Administrative divisions
The United States is a federal republic whose first-level divisions are 50 states plus one federal district[1]. Below the state level are counties (or independent cities), then municipalities and neighborhoods[3].
Basic facts
- Division hierarchy: country -> state -> county -> city/town -> neighborhood
- States: 50; federal district: 1 (District of Columbia)[3]
- Counties: 3,143 (2023)[3]
- Capital: Washington, D.C.[1]
- Total area: about 9,833,520 km2[1]
- ISO 3166-1: US / USA[1]
Subdivisions
50 states and the federal district: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, District of Columbia.
Territories: Puerto Rico, Guam, United States Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands.
MICHELIN Guide examples
The Chicago selection lists 21 starred restaurants in 2023 (three Three Star, two Two Star, 16 One Star), 19 in 2024 (two Three Star, two Two Star, 15 One Star), and 20 in 2025 (one Three Star, four Two Star, 15 One Star).[4][5][6]
The Washington, D.C. selection lists 25 starred restaurants in 2023 (one Three Star, three Two Star, 21 One Star), 26 in 2024 (one Three Star, two Two Star, 23 One Star), and 25 in 2025 (three Two Star, 22 One Star). Its official list includes The Inn at Little Washington in Virginia, so the Washington edition totals are not counts of District of Columbia restaurants alone.[7][8][9]
These are edition-specific examples, not a national restaurant count. See Chicago, District of Columbia, and Virginia.
2026 regional MICHELIN Guide selections
The 2026 Texas starred list records 19 One Star restaurants across six Texas cities. The American South starred list records 22 restaurants (one Two Star and 21 One Star) across Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. These are regional edition totals, not a national U.S. count. See MICHELIN Guide Texas 2026 and MICHELIN Guide American South 2026.[10][11]
[10]: MICHELIN Guide, “Every MICHELIN-Starred Restaurant in Texas for 2026,” 2026-10-08, https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/article/michelin-guide-ceremony/every-michelin-starred-restaurant-in-texas-for-2026. [11]: MICHELIN Guide, “Every MICHELIN-Starred Restaurant in the American South for 2026,” 2026-10-21, https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/article/michelin-guide-ceremony/every-michelin-starred-restaurant-in-the-american-south-for-2026.