The current United States flag has 50 stars, one for each U.S. state.
The stars appear in a blue canton, or union, in the flag’s upper-left corner. They represent the states, while the thirteen alternating red and white stripes represent the original thirteen colonies that declared independence from Great Britain.
The 50-star flag became official on July 4, 1960, after Hawaii joined the Union as the 50th state. Alaska had become the 49th state in 1959, so the flag changed twice in consecutive years. The 50-star design remains the official national flag during America250 commemorations.
The number of stars is not the same as the number of original colonies. That distinction creates a common mix-up: thirteen refers to the stripes and the founding colonies, whereas fifty refers to the states represented by the current stars. Earlier official flags had fewer stars as new states entered the Union.