Eight U.S. states border Canada when you include those that meet only across the Great Lakes: Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York (which actually touch Canada across the Great Lakes), plus the land‑border states Alaska, Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire for the full picture of U.S.–Canada borders. When people ask “how many states border Canada including the Great Lakes,” they are usually trying to distinguish the Great Lakes shoreline contact from the purely land borders, so it helps to break it down.

Core geography

  • The Great Lakes that lie along the U.S.–Canada boundary are Superior, Huron, Erie, and Ontario; only Lake Michigan is entirely within the U.S.
  • On the U.S. side, the Great Lakes region states touching those boundary lakes are Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, though not all of them face Canada across the water.

States touching Canada via Great Lakes

Only these five U.S. states actually have their boundary with Canada running through a Great Lake:

  • Minnesota (Lake Superior with Ontario).
  • Michigan (Lakes Superior, Huron, and Erie with Ontario).
  • Ohio (Lake Erie opposite Ontario).
  • Pennsylvania (a small Lake Erie frontage opposite Ontario).
  • New York (Lakes Ontario and Erie opposite Ontario).

Land‑border states for context

Beyond the Great Lakes question, there are 13 total U.S. states that share some kind of border (land or water) with Canada from west to east: Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Many forum and trivia discussions in the mid‑2020s framed this as a popular geography question alongside “how many states border Mexico,” which helps explain why it trends as a quick quiz topic.

TL;DR:

  • States that touch Canada across the Great Lakes : Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York → 5.
  • Total U.S. states bordering Canada by any land or water boundary: 13.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.