The contiguous United States or mainland United States are the 48 U.S. states on the continent of North America that are south of Canada and north of Mexico, plus the District of Columbia. The term excludes the states of Alaska and Hawaii, and all off-shore U.S. territories and possessions, such as Puerto Rico.
Together, the 48 contiguous states and D.C. occupy a combined area of 3,119,884.69 square miles (8,080,464.3 km2), which is 1.58% of the total surface area of the Earth. Of this, 2,959,064.44 square miles (7,663,941.7 km2) is land, composing 83.65% of U.S. land area. Officially, 160,820.25 square miles (416,522.5 km2) is water area, composing 62.66% of the nation's water area. The 2010 census population was 306,675,006, composing 99.33% of the nation's population, and a density of 103.639 inhabitants/sq mi (40.015/km²), compared to 87.264/sq mi (33.692/km²) for the nation as a whole.
Read more about Contiguous United States: Other Terms, Terms Used in The Non-contiguous States, Non-contiguous Areas Within The Contiguous United States
Famous quotes containing the words united states, contiguous, united and/or states:
“So here they are, the dog-faced soldiers, the regulars, the fifty-cents-a-day professionals riding the outposts of the nation, from Fort Reno to Fort Apache, from Sheridan to Stark. They were all the same. Men in dirty-shirt blue and only a cold page in the history books to mark their passing. But wherever they rode and whatever they fought for, that place became the United States.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)
“Now in contiguous drops the flood comes down,
Threat’ning with deluge this devoted town.
To shops in crowds the daggled females fly,
Pretend to cheapen goods, but nothing buy.”
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
“United Fruit... United Thieves Company... it’s a monopoly ... if you won’t take their prices they let your limes rot on the wharf; it’s a monopoly. You boys are working for a bunch of thieves, but I know it ain’t your fault.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings capable of laws, where there is no law, there is no freedom.”
—John Locke (1632–1704)