The
continental United States commonly refers to the 48 contiguous
states located on the central part of the
North American continent, plus the
District of Columbia, and so does not include
Alaska and
Hawaii.
[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Because Alaska is also on the North American continent, the term, if interpreted literally, would also include that state, so the term is sometimes qualified with the explicit inclusion or exclusion of Alaska to resolve any ambiguity.
[2][8] This ambiguity existed long before Alaska became a state in 1959.
[9]Some other terms which are equivalent in common usage are
The 48 states and D.C. together have an area of 3,119,884.69 square miles (8,080,464.25 km²). Of this, 2,959,064.44 sq mi (7,663,941.71 km²) is land, comprising 83.65% of U.S. land area. Officially, 160,820.25 sq mi (416,522.38 km²) is water area, comprising 62.66% of the nation's water area. Its 2000 census population was 279,583,437, comprising 99.35% of the nation's population. Its population density was 94.484 inhabitants/sq mi (36.48/km²), compared to 79.555/sq mi (30.716/km²) for the nation as a whole. [11]
Some places, because of their own location relative to the contiguous United States, have their own unique labels for it. In Hawaii and overseas American territories, for instance, the term "the Mainland" or "U.S. Mainland" is used to refer to the continental United States.
