U.S. state Totally Explained

A U.S. state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of the United States, although four states use the official title "commonwealth". The separate state governments and the federal government share sovereignty, in that an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. However, state citizenship is very flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states (with the exception of convicts on parole). The United States Constitution allocates power between the two levels of government in general terms. By ratifying the Constitution, each state transfers certain sovereign powers to the federal government and agrees to share other powers with it. Under the Tenth Amendment, all powers not explicitly transferred or shared are retained by the states and the people. Historically, the tasks of public education, public health, transportation and other infrastructure have been considered primarily state responsibilities, although all have significant federal funding and regulation as well.
Over time, the Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward centralization, with the federal government playing a much larger role than it once did. There is a continuing debate over "states' rights," which concerns the extent and nature of the powers that the states have given to the federal government.

List of states

The following sortable table lists each of the 50 states of the United States of America with the following information:

The official state name or names
The common state name
The preferred pronunciation of the common state name represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
The United States Postal Service (USPS) two-character state abbreviation
(also used as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Standard 3166-2 )
The date the state ratified the United States Constitution or was admitted to the Union
The United States Census Bureau estimate of state population as of 2006-07-01
The state capital
The most populous incorporated place or census-designated place within the state as of 2006-07-01, as estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau
An image of the state flag

Official State Name	Common		USPS	Date	Population	Capital	Most Populous City
State of Alabama	Alabama	/ˌæləˈbæmə/	AL	181912141819-12-14	04,599,030	Montgomery	Birmingham
State of Alaska	Alaska	/əˈlæskə/	AK	195901031959-01-03	00,670,053	Juneau	Anchorage
State of Arizona	Arizona	/ˌærɪˈzoʊnə/	AZ	191202141912-02-14	06,166,318	Phoenix	Phoenix
State of Arkansas	Arkansas	/ˈɑrkənsɔː/	AR	183606151836-06-15	02,810,872	Little Rock	Little Rock
State of California	California	/ˌkælɪˈfɔrnjə/	CA	185009091850-09-09	36,457,549	Sacramento	Los Angeles
State of Colorado	Colorado	/ˌkɑ.ləˈɹɒ.doʊ/	CO	187608011876-08-01	04,753,377	Denver	Denver
State of Connecticut	Connecticut	/kəˈnɛtɪkət/	CT	178801091788-01-09	03,504,809	Hartford	Bridgeport
State of Delaware	Delaware	/ˈdɛləwɛər/	DE	178712071787-12-07	00,853,476	Dover	Wilmington
State of Florida	Florida	/ˈflɒrɪdə/	FL	184503031845-03-03	18,089,888	Tallahassee	Jacksonville
State of Georgia	Georgia	/ˈdʒɔrdʒə/	GA	178801021788-01-02	09,363,941	Atlanta	Atlanta
State of Hawaiʻi Mokuʻāina o Hawaiʻi	Hawaii	/həˈwaɪi/, [haʋaiʔi]	HI	195908211959-08-21	01,285,498	Honolulu	Honolulu
State of Idaho	Idaho	/ˈaɪdəhoʊ/	ID	189007031890-07-03	01,466,465	Boise	Boise
State of Illinois	Illinois	/ɪlɨˈnɔɪ/	IL	181812031818-12-03	12,831,970	Springfield	Chicago
State of Indiana	Indiana	/ˌɪndiˈænə/	IN	181612111816-12-11	06,313,520	Indianapolis	Indianapolis
State of Iowa	Iowa	/ˈaɪəwə/	IA	184612281846-12-28	02,982,085	Des Moines	Des Moines
State of Kansas	Kansas	/ˈkænzəs/	KS	186101291861-01-29	02,764,075	Topeka	Wichita
Commonwealth of Kentucky	Kentucky	/kənˈtʌki/	KY	179206011792-06-01	04,206,074	Frankfort	Louisville
