What is "contiguous united states"

n. (context US geography English) the contiguous continental states area of the United States of America, comprising 48 states in number, and the District of Columbia, excluding Alaska and Hawaii.

The contiguous United States consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states plus Washington, D.C. ( federal district), on the continent of North America. The term excludes the non-contiguous states of Alaska and Hawaii and all off-shore United States territories and possessions, which include American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.These maps show the contiguous 48 states and D.C., but not Alaska and Hawaii.

The greatest distance (on a great circle route) entirely within the 48 contiguous states is 2,802 miles (4,509 km, between Florida and the state of Washington); the greatest north-south line is 1,650 miles (2,660 km).

Together, the 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C. occupy a combined area of , which is 1.58% of the total surface area of Earth. Of this area, is land, composing 83.65% of U.S. land area, similar to the area of Australia. Officially, is water area, composing 62.66% of the nation's total water area.

The contiguous United States would be placed 5th in the list of countries and dependencies by area; the total area of the country, including Alaska and Hawaii, ranks fourth. Brazil is the only country that is larger in total area than the contiguous United States, but smaller than the entire United States, while Russia, Canada and China are the only three countries larger than both. The 2010 census population of this area was 306,675,006, comprising 99.33% of the nation's population, and a density of 103.639 inhabitants/sq mi (40.015/km), compared to 87.264/sq mi (33.692/km) for the nation as a whole.