List of states of Mexico

Free and Sovereign State of Mexico Estado Libre y Soberano de México
Category	Federated state
Location	United Mexican States
Created	4 October 1824
Number	32 federal entities
Populations	Colima – lowest (719,445) México – highest (17,728,216)
Areas	Mexico City – smallest (1,494.3 km2 (577.0 sq mi)) Chihuahua – largest (247,412.6 km2 (95,526.5 sq mi))
Government	State government
Subdivisions	Municipality or borough

A Mexican State (Spanish : Estado), officially a Free and Sovereign State (Spanish : Estado libre y soberano), is a constituent federative entity of Mexico according to the Constitution of Mexico. Currently there are 31 states, each with its own constitution, government, state governor, and state congress. In the hierarchy of Mexican administrative divisions, states are further divided into municipalities. Currently there are 2,462 municipalities in Mexico.

Although not formally a state, political reforms have enabled Mexico City (Spanish : Ciudad de México), the capital city of the United Mexican States to have a federative entity status equivalent to that of the states since January 29, 2016.

Current Mexican governmental publications usually lists 32 federative entities (31 states and Mexico City), and 2,478 municipalities (including the 16 boroughs of Mexico City). Third or lower level divisions are sometimes listed by some governmental publications.

List of federative entities

Mexico City, though not formally a state, is included for comparison.

Federative entities of the United Mexican States

Coat of arms and name		Cities		Area [1]		Population [2] [3]		Munici- palities	Admission to Federation
		Capital	Largest	km2	sq mi	2024 Q4	2020 census
	Aguascalientes	Aguascalientes		5,615.7	2,168.2	1,493,459	1,425,607	11	24th	5 Feb 1857 [4]
	Baja California	Mexicali	Tijuana	71,450.0	27,587.0	3,779,050	3,769,020	7	29th	16 Jan 1952 [5]
	Baja California Sur	La Paz		73,909.4	28,536.6	872,439	798,447	5	31st	8 Oct 1974 [6]
	Campeche	San Francisco de Campeche		57,484.9	22,195.0	949,481	928,363	13	25th	29 Apr 1863 [7]
	Chiapas	Tuxtla Gutiérrez		73,311.0	28,305.5	5,914,879	5,543,828	124	19th	14 Sep 1824 [8]
	Chihuahua	Chihuahua	Ciudad Juárez	247,412.6	95,526.5	3,900,629	3,741,869	67	18th	6 Jul 1824 [8]
	Coahuila de Zaragoza [a] [b]	Saltillo		151,594.8	58,531.1	3,457,516	3,146,771	38	16th	7 May 1824 [8]
	Colima [c]	Colima	Manzanillo	5,626.9	2,172.6	719,445	731,391	10	22nd	12 Sep 1856 [10]
	Durango	Victoria de Durango		123,364.0	47,631.1	1,890,563	1,832,650	39	17th	22 May 1824 [8]
	Guanajuato	Guanajuato	León de los Aldama	30,606.7	11,817.3	6,313,504	6,166,934	46	2nd	20 Dec 1823 [8]
	Guerrero	Chilpancingo de los Bravo	Acapulco de Juárez	63,595.9	24,554.5	3,603,188	3,540,685	85	21st	27 Oct 1849 [11]
	Hidalgo	Pachuca de Soto		20,821.4	8,039.2	3,222,994	3,082,841	84	26th	16 Jan 1869 [12]
	Jalisco	Guadalajara		78,595.9	30,346.0	8,732,495	8,348,151	125	9th	23 Dec 1823 [8]
	México	Toluca de Lerdo	Ecatepec de Morelos	22,351.8	8,630.1	17,728,216	16,992,418	125	1st	20 Dec 1823 [8]
	Mexico City (Ciudad de México) [d]	n/a	Iztapalapa	1,494.3	577.0	9,352,517	9,209,944	16	32nd	29 Jan 2016
	Michoacán de Ocampo	Morelia		58,598.7	22,625.1	4,943,602	4,748,846	113	5th	22 Dec 1823 [8]
	Morelos	Cuernavaca		4,878.9	1,883.8	1,964,164	1,971,520	36	27th	17 Apr 1869 [13]
	Nayarit	Tepic		27,856.5	10,755.5	1,237,293	1,235,456	20	28th	26 Jan 1917 [14]
	Nuevo León [b]	Monterrey		64,156.2	24,770.8	6,130,641	5,784,442	51	15th	7 May 1824 [8]
	Oaxaca	Oaxaca de Juárez		93,757.6	36,200.0	4,242,791	4,132,148	570	3rd	21 Dec 1823 [8]
	Puebla	Puebla de Zaragoza		34,309.6	13,247.0	6,586,805	6,583,278	217	4th	21 Dec 1823 [8]
	Querétaro	Santiago de Querétaro		11,690.6	4,513.8	2,530,655	2,368,467	18	11th	23 Dec 1823 [8]
	Quintana Roo	Chetumal	Cancún	44,705.2	17,260.8	1,917,252	1,857,985	11	30th	8 Oct 1974 [15]
	San Luis Potosí	San Luis Potosí		61,138.0	23,605.5	2,874,010	2,822,255	59	6th	22 Dec 1823 [8]
	Sinaloa	Culiacán Rosales		57,365.4	22,148.9	3,169,760	3,026,943	20	20th	14 Oct 1830 [16]
	Sonora [e]	Hermosillo		179,354.7	69,249.2	3,039,967	2,944,840	72	12th	10 Jan 1824 [8]
	Tabasco [f]	Villahermosa		24,730.9	9,548.7	2,537,961	2,402,598	17	13th	7 Feb 1824 [8]
	Tamaulipas [b]	Ciudad Victoria	Reynosa	80,249.3	30,984.4	3,575,756	3,527,735	43	14th	7 Feb 1824 [8]
	Tlaxcala	Tlaxcala de Xicohténcatl	San Pablo del Monte	3,996.6	1,543.1	1,469,900	1,342,977	60	23rd	9 Dec 1856 [17]
	Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave	Xalapa-Enríquez	Veracruz	71,823.5	27,731.2	8,093,517	8,062,579	212	7th	22 Dec 1823 [8]
	Yucatán [g]	Mérida		39,524.4	15,260.5	2,375,403	2,320,898	106	8th	23 Dec 1823 [8]
	Zacatecas	Zacatecas	Guadalupe	75,275.3	29,064.0	1,674,227	1,622,138	58	10th	23 Dec 1823 [8]
Mexico total		Mexico City		1,972,550.0	761,605.8	130,294,079	126,014,024	2,478	—