State of Louisiana État de Louisiane	Louisiana	/luːˌiːziˈænə/	LA	181204301812-04-30	04,287,768	Baton Rouge	Baton Rouge
State of Maine	Maine	/ˈmeɪn/	ME	182003151820-03-15	01,321,574	Augusta	Portland
State of Maryland	Maryland	/ˈmɛɹ.ə.lənd/	MD	178804281788-04-28	05,615,727	Annapolis	Baltimore
Commonwealth of Massachusetts	Massachusetts	/ˌmæsəˈtʃuːsɨts/	MA	178802061788-02-06	06,437,193	Boston	Boston
State of Michigan	Michigan	/ˈmɪʃɨgən/	MI	183701261837-01-26	10,095,643	Lansing	Detroit
State of Minnesota	Minnesota	/ˌmɪnəˈsoʊtə/	MN	185805111858-05-11	05,167,101	Saint Paul	Minneapolis
State of Mississippi	Mississippi	/ˌmɪsɪˈsɪpi/	MS	181712101817-12-10	02,910,540	Jackson	Jackson
State of Missouri	Missouri	/mɨˈzʊəri, mɨˈzʊərə/	MO	182108101821-08-10	05,842,713	Jefferson City	Kansas City
State of Montana	Montana	/mɒnˈtænə/	MT	188911081889-11-08	00,944,632	Helena	Billings
State of Nebraska	Nebraska	/nəˈbræskə/	NE	186703011867-03-01	01,768,331	Lincoln	Omaha
State of Nevada	Nevada	/nəˈvædə/	NV	186410311864-10-31	02,495,529	Carson City	Las Vegas
State of New Hampshire	New Hampshire	/njuːˈhæmpʃər/	NH	178806211788-06-21	01,314,895	Concord	Manchester
State of New Jersey	New Jersey	/njuːˈdʒɝzi/	NJ	178712181787-12-18	08,724,560	Trenton	Newark
State of New Mexico Estado de Nuevo México	New Mexico	/njuːˈmɛksəkoʊ/	NM	191201061912-01-06	01,954,599	Santa Fe	Albuquerque
State of New York	New York	/njuːˈjɔrk/	NY	178807261788-07-26	19,306,183	Albany	New York
State of North Carolina	North Carolina	/ˌnɔrɵˌkærəˈlaɪnə/	NC	178911211789-11-21	08,856,505	Raleigh	Charlotte
State of North Dakota	North Dakota	/ˌnɔrɵdəˈkoʊtə/	ND	188911021889-11-02	00,635,867	Bismarck	Fargo
State of Ohio	Ohio	/oʊˈhaɪoʊ/	OH	180303011803-03-01	11,478,006	Columbus	Columbus
State of Oklahoma	Oklahoma	/ˌoʊkləˈhoʊmə/	OK	190711161907-11-16	03,579,212	Oklahoma City	Oklahoma City
State of Oregon	Oregon	/ˈɒrɨgən/	OR	185902141859-02-14	03,700,758	Salem	Portland
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania	/ˌpɛnsəlˈveɪnjə/	PA	178712121787-12-12	12,440,621	Harrisburg	Philadelphia
State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations	Rhode Island	/roʊdˈʔaɪlənd/	RI	179005291790-05-29	01,067,610	Providence	Providence
State of South Carolina	South Carolina	/ˌsɑʊɵkærəˈlaɪnə/	SC	178805231788-05-23	04,321,249	Columbia	Columbia
State of South Dakota	South Dakota	/ˌsɑʊɵdəˈkoʊtə/	SD	188911021889-11-02	00,781,919	Pierre	Sioux Falls
State of Tennessee	Tennessee	/ˌtɛnɨˈsiː/	TN	179606011796-06-01	06,038,803	Nashville	Memphis
State of Texas	Texas	/ˈtɛksəs/	TX	184512291845-12-29	23,507,783	Austin	Houston
State of Utah	Utah	/ˈjuːtɔː/	UT	189601041896-01-04	02,550,063	Salt Lake City	Salt Lake City
State of Vermont	Vermont	/vɜrˈmɒnt/	VT	179103041791-03-04	00,623,908	Montpelier	Burlington
Commonwealth of Virginia	Virginia	/vɚˈdʒɪnjə/	VA	178806251788-06-25	07,642,884	Richmond	Virginia Beach
State of Washington	Washington	/ˈwɒʃɪŋtən/	WA	188911111889-11-11	06,395,798	Olympia	Seattle
State of West Virginia	West Virginia	/ˌwɛstvɚˈdʒɪnjə/	WV	186306201863-06-20	01,818,470	Charleston	Charleston
State of Wisconsin	Wisconsin	/wɪsˈkɒnsɨn/	WI	184805291848-05-29	05,556,506	Madison	Milwaukee
State of Wyoming	Wyoming	/waɪˈoʊmɪŋ/	WY	189007101890-07-10	00,515,004	Cheyenne	Cheyenne

Legal relationship

Union as a single nation

Upon the adoption of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, the states became a confederation, a single sovereign political entity as defined by international law — empowered to levy war and to conduct international relations — albeit with a very loosely structured and inefficient central government. After the failure of the union under the Articles of Confederation, the thirteen states joined the modern union via the process of ratifying the United States Constitution, which took effect in 1789.

