Landlocked vs Coastal States: Which States Touch the Sea and Which Don’t
Ask “how many states are coastal?” and you will get two different answers, and both can be right. One list says 30 states are coastal and 20 are not. Another says 27 states are landlocked. The difference is not a mistake — it is the definition of “coast” changing underneath the question. Once you see which definition a list is using, the two numbers stop fighting each other.
Two definitions, two answers
Ocean coast means a coast on the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico or Arctic Ocean. By that definition, 23 states have an ocean coast and 27 do not — those 27 are “landlocked” in the usual sense. Any coast means an ocean coast or a Great Lakes coast. By that definition, 30 states are coastal and 20 have no coast of any kind. The gap between 27 and 20 is exactly the 7 states whose only coast is a Great Lake.
The 23 ocean states
Atlantic (14): Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Virginia, plus Florida and New York, which also appear in another list below. Pacific (5): Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington — Alaska also touches the Arctic Ocean. Gulf (5): Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, plus Florida again. Counted once each, that is 23: Florida is both Atlantic and Gulf, and New York is both Atlantic and Great Lakes.
The 7 Great-Lakes-only states
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have a Great Lakes coast but no ocean coast. Add them to the 23 ocean states and you get 30 coastal states. Michigan is the clearest example of why the definition matters: it touches four Great Lakes, yet it has no ocean coast, so under the ocean definition it counts as landlocked. Lakes are not oceans, even very large ones.
The 20 with no coast at all
Twenty states have neither an ocean coast nor a Great Lakes coast. This blog does not re-list them: the full list is on the Landlocked US States page. The one state worth naming here is Nebraska — the only state that is landlocked three times over, with no coast in any direction and only landlocked neighbours.
Traps that catch quiz players
Pennsylvania is the trap most people miss: it meets Canada only across Lake Erie and has no Atlantic coast, so it belongs with the Great-Lakes-only seven, not with the Atlantic states. Florida and New York are the opposite trap — they belong in two lists at once, so counting them twice inflates the total. And Michigan, for all its shoreline, is not an ocean state. If a quiz asks “is this state coastal?” always ask back: coastal by which definition?
Frequently Asked Questions
How many states are coastal?
30 states have a coast of some kind: 23 on an ocean and 7 only on the Great Lakes.
Why do some lists say 27 landlocked and others say 20?
27 is the ocean definition — no ocean coast. 20 is the any-coast definition — no ocean coast and no Great Lakes coast. The difference is the 7 Great-Lakes-only states.
Is Michigan a coastal state?
Michigan has a Great Lakes coast but no ocean coast, so under the standard ocean definition it counts as landlocked.
Is Pennsylvania a coastal state?
Pennsylvania has a Great Lakes coast on Lake Erie but no ocean coast and no Atlantic coast, so it is one of the 7 Great-Lakes-only states.
Which state has both an ocean coast and a Great Lakes coast?
Only New York: Atlantic on one side and Great Lakes on the other. Florida has two ocean coasts, Atlantic and Gulf, but no Great Lakes coast.
Want to test yourself on coasts, borders and the traps above? Play the quiz, then head back to the us states quiz homepage for more quizzes.
