West Coast of the United States

Not to be confused with Western United States.

The states shown in dark red are usually included in the term West Coast. The striped red states, Arizona and Nevada, are sometimes considered to be part of the West Coast even though they are both landlocked states.^{[citation needed]}

This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 29 on board the ISS on a pass down the American West Coast.

West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. More specifically, the term refers to an area defined on the east by the Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada and Mojave Desert and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in the West Coast. The U.S. Census groups the three states of California, Oregon, and Washington together as the Pacific region. Nevada and Arizona are sometimes considered part of the West Coast due to large cultural influences from the West Coast states, particularly from California, but does not geographically form a part of the region since it does not border the Pacific Ocean.

Population

As of the 2010 Census, the estimated population of the Census Bureau's Pacific Region was approximately 47.8 million (56.9 million if Nevada and Arizona are included) - about 15.3% (18.2% with Nevada and Arizona) of US population.

Major cities

See also: California megapolitan areas

Major cities and metropolitan areas on the West Coast include (from north to south):

• Seattle metropolitan area:
  • Seattle
  • Tacoma
• Spokane
• Portland and Portland metropolitan area
• Reno and Reno–Sparks metropolitan area
• Sacramento and Greater Sacramento
• San Francisco Bay Area:
  • San Francisco
  • Oakland
  • San Jose
• Fresno
• Bakersfield
• Las Vegas and Las Vegas Valley
• Greater Los Angeles Area:
  • Los Angeles
  • Long Beach
  • Riverside
  • San Bernardino
• Phoenix and Phoenix metropolitan area
• San Diego

History

See also: Models of migration to the New World, History of Mesoamerica, and Native Americans in the United States

The history of the West Coast begins with the arrival of the earliest known humans of the Americas, Paleo-Indians, crossing the Bering Strait from Eurasia into North America over a land bridge, Beringia, that existed between 45,000 BC and 12,000 BC (47,000–14,000 years ago).

Later, Spanish, British, Mexican, Russian and American explorers and settlers began colonizing the area.

See also

• British Columbia Coast
• East Coast of the United States
• Pacific coast
• Left Coast
• Third Coast
• Sun Belt
• West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame