The United States of America consists of 50 states. This number has been stable since 1959, when Alaska and Hawaii became the 49th and 50th states, respectively

. Sometimes people mistakenly think there are 52 states because they confuse U.S. territories like Puerto Rico and the federal district Washington, D.C., with states, but these are not states

. Each state has its own government and laws, and together they form the federal republic of the USA