Relationship among the states

Under Article IV of the Constitution, which outlines the relationship between the states, the United States Congress has the power to admit new states to the union. The states are required to give "full faith and credit" to the acts of each other's legislatures and courts, which is generally held to include the recognition of legal contracts, marriages, criminal judgments, and—at the time—slave status. States are prohibited from discriminating against citizens of other states with respect to their basic rights, under the Privileges and Immunities Clause. The states are guaranteed military and civil defense by the federal government, which is also required to ensure that the government of each state remains a republic.

Commerce clause

The Supreme Court of the United States has interpreted the Constitution of the United States such that the commerce clause allows for a wide scope of federal power. For example, Congress can regulate railway traffic across state lines, but it may also regulate rail traffic solely within a state, based on the theory that wholly intrastate traffic can still have an impact on interstate commerce.
Another source of Congressional power is its "spending power"—the ability of Congress to allocate funds, for example to the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System. The system is mandated and partially funded by the federal government but also serves the interests of the states. By threatening to withhold federal highway funds, Congress has been able to persuade state legislatures to pass a variety of laws. Although some object on the ground that this infringes on states' rights, the Supreme Court has upheld the practice as a permissible use of the Constitution's Spending Clause.

Admission of states into the union

Since the establishment of the United States, the number of states has expanded from 13 to 50. The Constitution is rather laconic on the process by which new states can be added, noting only that "New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union", and forbidding a new state to be created out of the territory of an existing state or the merging of two or more states as one without the consent of both Congress and all the state legislatures involved.
In practice, nearly all states admitted to the union after the original thirteen have been formed from U.S. territories (that is, land under the sovereignty of the United States federal government but not part of any state) that were organized (given a measure of self-rule by Congress). Generally speaking, the organized government of a territory would make known the sentiment of its population in favor of statehood; Congress would then direct that government to organize a constitutional convention to write a state constitution. Upon acceptance of that Constitution, Congress would then admit that territory as a state. The broad outlines in this process were established by the Northwest Ordinance, which actually predated the ratification of the Constitution.
However, Congress has ultimate authority over the admission of new states, and isn't bound to follow this procedure. A few U.S. states outside of the original 13 have been admitted that were never organized territories of the federal government:

Vermont, an unrecognized but de facto independent republic until its admission in 1791

Kentucky, a part of Virginia until its admission in 1792

Maine, a part of Massachusetts until its admission in 1820 following the Missouri Compromise

Texas, a recognized independent republic until its admission in 1845

California, created as a state (as part of the Compromise of 1850) out of the unorganized territory of the Mexican Cession in 1850 without ever having been a separate organized territory itself

West Virginia, created from areas of Virginia that rejoined the union in 1863, after the 1861 secession of Virginia to the Confederate States of America Congress is also under no obligation to admit states even in those areas whose population expresses a desire for statehood. For instance, the Republic of Texas requested annexation to the United States in 1836, but fears about the conflict with Mexico that would result delayed admission for nine years. Utah Territory was denied admission to the union as a state for decades because of discomfort with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' dominance in the territory, and particularly with the Mormon elite's then practice of polygamy.

Secession

The Constitution is silent on the issue of the secession of a state from the union. The Articles of Confederation had stated that the earlier union of the colonies "shall be perpetual," and the preamble to the Constitution states that Constitution was intended to "form a more perfect union." In 1860 and 1861, several states attempted to secede, but were brought back into the Union by force of arms during the Civil War. Subsequently, the federal judicial system, in the case of Texas v. White, established that states don't have the right to secede without the consent of the other states.

Naming issues: Commonwealths, republics, and states

Four of the states bear the formal title of Commonwealth: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. In these cases, this is merely a name and has no legal effect. Somewhat confusingly, two U.S. territories — Puerto Rico and the Northern Marianas — are also referred to as commonwealths, and do have a legal status different from the states.
The Republic of Texas was an independent nation for nine years, and the Republic of Hawaii, formerly the Kingdom of Hawaii, was also an independent nation. There is debate over whether Vermont was ever an independent nation; however it was the first future state to write its own Constitution. The so-called "California Republic" was actually a flag raised by Americans in the town of Sonoma after they expelled the local Mexican official. Ten days later the U.S. Army took over.
See also List of official names of the states of the USA.

