The United States flag used as a national symbol during America250 has 50 stars.
Each star represents one state in the Union. The current 50-star design became official on July 4, 1960, after Hawaii joined the United States as the fiftieth state. Alaska’s admission in 1959 had first produced a 49-star flag.
The stars are arranged in nine rows that alternate between five and six stars. They appear on a blue canton, the rectangular area in the flag’s upper hoist corner. The flag also has thirteen alternating red and white stripes representing the original thirteen colonies.
The star count changes when a state is admitted, while the stripe count remains fixed at thirteen. This distinction helps explain why the flag has 50 stars but does not have 50 stripes.