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11 core states · up to 14 · 83,510,816 people (core) · Eastern and Central time

Southeast states map

The Southeast is the everyday name for the South east of Texas: the Atlantic and Gulf states from Virginia to Louisiana plus Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas. It is an informal region, so its edges vary.

Northeast (9)Midwest (12)South (16)West (13)
The Southeast is the eastern part of the shaded South block; Texas and Oklahoma are usually left out. Press Abbreviations to label the states.

How the region is defined

There is no official Southeast. The Census Bureau uses South, which adds Texas, Oklahoma, Delaware, Maryland and DC. Most other users — the American Association of Geographers, the National Park Service, weather forecasters, sports conferences — mean the eleven states listed as "always" in the table: Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky. West Virginia is added by the Park Service; Delaware and Maryland appear only in definitions that simply take the Census South and drop Texas and Oklahoma.

The eleven core states had 83,510,816 people in 2020 on 542,758 square miles; all fourteen listed had 92,471,704 on 581,883 square miles. Florida has more than a quarter of the core population. Jacksonville (949,611) is the largest city by city-proper population, though metropolitan Atlanta and Miami are far larger.

States, capitals and largest cities

StateCapitalLargest cityPopulation (2020)Area (sq mi)Included
Alabama (AL)MontgomeryHuntsville5,024,27952,420Always
Arkansas (AR)Little RockLittle Rock3,011,52453,179Always
Florida (FL)TallahasseeJacksonville21,538,18765,758Always
Georgia (GA)AtlantaAtlanta10,711,90859,425Always
Kentucky (KY)FrankfortLouisville4,505,83640,408Always
Louisiana (LA)Baton RougeNew Orleans4,657,75752,378Always
Mississippi (MS)JacksonJackson2,961,27948,432Always
North Carolina (NC)RaleighCharlotte10,439,38853,819Always
South Carolina (SC)ColumbiaCharleston5,118,42532,020Always
Tennessee (TN)NashvilleNashville6,910,84042,144Always
Virginia (VA)RichmondVirginia Beach8,631,39342,775Always
West Virginia (WV)CharlestonCharleston1,793,71624,230Sometimes
Delaware (DE)DoverWilmington989,9482,489Sometimes
Maryland (MD)AnnapolisBaltimore6,177,22412,406Sometimes
Total, all listed (14 states)92,471,704581,883

Geography

The Southeast is built in bands parallel to the coast. The Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains are low and sandy, with barrier islands (the Outer Banks, the Sea Islands, the Florida Keys), and cover all of Florida and Louisiana and most of Mississippi. The Piedmont lies inland of the fall line, and behind it the Appalachians run south-west from Virginia to Alabama: Mount Mitchell (6,684 ft, North Carolina) and Clingmans Dome (6,643 ft, Tennessee–North Carolina) are the highest points east of the Mississippi. Beyond the mountains the Cumberland Plateau and the Nashville and Bluegrass basins lead down to the Mississippi valley; west of the river are the Ozarks and Ouachitas of Arkansas.

Water defines the region. The Mississippi borders Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana and ends in the largest delta in North America. The Tennessee, Cumberland, Alabama–Tombigbee, Chattahoochee–Apalachicola, Savannah, Cape Fear and James rivers all reach the sea within the region. The Gulf of Mexico coast from Florida to Louisiana is about 1,600 miles of the country's warmest water, and the Everglades and Okefenokee are its two great wetlands. Hurricanes make landfall here more often than anywhere else in the country.

Time: Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia and peninsular Florida are Eastern; Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas are Central; Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida's Panhandle are split.

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