8 states + DC · Census division · 65,400,189 people · 292,922 sq mi
South Atlantic states map
The South Atlantic division runs down the coast from Delaware to Florida: eight states and the District of Columbia. With Florida and Georgia in it, it is the most populous of the nine Census divisions.
How the region is defined
The South Atlantic is the coastal division of the Census South region: Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. West Virginia is the one member without a coast. Delaware and Maryland's inclusion dates from the 1950 definition, which followed the Mason–Dixon line; in everyday speech they are usually called Mid-Atlantic.
The eight states had 65,400,189 people in 2020 on 292,922 square miles; Washington, DC adds 689,545 residents on 68 square miles. Florida (21,538,187) is the third most populous state, Georgia and North Carolina are both in the top ten, and Virginia is twelfth. Delaware (2,489 sq mi) is the second-smallest state by area.
States, capitals and largest cities
| State | Capital | Largest city | Population (2020) | Area (sq mi) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delaware (DE) | Dover | Wilmington | 989,948 | 2,489 |
| Florida (FL) | Tallahassee | Jacksonville | 21,538,187 | 65,758 |
| Georgia (GA) | Atlanta | Atlanta | 10,711,908 | 59,425 |
| Maryland (MD) | Annapolis | Baltimore | 6,177,224 | 12,406 |
| North Carolina (NC) | Raleigh | Charlotte | 10,439,388 | 53,819 |
| South Carolina (SC) | Columbia | Charleston | 5,118,425 | 32,020 |
| Virginia (VA) | Richmond | Virginia Beach | 8,631,393 | 42,775 |
| West Virginia (WV) | Charleston | Charleston | 1,793,716 | 24,230 |
| Total (8 states) | 65,400,189 | 292,922 |
Geography
Three parallel belts run the length of the division. The Atlantic Coastal Plain is widest in the south — all of Florida, the Georgia and Carolina low country, the Delmarva Peninsula — and is broken by Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the country, which nearly cuts Maryland and Virginia in two. Behind it the fall line, marked by Richmond, Raleigh, Columbia and Augusta, begins the Piedmont. The Blue Ridge rises behind the Piedmont from Maryland to Georgia; Mount Mitchell in North Carolina, 6,684 ft, is the highest point in the eastern United States, and West Virginia is entirely within the mountains, with a mean elevation higher than any state east of the Mississippi.
The division has about 2,800 miles of Atlantic and Gulf coastline. Florida's peninsula is 400 miles long and nowhere higher than 345 ft; the Everglades in its south are the largest subtropical wetland in the country, and Lake Okeechobee is the largest lake in the South. Cape Hatteras on North Carolina's Outer Banks is the easternmost point of the division below Virginia.
Rivers: the Potomac (Maryland–Virginia border, Washington, DC), James, Roanoke, Cape Fear, Savannah (Georgia–South Carolina border), Chattahoochee (Georgia–Alabama border) and St. Johns, which flows north through Jacksonville. The Ohio River forms West Virginia's western border. All eight states are on Eastern time except Florida's western Panhandle, which is Central.
Related maps
- Parent region: South; sibling divisions East South Central and West South Central.
- Overlapping informal regions: Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, Gulf Coast.
- Quiz: Southern states quiz.
- Cities: Jacksonville, Charlotte, Washington, DC, Baltimore, Atlanta, Raleigh, Miami.
- Geography: Coastlines, Appalachians, Mason–Dixon line.