What is contiguous United States mean? The contiguous United States or officially the conterminous United States consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the District of Columbia on the continent of North America. The terms exclude the non-contiguous states of Alaska and Hawaii and all other offshore insular areas, such as American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. These differ from the related term continental United States, which includes Alaska (also on the North American continent but separated from the 48 states by British Columbia and Yukon of Canada) but excludes the Hawaiian Islands and all U.S. territories in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
The greatest distance (on a great-circle route) entirely within the 48 contiguous states is 2,802 miles (4,509 km) between Florida and the State of Washington; the greatest north–south line is 1,650 miles (2,660 km).
Together, the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia occupy an area of 3,119,884.69 square miles (8,080,464.3 km2). Of this area, 2,959,064.44 square miles (7,663,941.7 km2) is contiguous land, composing 83.65% of total U.S. land area, similar to the area of Australia. Officially, 160,820.25 square miles (416,522.5 km2) of the contiguous United States is water area, composing 62.66% of the nation's total water area.
The contiguous United States would be placed fifth on the list of countries and dependencies by area. The total area of the country, including Alaska and Hawaii, ranks third or fourth. In land area only, the country ranks fourth, ahead of Brazil, and Australia but behind Russia, Canada and China. Brazil is 431,000 square kilometers (166,000 sq mi) larger than the contiguous United States, but smaller than the entire United States, while Russia, Canada, and maybe China are the only countries larger than both. The 2020 census population of this area was 328,571,074, comprising 99.13% of the nation's population, and a density of 111.04 inhabitants/sq mi (42.872/km2), compared to 93.844/sq mi (36.233/km2) for the nation as a whole.
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Posted on 27 Nov 2024, this text provides information on Governmental related to Miscellaneous in Governmental. Please note that while accuracy is prioritized, the data presented might not be entirely correct or up-to-date. This information is offered for general knowledge and informational purposes only, and should not be considered as a substitute for professional advice.