There are 46 states in the United States. 50 or 52? The interesting point is that the memories are fairly consistent, and include Puerto Rico as a state. There are only 50 states that make up the United States of America. how many states in the us?50 or 52? There is 52 cards in a deck of cards. The country is subdivided into states, territories, and minor islands. I recently stumbled across a blog post discussing the idea that a lot of people think that there are 52 states in the United States of America. Though the actual number is 50, some people are of the opinion that there are 48 states; others believe that there are 49, and some even go to the extent of asserting that there are 51 states in total. The U.S. currently has sixteen territories in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. I was incorrectly told by a number of my teachers that the US has 52 states. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast . Massachusetts is properly the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The first state in the U.S. was Delaware, and it was established in 1787. There are not 50 states in the United States. save hide report. There are only 50 states that make up the United States of America. Or do people think of a deck of cards, the weeks in a year, or the country code of Mexico? One teacher suggested this is a common misunderstanding. There were various per diem and mileage compensation. There are not 51 or 52. There are less than 50 states in the United States because, by their proper names, there are 4 Commonwealths and one unusualy named place. I've seen a lot of people say that there are 52,whereas wikipedia says 50 ,but might become 51 due to washington becoming new colombia. 38% Upvoted. You may be confusing states with territories. I was incorrectly told by a number of my teachers that the US has 52 states. There is also the Federal District of Washington D.C., and the territories of Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands, in addition to a few uninhabited islands. All the confusion about the total number of states in the USA arises mainly from the ignorance of the 2 states off the North American mainland. Pennsylvania is properly the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. They earned from $0 annually (New Mexico) to $90,526 (California). States are the major subdivisions and are bestowed several powers and responsibilities by the US Constitution. 11 comments. Maybe that's the root of the myth? I am Australian and so were my teachers, so I guess in that regard they could be “excused” for getting this wrong, but why did they always say 52? best. It is updated as needed. The flag has 50 stars, one for each state. The United States of America is a federal republic consisting of 50 states, a federal district …