Notes:

1. Joined the federation with the name of Coahuila y Tejas.
2. The states of Nuevo León, Tamaulipas and Coahuila became independent de facto in 1840 to form the República del Río Grande (English: Republic of the Rio Grande); never consolidated its independence because independent forces were defeated by the centralist forces. ^[9]
3. Includes the remote Revillagigedo Islands, which are federally administered.
4. Mexico City was a Federal District until 29 January 2016, when this status was abolished.
5. Joined the federation with the name of Estado de Occidente, also recognized as Sonora y Sinaloa.
6. The State of Tabasco seceded from Mexico on two occasions: first on 13 February 1841, rejoining again on 2 December 1842; and the second from 9 November 1846 to 9 December 1846.
7. Joined the federation as República Federada de Yucatán ^[18] (English: Federated Republic of Yucatán) formed by the current states of Yucatán, Campeche and Quintana Roo. Became independent in 1841 constituting the second Republic of Yucatán and definitively rejoined in 1848.

Lists by topic

State symbols:

• State flags of Mexico
• List of Mexican state name etymologies
• List of Mexican state demonyms
• List of Mexican states by date of statehood
• Mexico State-Abbreviation Codes

State governments :

• Lists of Mexican state governors
• List of current state governors in Mexico
• List of Mexican state congresses (with current composition)

Other:

• List of Mexican states by area
• List of Mexican states by population
• List of Mexican states by population density
• List of Mexican states by GDP
• List of Mexican states by GDP per capita
• List of Mexican states by HDI

See also

• Mexico portal

• Administrative divisions of Mexico
• Territorial evolution of Mexico
• State governments of Mexico
• Territories of Mexico
• Postal codes in Mexico

References

1. "México en cifras - Medio Ambiente - Superficie continental" (in Spanish). INEGI. January 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
2. "Encuesta Nacional de Ocupación y Empleo" (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 March 2025.
3. "Información Demográfica y Social" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 January 2021.
4. "Historical Summary of Aguascalientes" (in Spanish). Gobierno del estado de Aguascalientes. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
5. "Transformación Política de Territorio Norte de la Baja California a Estado 29" (in Spanish). Gobierno de Baja California.
6. "44 Years Ago, Baja California Sur and Quintana Roo became States" (in Spanish). Gobierno de México. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
7. "156th Anniversary of Campeche's Statehood" (in Spanish). INAFED. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
8. "Las Diputaciones Provinciales" (PDF) (in Spanish). p. 15.
9. "República de Río Grande, el País que no pudo ser" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 22 January 2010. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
10. "Universidad de Colima". Archived from the original on 10 August 2010. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
11. "Commemorating the 169th Anniversary of Guerrero's Statehood" (in Spanish). Gobierno de México. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
12. "History of the state of Hidalgo" (in Spanish). INAFED. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
13. "History of Morelos" (in Spanish). Gobierno del estado de Morelos. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
14. "Anniversary of Nayarit's Statehood" (in Spanish). Gobierno de México. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
15. "Historia de Quintana Roo" (in Spanish). Gobierno del Estado de Quintana Roo. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
16. "500 años de México en documentos" (in Spanish). Biblioteca Garay.
17. "History of Tlaxcala" (in Spanish). Congreso del estado de Tlaxcala. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
18. "La historia de la República de Yucatán".