Northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States, or simply the North or the Northeast, is a U.S. region defined by the United States Census Bureau. It consists of the Mid-Atlantic (New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey) and New England (Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Maine). The border states of Delaware and Maryland and other states are sometimes included in other definitions of the Northeast, but the Census Bureau considers both states to be part of the Southern United States. Cities in the Northeast include Boston, Philadelphia, and New York City.
The following table provides information about the population, size (land area) and population density of states in the Northeast region as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. Population density is defined as the population divided by the area of land in the state or region. The rank column in the table shows how the states rank among the entire 50 states in population density. Note that New Jersey has the highest population density of any state and that the four highest density states are all in the Northeast. The rank for the Census divisions (in pink) is the rank in population density among the 9 total divisions in the country. Note that the two divisions in the Northeast (Middle Atlantic and New England) are ranked #1 and #3 in the 2020 census. The South Atlantic region passed New England in population density between 2010 and 2020. Finally, note that the entire Northeast region is ranked #1 among the 4 Census Bureau regions. With 355.8 people per square mile, the population density of the Northeast is about 2.5 times the density or the #2 ranked region which is the South.
Density Rank |
State Division/Region |
Population (2020) |
Land area (sqmi) |
Density (sqmi) |
Geog. sort |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2 | Rhode Island | 1,097,379 | 1,034 | 1,061.4 | NEng |
3 | Massachusetts | 7,029,917 | 7,801 | 901.2 | NEng |
4 | Connecticut | 3,605,944 | 4,842 | 744.7 | NEng |
21 | New Hampshire | 1,377,529 | 8,954 | 153.9 | NEng |
31 | Vermont | 643,077 | 9,218 | 69.8 | NEng |
38 | Maine | 1,362,359 | 30,845 | 44.2 | NEng |
3 | New England | 15,116,205 | 62,694 | 241.1 | NEast |
1 | New Jersey | 9,288,994 | 7,355 | 1,263.0 | MdAtl |
7 | New York | 20,201,249 | 47,124 | 428.7 | MdAtl |
9 | Pennsylvania | 13,002,700 | 44,742 | 290.6 | MdAtl |
1 | Mid-Atlantic | 42,492,943 | 99,221 | 428.3 | NEast |
1 | Northeast | 57,609,148 | 161,914 | 355.8 | USA |