List of U.S. states by date of statehood

The order which the original 13 states ratified the constitution, then the order that the others were admitted to the union

This is a list of U.S. states by date of statehood. It has the date when each U.S. state joined the Union. The first 13 states became states of the United States on the date of the Declaration of Independence, Thursday, July 4, 1776 but they are shown here as "joining" on the date each ratified the United States Constitution. The dates on this list do not deal with the time during the American Civil War when several states left the United States and later rejoined.

#	State	Date joined	What it was before becoming a state
1	Delaware	Friday, December 7, 1787 ‡	Lower Counties on Delaware, then sovereign state in Confederation
2	Pennsylvania	Wednesday, December 12, 1787 ‡	Province of Pennsylvania, then sovereign state in Confederation
3	New Jersey	Tuesday, December 18, 1787 ‡	Province of New Jersey, then sovereign state in Confederation
4	Georgia	Wednesday, January 2, 1788 ‡	Province of Georgia, then sovereign state in Confederation
5	Connecticut	Wednesday, January 9, 1788 ‡	Connecticut Colony, then sovereign state in Confederation
6	Massachusetts	Wednesday, February 6, 1788 ‡	Province of Massachusetts Bay, then sovereign state in Confederation
7	Maryland	Monday, April 28, 1788 ‡	Province of Maryland, then sovereign state in Confederation
8	South Carolina	Friday, May 23, 1788 ‡	Province of South Carolina, then sovereign state in Confederation
9	New Hampshire	Saturday, June 21, 1788 ‡	Province of New Hampshire, then sovereign state in Confederation
10	Virginia	Wednesday, June 25, 1788 ‡	Virginia Colony, then sovereign state in Confederation
11	New York	Saturday, July 26, 1788 ‡	Province of New York, then sovereign state in Confederation
12	North Carolina	Saturday, November 21, 1789 ‡	Province of North Carolina, then sovereign state in Confederation
13	Rhode Island	Saturday, May 29, 1790 ‡	Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, then sovereign state in Confederation
14	Vermont	Friday, March 4, 1791	Province of New York and New Hampshire Grants (ownership disputed), Vermont Republic
15	Kentucky	Friday, June 1, 1792	Virginia
16	Tennessee	Wednesday, June 1, 1796	Province of North Carolina, Southwest Territory
17	Ohio	Tuesday, March 1, 1803*	Northwest Territory
18	Louisiana	Thursday, April 30, 1812	Orleans Territory
19	Indiana	Wednesday, December 11, 1816	Indiana Territory
20	Mississippi	Wednesday, December 10, 1817	Mississippi Territory
21	Illinois	Thursday, December 3, 1818	Illinois Territory
22	Alabama	Tuesday, December 14, 1819	Alabama Territory
23	Maine	Wednesday, March 15, 1820	Massachusetts
24	Missouri	Friday, August 10, 1821	Missouri Territory
25	Arkansas	Wednesday, June 15, 1836	Arkansas Territory
26	Michigan	Thursday, January 26, 1837	Michigan Territory
27	Florida	Monday, March 3, 1845	Florida Territory
28	Texas	Monday, December 29, 1845	Republic of Texas
29	Iowa	Monday, December 28, 1846	Iowa Territory
30	Wisconsin	Monday, May 29, 1848	Wisconsin Territory
31	California	Monday, September 9, 1850	California RepublicMexican Cession, Alta California
32	Minnesota	Tuesday, May 11, 1858	Minnesota Territory
33	Oregon	Monday, February 14, 1859	Oregon Territory
34	Kansas	Tuesday, January 29, 1861	Kansas Territory
35	West Virginia	Saturday, June 20, 1863	Virginia
36	Nevada	Monday, October 31, 1864	Nevada Territory
37	Nebraska	Friday, March 1, 1867	Nebraska Territory
38	Colorado	Tuesday, August 1, 1876	Colorado Territory
39 †	North Dakota	Saturday, November 2, 1889	Dakota Territory
40 †	South Dakota	Saturday, November 2, 1889	Dakota Territory
41	Montana	Friday, November 8, 1889	Montana Territory
42	Washington	Monday, November 11, 1889	Washington Territory
43	Idaho	Thursday, July 3, 1890	Idaho Territory
44	Wyoming	Thursday, July 10, 1890	Wyoming Territory
45	Utah	Saturday, January 4, 1896	Utah Territory
46	Oklahoma	Saturday, November 16, 1907	Oklahoma Territory & Indian Territory
47	New Mexico	Saturday, January 6, 1912	New Mexico Territory
48	Arizona	Wednesday, February 14, 1912	Arizona Territory
49	Alaska	Saturday, January 3, 1959	Alaska Territory
50	Hawaii	Friday, August 21, 1959	Kingdom of Hawaii, Hawaii Territory

Notes

U.S. states by date of statehood

• ‡ Date ratified United States Constitution.
• ^*Congress extended federal laws to Ohio on February 19, 1803, but no formal date of statehood was set by the act of admission or a later resolution, as occurred with all other new states. On August 7, 1953, Congress passed a law retroactively making Ohio a state as of March 1, 1803, the date when Ohio's first legislature convened.
• † The actual statehood proclamations for North and South Dakota were intentionally shuffled so that no one actually knows which was admitted first. However, North Dakota's was published first in the Statutes at Large (since it is first in the alphabet); hence, it is considered admitted first by most sources (including the 50 State Quarters program).

References

• 50 State Quarter Program from the United States Mint (including dates of statehood) [Retrieved: 19 January 2006]
• Dates of statehood, via 50states.com (includes notes, retrieved 19 January 2006)