Hawaii became the 50th U.S. state in 1959, completing the current state count.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Hawaii Admission Act on March 18, 1959. Hawaii voters approved statehood in a referendum on June 27, with more than 94 percent voting in favor. The state officially joined the Union on August 21, 1959.
Hawaii is an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, located roughly 2,400 miles from the continental United States. Its population includes Native Hawaiians and communities shaped by migration from Asia, Europe, and other Pacific regions. Honolulu, on the island of Oahu, became the state capital.
Alaska entered the Union earlier, on January 3, 1959, as the 49th state. This is a frequent source of confusion because Alaska was the first of the two territories admitted that year. Hawaii’s admission made it the final state added to the United States, a status it still holds in the nation’s 250-year history.