I’d like to know exactly how many states, districts and dependencies there are in the USA. it has to be exact. Please help. 
I’d like to know how a commonwealth is different from a state. (Pennsylvania, Massachusetts - are there others?)
My wife and I were watching a Taiwanese TV program when the host said there were 51 states in America. (It might have been 52 or 53. Not sure, it was a few months ago.) I laughed and told my wife there were only 50, and of course I was wrong because “A Taiwanese person said there were 51, so it must be true!” To make a long story short I had to get on the internet and prove there were only 50 states.
My kids at school pull the same crap all the time
This might help:
[quote]Administrative divisions:
50 states and 1 district; Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming
Dependent areas:
American Samoa, Baker Island, Guam, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Islands, Navassa Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palmyra Atoll, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Wake Island
note: from 18 July 1947 until 1 October 1994, the US administered the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands; it entered into a political relationship with all four political units: the Northern Mariana Islands is a commonwealth in political union with the US (effective 3 November 1986); the Republic of the Marshall Islands signed a Compact of Free Association with the US (effective 21 October 1986); the Federated States of Micronesia signed a Compact of Free Association with the US (effective 3 November 1986); Palau concluded a Compact of Free Association with the US (effective 1 October 1994) [/quote]
Thanks for the CIA link. I didn’t know they gave away any kind of information, clasified or not. I usually do google searches, but it is better to go straight to a trustworthy source.
The source of confusion is Washington, D.C. which is a district and not a state. I found out that it used to be part of Maryland. Now it is a federal area.
hope that helps…
I can’t believe there are two pages of discussion on this topic. There are 50 - if your students won’t believe you, have them count the stars on an American flag, show them the cia site, and give them a lecture on no matter how ignorant the general population of country X might be, on average, you’re still better off believing a citizen of country X about such questions than a teacher or TV announcer from another country.
My students usually claimed there were 53 - I think they were counting Washington, D.C., Guam, and Puerto Rico.
Hmmm, my return volley:
Oakland
Oceanside
Anyway, I’m from the paradise part of NY State.
[quote=“bababa”]I can’t believe there are two pages of discussion on this topic. There are 50 - if your students won’t believe you, have them count the stars on an American flag, show them the cia site, and give them a lecture on no matter how ignorant the general population of country X might be, on average, you’re still better off believing a citizen of country X about such questions than a teacher or TV announcer from another country.
My students usually claimed there were 53 - I think they were counting Washington, D.C., Guam, and Puerto Rico.[/quote]
There should have been more than fifty, but it would have spoiled the way the Star-spangled Banner looks. Plus fifty is easier to remember.
Hmmm, my return volley:
Oakland
Oceanside
Anyway, I’m from the paradise part of NY State.[/quote]
Oakland has it’s share of both slums and fantastically expensive homes (My great Aunt lives there and the last time I visited we spent the evening in her hot tub looking out over the bay…Amazing chunk of real-estate).
Oceanside also has some really nice suburbs, and Pendelton hides one of the West coast’s best surfing breaks. Still San Diego County my friend and right on the beach.
I think of what I saw when I got lost driving in NYC in 1984…Then compare that to Oakland or Oceanside?
Have to do much better than these two examples… 
oxnard…more than just a pretty name.
how many states in the states? how many provinces in china? after they regurgitate that factoid ask em if provinces and SEZ and autonomous regions count as provinces.
if you really wanna bore them to tears tell them how indian reservations in the US are actually independent, soverign states with in the US or that Texas has the right to split up into smaller states should the voters decide so.
Wikipedia says:
[i]Classification of current U.S. territories
Incorporated unorganized territories
Palmyra Atoll (privately owned by the Nature Conservancy and administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, also see above for background)
Incorporated organized territories
none since 1959
Unincorporated organized territories
Guam
Northern Mariana Islands (commonwealth)
Puerto Rico (commonwealth)
United States Virgin Islands
Unincorporated unorganized territories
American Samoa, technically unorganized, but self-governing under a constitution last revised in 1967
Baker Island, uninhabited
Howland Island, uninhabited
Jarvis Island, uninhabited
Johnston Atoll, no indigenous inhabitants, only military personnel and contractors
Kingman Reef, uninhabited
Midway Islands, no indigenous inhabitants, currently included in the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge
Navassa Island, uninhabited (claimed by Haiti)
Wake Island, no indigenous inhabitants, only contractor personnel (claimed by the Marshall Islands)
Associated States
Federated States of Micronesia
Marshall Islands
Palau [/i]
50 states
1 district of columbia
115 indian reservations
14 dependent territories (inc. guam, baker island, johnston atoll, etc…)
1 guantanamo (in a class all its own). didn’t we used to have another piece of cuba? yeah i know all of cuba (an the PI) used to be deps.
2 disputed territories (serravilla bank and bajo nuevo)
1 taiwan. taiwan relations act guarantees existence of taiwan. created by US congress. by definition, congress does only domestic law. the executive branch does foreign stuff- and hence ratified international treaties take precedence over US law.
depends on how thin you wanna slice the one pie. while surfin’ for this i read one site that stated “there are an estimated 85,000 extant political entities in the United States.”
so, my answer to your question is 184.
[quote=“skeptic yank”]50 states
1 district of columbia
115 indian reservations
14 dependent territories (inc. guam, baker island, johnston atoll, etc…)
1 guantanamo (in a class all its own). didn’t we used to have another piece of cuba? yeah I know all of cuba (an the PI) used to be deps.
2 disputed territories (serravilla bank and bajo nuevo)
1 taiwan. taiwan relations act guarantees existence of Taiwan. created by US congress. by definition, congress does only domestic law. the executive branch does foreign stuff- and hence ratified international treaties take precedence over US law.
depends on how thin you wanna slice the one pie. while surfin’ for this I read one site that stated “there are an estimated 85,000 extant political entities in the United States.”
so, my answer to your question is 184.[/quote]
Thanks skeptic Yank.
In Australia we seem to have been fed the 51 state thing. (or is it just me again) I would have answered (b) 51 states and blown the prize money on one of those stupid game shows.
[quote]Raw Data for 51 States
The lines of data below are for the 50 states plus the District of Columbia. The states are numbered from 1 to 51 in the lefthand column. [/quote]
The USA has 50 states.
DC is not a state. Neither is Puerto Rico.
50 states. Everybody got it now?