The current flag of the United States has 50 stars, one for each state.
Its thirteen alternating red and white stripes represent the thirteen colonies that declared independence from Great Britain. The blue canton contains the stars, which symbolize the states united under the federal system.
The 50-star design became official on July 4, 1960, after Hawaii became the fiftieth state. Alaska had become the forty-ninth state in 1959, so the flag changed twice in quick succession. The design remains the national flag used during America250’s 2026 anniversary year.
A common mistake is to answer 13 because both the stars and stripes once represented the original colonies. The modern flag has 50 stars but retains 13 stripes. Earlier versions had different star counts as new states joined the Union, while the number of stripes was reduced to thirteen in 1818. The flag’s present arrangement has nine rows of alternating six and five stars.