

For practical purposes, the count that matters is 51 legal systems — federal law plus 50 state systems — because licensing, tenancy, insurance and most criminal law are set state by state.