The region is generally understood to include the U.S. states that border the Atlantic Ocean: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia, as well as the federal capital of Washington, D.C., and non-coastline states: Pennsylvania, Vermont, and West Virginia.

The Eastern United States, often abbreviated as simply the East, is a macroregion of the United States located to the east of the Mississippi River. [ 1 ] It includes 17–26 states and Washington, D.C., the national capital.