Guide Rankings Geography Updated June 3, 2026

New England States

Vermont hillside covered in red, orange, and yellow fall foliage with a white church steeple in the valley below

New England States

Ranking - Geography

Vermont is the smallest New England state by population and the only one with no Atlantic coastline. All six New England states are defined by the same geographic and historical boundary established in the colonial era.

Quick Answer

New England States

  1. 1

    Six states make up New England: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The boundary is fixed and uncontested — no state is sometimes included or excluded.

  2. 2

    Maine is the largest New England state by area (35,380 square miles) and the only one that borders only one other U.S. state. Rhode Island, at 1,545 square miles, is the smallest state in the entire United States.

  3. 3

    The name New England was given by English explorer Captain John Smith in 1616, when he published a map of the region's coastline and chose the name to attract English colonists. The six states today correspond to the territory Smith surveyed in 1614.

Map

New England States Map

Area (sq mi)
1,545
3,380
7,393
16,173
35,380
No data
Maine (35,380 sq mi) accounts for more than half of New England's total land area. Rhode Island (1,545 sq mi) is the smallest state in the U.S. The six states form a compact block in the northeastern corner of the country.
New England States Map
Rank State Area (sq mi)
1 Maine 35,380
2 Massachusetts 10,554
3 Vermont 9,616
4 New Hampshire 9,349
5 Connecticut 5,543
6 Rhode Island 1,545

Maine (35,380 sq mi) accounts for more than half of New England's total land area. Rhode Island (1,545 sq mi) is the smallest state in the U.S. The six states form a compact block in the northeastern corner of the country.

New England States Table

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Clean, print-ready version of New England States.

States in New England

Vermont hillside in peak fall foliage with a white church steeple and farms below
Vermont's fall foliage season draws visitors from across the country each October. Vermont is the least populous New England state and the only one with no Atlantic coastline.

Six states make up New England: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The region occupies the northeastern corner of the United States, bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Canada (Quebec and New Brunswick) to the north, and New York to the west. The six-state boundary is fixed — no source includes additional states or treats any of the six as optional.

Maine is the largest New England state by area at 35,380 square miles — more than half the region's total land area. Rhode Island, at 1,545 square miles, is the smallest state in the entire country. Massachusetts has the largest population at approximately 7 million; Vermont is the least populous at approximately 650,000. Three of the six states — Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire — joined the Union in 1788 as part of the original 13 colonies.

Why It's Called New England

Captain John Smith's 1616 map of New England showing the coastline from Maine to Cape Cod with early English place names
Smith's 1616 map named the region "New England" and labeled specific coastal features. King James I approved the name; Smith was granted the title Admiral of New England.

Captain John Smith named the region in 1616, when he published 'A Description of New England' — a book and map based on his 1614 survey of the coast from Penobscot Bay (Maine) to Cape Cod (Massachusetts). Smith chose the name to replace the French label 'Norumbega' and to appeal to King James I, who approved the name and granted Smith the title 'Admiral of New England.' The name was intended to signal that the region would become an English colony on the model of England itself.

The Plymouth Council for New England, chartered in 1620, gave the name official standing and used it in all subsequent land grants to the Pilgrim colonists and others. By the time the six states achieved statehood between 1788 and 1820, 'New England' was already a 170-year-old geographic designation. It remains the only U.S. Census geographic division whose name predates the United States.

Quick Answers

What states are in New England?
Six states make up New England: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The six-state boundary is fixed and uncontested — it is a formal U.S. Census geographic division and has been defined consistently since the colonial era.
How many states are in New England?
There are six states in New England: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. No other states are included in any standard definition of New England.
What is the largest New England state?
Maine is the largest New England state by area, at 35,380 square miles. It is more than three times the size of the next-largest New England state (Massachusetts, at 10,554 square miles) and accounts for more than half of the region's total land area.
What is the smallest New England state?
Rhode Island is the smallest New England state, at 1,545 square miles — and also the smallest state in the entire United States. Its full official name is Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Despite its size, Rhode Island was the first colony to declare independence from Britain (May 4, 1776).
Why is New England called New England?
Captain John Smith named the region in 1616 in his book 'A Description of New England,' based on his 1614 coastal survey. He chose the name to attract English colonists and to appeal to King James I, who approved it. The name replaced the earlier French label 'Norumbega' and has been used continuously for more than 400 years.
Which New England state was last to join the Union?
Maine was the last New England state to achieve statehood, on March 15, 1820, as the 23rd state. Maine had been part of Massachusetts since 1652. It separated under the Missouri Compromise, which admitted Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state simultaneously.

Methodology

How we researched this list

New England's six-state composition is a fixed, uncontested geographic and administrative definition.

Sources

Information is cross-referenced with official state archives.
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