US states and territories — and why the differences matter

The Northeast — New England plus New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania — is the oldest settled region, the most densely populated, and the one with the most extensive public transit. It has high taxes, high housing costs, strong tenant protections in several states, and the highest concentration of universities and hospitals in the country.

The South, running from Virginia and Florida west to Texas, is the fastest-growing region by population. Taxes are generally lower, several states levy no income tax, unionization is low, right-to-work laws are common, and housing is considerably cheaper than the coasts. Summers are hot and humid, and hurricane exposure runs along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts.

The Midwest — the Great Lakes states and the plains — has the most affordable housing of any region relative to income, a manufacturing history that shaped its cities, and genuine winters. Cost of living is the region's defining advantage.

The West splits into two. The Pacific coast — California, Oregon, Washington — has the highest housing costs, the strongest environmental and labor regulation, and the largest technology sector. The Mountain West and Southwest are drier, faster-growing, and increasingly water-constrained.

Alaska and Hawaii are physically separate and behave differently on almost every metric — highest costs, most extreme logistics, and in Alaska's case an annual dividend paid to residents from oil revenue.

The list below is the practical version. Every item is a state matter.

What does not change: your Social Security number, federal income tax, immigration status, Medicare, passport, federal civil rights protections and credit reporting. Those travel with you.

The District of Columbia is a federal district created by the Constitution so that the seat of government would not sit inside any state. Its roughly 680,000 residents — more than Wyoming or Vermont — pay federal income tax and vote for president under the Twenty-third Amendment, but have only a non-voting delegate in the House and no senators.

Congress retains ultimate authority over the District and can overturn laws passed by its elected council, a power it has used. The Home Rule Act of 1973 gave DC an elected mayor and council, but it is delegated authority rather than sovereignty.

Statehood is a live political question with genuine constitutional complications, since the Constitution specifically provides for a federal district. Proposals typically involve shrinking the federal district to the core government buildings and admitting the residential remainder as a state.

Puerto Rico has about 3.2 million residents — more than 20 states. Puerto Ricans are US citizens at birth, serve in the military, and can move freely to the mainland, but residents of the island cannot vote for president and have only a non-voting Resident Commissioner in Congress. Puerto Rico residents generally do not pay federal income tax on income earned on the island, though they do pay Social Security and Medicare taxes. Its political status — statehood, independence, or continued commonwealth — has been the central question of its politics for decades.

Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands sit in the western Pacific and have substantial US military presence. Residents are US citizens at birth.

The US Virgin Islands, in the Caribbean, has US citizens at birth and drives on the left despite using US-specification vehicles — a genuine quirk of its Danish colonial history.

American Samoa is the exception that surprises everyone: people born there are US nationals but not US citizens at birth. They can live and work anywhere in the US and hold US passports, but cannot vote in federal elections or hold most federal jobs without going through naturalization. This is the only such status in American law, and it has been the subject of continuing litigation.

None of the five vote in presidential elections, and each has a single non-voting delegate in the House.

There are 574 federally recognized tribal nations, and they are not a category of local government. They are sovereign nations with a government-to-government relationship with the United States, predating the Constitution and recognized in it.

Tribal nations exercise jurisdiction over their own territory, operate their own courts and police, set their own membership rules, and in many cases regulate business and taxation on tribal land. The extent of that jurisdiction — particularly over non-members, and particularly in criminal matters — is legally complex and has been substantially reshaped by Supreme Court decisions in recent years.

Roughly 56 million acres are held in trust by the federal government for tribes and individuals. The largest reservation, the Navajo Nation, spans parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah and is larger than ten states.

For practical purposes: state law does not automatically apply on tribal land, and questions about jurisdiction there should go to the tribal government rather than to the state.