The United States has 50 states, not 52.

Quick Scoop

  • The official, internationally recognized number of U.S. states is 50.
  • The last two states to join were Alaska and Hawaii in 1959, bringing the total to 50, and it has not changed since then.
  • Confusion about “52 states” usually comes from people informally adding Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico to the count, even though neither is a state.

Why People Say “52”

Many people have heard “50 states plus D.C. and Puerto Rico” and mistakenly turn that into “52 states.” Washington, D.C. is a federal district, and Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, so they are under U.S. jurisdiction but do not have state status.

You can see this confusion show up a lot in forum discussions and even in arguments online, where some users insist they were “taught 52 states” in school.

Quick fact list

  • Official number of U.S. states: 50.
  • Extra political units often causing confusion:
    • Washington, D.C. (federal district, not a state).
* Puerto Rico (a U.S. commonwealth/territory, not a state).
  • Other U.S. territories include Guam, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands, none of which are states.

If you’re ever unsure, a good mental check is the U.S. flag: it has 50 stars, one for each state.

TL;DR: For anyone asking “how many states in USA 50 or 52” — the correct, legal answer is 50 states. Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico are important U.S. jurisdictions, but they are not states.

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