State governments

States are free to organize their state governments any way they like, as long as they conform to the sole requirement of the U.S. Constitution that they've "a Republican Form of Government". In practice, each state has adopted a three branch system of government generally along the sames lines as that of the federal government—though this isn't a requirement. There is nothing that could stop a state from adopting a parliamentary system—with a fusion of powers, as opposed to a separation of powers—if it so chooses.
   Despite the fact that each state has chosen to use the federal model to follow, there are some significant differences in some states. One of the most notable is that of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature, which unlike the legislatures of the other 49 states, has only one house. While there's only one federal President who then selects a Cabinet responsible to him, most states have a plural executive, with members of the executive branch elected directly by the people and serving as coequal members of the state cabinet alongside the governor. And only a few states choose to have their judicial branch leaders—their judges on the state's courts—serve for life terms.
   A key difference between states is that many rural states have part-time legislatures, while the states with the highest populations tend to have full-time legislatures. Texas, the second largest state in population, is a notable exception to this: excepting special sessions, the Texas Legislature is limited by law to 140 calendar days out of every two years. In Baker v. Carr, the U.S. Supreme Court held that all states are required to have legislative districts which are proportional in terms of population.
   States can also organize their judicial systems differently from the federal judiciary, as long as due process is protected. See state court and state supreme court for more information. Most have a trial level court, generally called a District Court or Superior Court, a first-level appellate court, generally called a Court of Appeal (or Appeals), and a Supreme Court. However, Texas has a separate highest court for criminal appeals. New York is notorious for its unusual terminology, in that the trial court is called the Supreme Court. Appeals are then taken to the Supreme Court, Appellate Division, and from there to the Court of Appeals. Most states base their legal system on English common law (with substantial indigenous changes and incorporation of certain civil law innovations), with the notable exception of Louisiana which draws large parts of its legal system from French civil law.

Possible new states

� See also: 51st state

Today, there are very few U.S. territories left that might potentially become new states. In light of recent events, the most likely candidate may be Puerto Rico. The commonwealth's government has organized several referendums on the question of status over the past several decades, though Congress hasn't recognized these as binding; all shown resulted in narrow victories for the status quo over statehood, with independence supported by only a small number of voters. In December 2005, a presidential task force proposed a new set of referendums on the issue; if Congress votes in line with the task force's recommendation, it would pave the way for the first Congressionally mandated votes on status in the island, and, potentially, statehood, by 2010.
The intention of the Founding Fathers was that the United States capital should be at a neutral site, not giving favor to any existing state; as a result, the District of Columbia was created in 1800 to serve as the seat of government. The inhabitants of the District don't have full representation in Congress or a sovereign elected government (they were allotted presidential electors by the 23rd amendment, and have a non-voting delegate in Congress). Some residents of the District support statehood of some form for that jurisdiction—either statehood for the whole district or for the inhabited part, with the remainder remaining under federal jurisdiction. While statehood is always a live political question in the District, the prospects for any movement in that direction in the immediate future seem dim. Instead, an emphasis on continuing Home Rule in the District while also giving the District a vote in Congress is gaining support. See also: District of Columbia voting rights For the remaining permanently inhabited U.S. non-state jurisdictions—the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa—the prospects of statehood are remote. All have relatively small populations—Guam, with the most inhabitants, has a population less than 35 percent that of Wyoming, the least populous state—and have governments that are heavily reliant on federal funding.
Constitutionally, a state may only be divided into more states with the approval both of Congress and of the state's legislature, as was the case when Maine was split off from Massachusetts. The idea that a Congressional joint resolution from 1845 might serve as a sort of advanced Congressional approval for a move to divide Texas today seems unlikely to pass muster. In fact, the clause in question was almost certainly intended to give Texas the option of entering the union as more than one state. As there's no organized movement today to divide Texas into multiple states, the point is largely academic.

Origin of states' names

State names speak to the circumstances of their creation. See the lists of U.S. state name etymologies and U.S. county name etymologies.

Grouping of the states in regions

States may be grouped in regions; there are endless variations and possible groupings, as most states are not defined by obvious geographic or cultural borders. For further discussion of regions of the U.S., see the list of regions of the United States.

State lists

List of U.S. state capitals

List of current and former capital cities within U.S. states

List of U.S. states' largest cities

List of U.S. states by date of statehood

List of U.S. states that were never territories

List of U.S. state name etymologies

List of state legislatures in the United States

List of U.S. states by area

List of U.S. states by elevation

List of U.S. states by GDP (nominal)

List of U.S. states by GDP per capita (nominal)

List of U.S. states by population

List of U.S. states by population density

List of U.S. states by time zone

List of U.S. states by unemployment rate

List of U.S. state residents names

List of U.S. states by traditional abbreviation

U.S. postal abbreviations

U.S. state temperature extremes

Codes: FIPS state code,

Lists of U.S. state insignia

List of fictional U.S. states

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