Are there 50 or 52 states in America?

There are 50 states in the United States. The idea there are 52 states comes from the mistaken belief that the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are states. Puerto Rico has held nonbinding referendum votes four times since 1967.

Forty-eight of the states lie on the mainland, while Alaska and Hawaii are disconnected. The largest state in the union is Alaska at 656,424 square miles, while the smallest state in the union is Rhode Island, covering just 1,545 square miles. The first state to join the union was Delaware on Dec. 7, 1787, and the most recent state to join the union was Hawaii on Aug. 21, 1959.