Since the admission of the state of Alaska, the United States’ borders have reached into the Arctic. Only months after Alaska gained statehood, Hawaii was admitted into the Union and America’s borders have since stretched into the Tropics. These two newest states alone place the United States’ northernmost point about 1,000 miles from the North Pole and its southernmost point slightly more than 1,000 miles from the equator.
America exists above its northern neighbor and below its southern neighbor. We already explored the number of Americans in the northernmost region of the US in a previous post, and now it’s time to talk about the Americans in the southernmost region.
The North Americans of the South
What country borders the United States to the South? That’s an easy question; Mexico, right? Well, that is entirely correct, but, as you may have guessed, Mexico can actually be to the North, depending on your perspective. Mexico’s northernmost tip, near Yuma, Arizona, rests on the parallel 32º43’N; this is as far north as Dallas, Texas, and Charleston, South Carolina. There are 11 states that exist below this parallel. Within these states, there are more than 57 million Americans who live south of the northernmost point of Mexico, which is roughly 17% of the entire population of the United States.
Fun fact: California is the sole state to exist above Canada’s southernmost point and below Mexico’s northernmost point.
What about the states that are not partially, but entirely, south of the northernmost point of Mexico? It turns out that while Mexico does stretch relatively far north, it is not that far north when comparing to the US States; there are only two states that exist fully below that parallel: Florida and Hawaii.
Florida does reach far south, further south than any other contiguous state, in fact, Florida is a mere 90 miles from Cuba. Despite this fact, Hawaii reaches 400 miles, which is about the height of Florida, further south than Florida. Hawaii is so far south that the county seat of Hawaii County, Hilo, is nearly as far south as Mexico City, and 96% of Hawaiian land is further south than modern day Egypt.
When you compare the population of Hawaii to that of other North American nations, you find that Hawaiians live further south than approximately 26% of Mexicans, 45% of Cubans, and 99% of Bahamians.
What is your favorite of the southern states?
Onward American 